Three Rhino Poachers Eaten By Lions in South Africa
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
A pride of lions ate a group of poachers after they broke into a game reserve earlier this week in South Africa to hunt rhinoceroses.
Three men were believed to have been eaten alive by the predators sometime between Sunday night and Monday morning after they entered the Sibuya Game Reserve in Kenton-on-Sea to hunt rhinos, Nick Fox, the park’s owner, told Newsweek.
After the incident, authorities recovered the remains of their parts, three pairs of shoes, wire cutters, high-powered hunting rifles fitted with silencers and a type of ax that is commonly used by poachers to remove rhino horns.
"The only body part we found was one skull and one bit of pelvis, everything else was completely gone,” Fox said. “There is so little left that they don’t know exactly how many people were killed, we suspect three because we found three sets of shoes and three sets of gloves.”
Fox also revealed that rhino poaching groups usually consist of three people.
Although Fox admits that the incident was tragic, he also noted that it should send a “message” to other poachers who risk their lives to hunt game in his reserve.
At around 4.30 a.m. on Monday morning, one of Sibuya’s anti-poaching dogs gave her handler a warning that something was wrong. The handler then heard a commotion from the lions but didn’t investigate as there usually is around the early hours. This is when authorities believed the incident occurred.
One day later, one of the reserve’s rangers then stumbled upon the remains of the poachers. After immediately alerting the police, the staffers decided to continue their investigation the next morning as it was getting dark. On Wednesday, Sibuya employees and police found the poachers’ gear scattered through the thick bushes.
“They [found] an ax and high-powered rifle with a silencer, which is a surefire sign of rhino poachers,” Fox said.
Captain Mali Govender, a police spokesperson, revealed that detectives are investigating the incident to determine exactly how many people were eaten. “We do not know identities, but firearms have been taken by the police and will be sent to the ballistics laboratory to see if they have been used in poaching before,” she said.
The search party also enlisted the assistance of a helicopter to locate any survivors. None have been found at the time this article was published.
Sibuya is one of the most popular game reserves in the South African province of Eastern Cape. The facility boasts 30 square miles of wildlife and contains Africa’s big five game animals: lions, rhinos, elephants, buffalos and leopards.
Due to its prominence and collection of animals, the park has faced multiple break-ins by poachers in recent years. In 2016, three rhinos were shot dead by poachers who broke into the reserve to cut off their horns.
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A few weeks ago game wardens shot three poachers dead and wounded two more.
Seems that the good guys/animals are winning.
I would much rather that they capture them alive, then chain them to a tree and soak them in chicken broth. The lions would prefer that too.
Tell me where we are not allowed to hunt on our land? What methods are you talking about?
BTW white privilege doesn't apply to me since I'm not white. That may be something that your stuck with though.
The poachers were breaking the law in their land. That being the case how are we telling them what to do with their resources?
Anyone seen Donald Jr. and Eric Trump recently? I know they've liked pretending to be hunters before... Nothing say's you're a "real man" like shooting a trapped endangered species from the protection of a Range Rover then bragging about it to all your sycophants.
Fingers crossed!
The Rhinos are being killed for their horns. I was very happy to see that today it was lions 3 and poachers 0.
Too bad there is no You Tube video of it. The bastards had in coming though.
I bet it feels horrible to be eaten alive by a lion.
I’ve always said that it would be better to be eaten by a lion than a bear. The lion will make sure you’re dead before it eats you. The bear will hold you down with one paw, strip your flash off with another, and eat you while you watch. In that sense, they got off easy.
Good kitties.
I wonder if these guys followed up on a "hold my beer" stunt?
Got just what they deserved
well i suspect they made the fatal mistake of seeing one and focused on it and the other two said " humm which one you want buddy"
and the end result is just fine with me.
Own a couple of cats. I sleep with one eye open.
Hmmmm.....so the lions ate some dirtbag poachers. Maybe that's why they call it a PRIDE of lions. They clean up the filth from the jungle.
There must be a better way to handle rhino horn poaching than hoping that the poachers are eaten by lions. Poaching is a big problem because rhino horn is highly prized in Asia. It’s an incredibly lucrative black market where a little bit of rhino horn is like hitting the lotto for a poor African. Lions are extraordinarily dangerous, especially at night, but they can be killed if the poachers are ready for them.
Rhino horn is made out of keratin, like fingernails, so it grows back when cut. Selling rhino horn is illegal, even if harvested, so poachers sneak in, needlessly slaughter rhinos, and run off. Poaching seems to be getting much worse. Is it time to consider making the sale of harvested horn legal or would that have no effect on poaching?
Or maybe Asians can just come to their senses and admit that rhino horn isn’t going to make you more verile or help your boner problems.
I've always been curious why Asians seem to have an obsession with sex. Do they have issues with ED and FSAD?
They have little ones like Trump!
Well, if they’re delusional enough to think the rhino horn changed that, then I’m sure their wives can tell them the truth.
Pretty much the very definition of poetic justice.