WATCH | Farmer’s heartbreak as lions and tiger poisoned
The owners of a private game farm in Limpopo are still reeling over the deaths of three lions and a tiger that were poisoned.
The big cats – lions Kai‚ Elvis‚ Hercules‚ and the park’s golden tabby tiger Taariq - suffered an excruciating death when they were poisoned at the Jugomaro Predator Park outside Lephalale in Limpopo on May 25.
In a heart-breaking Facebook post on Monday‚ the park thanked the vet who had travelled 100km with medicine in a race against time to try and save the animals.
But it was a mission that proved unsuccessful.
“We would like to thank the only vet who travelled 100km with medicine to try save our cats‚ Dr Marius Du Toit‚ from Bela-Bela. Sadly it was too late‚” the post read.
We would like to thank the only Vet who travelled 100km with medicine to try save our cats, Dr Marius Du Toit from...
Posted by Jugomaro Predator Park SA 2.0 on Sunday, May 27, 2018
“As South Africans we hear daily of how our pets‚ especially domestic dogs‚ have been poisoned with Temik‚ also known as Two Step‚ for criminals to break into homes. We should all push to have this deadly poison banned. It’s a very painful death.”
According to police‚ the owner of the park was woken up by his barking dogs in the early hours of Friday. When he went outside to investigate he found the cages‚ where the lions and tiger were kept‚ open.
One lion was battling to breathe at the entrance while two others and the tiger were already dead.
The reserve owners said they were “beyond heartbroken”.
“It feels like our lives have just been broken into a million pieces.”
Preliminary police investigations led to discovery of meat close to where the animals died. There have been no arrests.