Outrcry after private game reserve’s truant elephant shot

A wandering elephant on an Eastern Cape reserve owned by a wealthy Arab sheik was shot dead at the weekend in a heart-breaking conclusion to a wretched saga of wildlife mismanagement.

News of the shooting has sparked an outcry from conservationists‚ who said if the authorities had clamped down harder and sooner on the owner after previous evidence of mismanagement – including not maintaining electrified fences and failing to address elephant herd dynamics – the shooting could have been avoided.

Blaauwbosch Private Game Reserve near Kleinpoort is owned by Khalaf Ahmed Khalaf Al Otaiba‚ a prominent member of a powerful United Arab Emirates (UAE) dynasty who also owns Port Elizabeth’s Edward Hotel and Thaba Manzi Game Farm near Humansdorp.

The 4 000ha reserve was a booming five-star operation which had 65 staff when it was bought by the sheik in 2008. Today it is manned by a single foreman. More in The Herald.

- TMG Digital/HeraldLIVE