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File image | A rhino is photographed during a rescue operation.
Members of four of the top five rhino poaching groups active in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) have been arrested.
A data analyst of the KZN conservation body Ezemvelo, Laura Fynn, says the fifth group has been put out of action permanently.
This was revealed during a get-together with Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and game rangers at the Hluhluwe–Imfolozi Park.
Fynn says instead of trying to arrest all the poaching groups, they started to concentrate their efforts on the top 5.
She says the next 5 list have been identified.
“On our known poachers, especially those who are out on bail, because we have a challenge with the NPA we conduct something that we call tea and coffee where we just decide to go and visit them at odd hours and have tea and coffee with them. It’s just a term that we use to visit them at night and remind them that we’re still here. So, that’s a form of strategy that we use to deter them from coming back to the park,” says Fynn.
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