Kruger an 'animal supermarket'
2009-07-14 10:05
Pretoria - A blistering attack has been launched on the Kruger National Park by animal welfare organisations worried about the fate of the wild animals, specifically white rhino.
"The Kruger National Park has developed into a kind of supermarket trading in animals to make even more money."
The organisations claimed it had become time that the Sanparks board resigned as they had "failed" in their task to properly protect and conserve the country’s wild animals, and specifically, white rhinoceros.
This followed on Monday after the death of at least 10 of the 200 white rhinos, who were recently sold at an auction.
The organisations were also furious that a rhino that was bought by a Free State game breeder on Friday at the game park, fell from a trailer on the N4 between Witbank and Middelburg.
The trailer’s tyre apparently burst and it fell over with the rhino. The frightened animal ran around in the area before it was caught and again loaded onto the trailer.
Ethical and moral issues
"The incident raises several ethical and moral issues," said Louise Joubert, owner of SanWild, a rehabilitation centre and nature reserve near Gravelotte in Limpopo on Monday.
Joubert said that was not how an animal of more than three tonnes should be transported. She accused the game park’s management of not caring about the fate of the animals in which they "trade".
A spokesperson for the game reserve said the matter was "now very sensitive" as the auction had "kicked up plenty of dust".
He did say that as soon as the animals had new owners, the park had no control over their futures.
Joubert responded and said that was exactly what she was worried about.
According to a statement by the organisations, the commercial trade in white rhino held a far greater threat to the endangered animals, than poaching.
A total of 58 rhinos were over the past 18 months stripped for their horns.
Call to boycott the park
Sanparks didn't want to answer questions on Monday and said an urgent press conference would be held at headquarters in Pretoria on Tuesday.
Steve Smith of Animal Rights Africa (ARA) over the weekend called on the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs to put a moratorium on the sale of white rhino.
The organisations claim the park's rhinos belong to the people of South Africa and that they should be consulted about the animals' future before they are randomly sold.
Michelle Pickover, also from ARA, on Monday night said the park's board should resign and a commission of inquiry should be appointed to investigate among others, the mismanagement of natural resources.
Joubert said the organisation would now begin with campaigns to ask prospective tourists coming to visit the country for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, to boycott the Kruger National Park.