Poachers switching from rhino to elephant

Not satisfied with slaughtering rhino for their horns, poachers are increasingly setting their sights on South Africa's elephants.

An estimated 35,000 elephants are killed each year across the continent, with poachers moving south from Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia and Kenya towards Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Namibia - and now SANParks has confirmed that poaching has started to take hold in South Africa.

Between January 1 and March 17 this year, 11 elephants were killed in the Kruger National Park; an average of one a week. This is on the back of figures that show how poaching almost doubled from 24 incidents in 2015 to 46 last year.

There was one incident of an elephant's tusks being removed in the Hluhluwe/iMfolozi Park last year, but Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife spokesman Musa Mntambo said the animal had probably died of natural causes, with the tusks taken by opportunistic rhino poachers.

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While nowhere near as bad as poaching levels in East Africa - where as many as 50 elephants are killed a day - the increased levels in the Kruger are a worry for parks authorities.

In the Kruger, 2,883 poaching-related incidents were recorded, including the discovery of poaching camps and the tracks of poachers; rangers coming into contact with poachers; and gunshots being heard.

SANParks spokesman Rey Thakhuli said: "Given what is happening with rhino-poaching dynamics in the Kruger and South Africa, and increased elephant poaching in countries further north and to the east of South Africa, it is rather inevitable that there will be a shift to include elephant poaching in the Kruger National Park, and possibly in the elephant range areas within the country.

"We are already seeing a shift and an escalation in elephant-poaching activity in the Kruger."

Kruger's 19,500km² of fenced park is home to an estimated elephant population of about 17,000.

Environmental activist Carla Geyser - who last year led an all-woman team on an expedition through southern African countries, Tanzania and Kenya to assist anti-elephant-poaching organisations - said that people tended to focus on what was happening to rhinos in South Africa.

"Not many people are aware of [elephant poaching]. It's crazy and we need to do something about it."

Department of Environmental Affairs figures show that 1,054 rhino were poached across the country in 2016, compared to 1,175 the year before. Of these, 662 were in the Kruger.