BEAUFORT WEST NEWS - SANParks continues to lead and gain ground in its rhino campaign efforts.
A suspect arrested inside Karoo National Park outside Beaufort West in the Western Cape while allegedly attempting to poach rhino, was recently sentenced in the Cape Town Regional Court to five years’ imprisonment.
The incident took place on 30 August last year when three men from a rhino poaching syndicate in Limpopo province illegally entered the Park with the intention to kill a critically endangered black rhino for its horns. They gained entry by cutting a hole in the electrified game fence and tracked rhino spoor in an attempt to shoot one of the animals for its horns.
SANParks Field Rangers discovered the hole in the fence and tracked the spoor of the three suspects. One of the men, Alexandre Dias Shintlhangu was arrested, while the other two suspects fled the scene despite tracking conducted by SANParks Field Rangers, SAPS members and private landowners. A rifle fitted with a homemade silencer, 13 live rounds, a large axe and various other poaching equipment were recovered.
Read more on our sister publication, Graaff-Reinet Advertiser.
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