DAILY SUN MPUMALANGA wildlife authorities have warned members of the public against butchering wild animals that stray into their villages. This follows the slaughter of a hippopotamus that was found grazing near Ngwarele River at Garelane Village in Bushbuckridge last week. “Hippos kill more people than any other animals in the world . . . so people must stay away from them. “They must report sightings to tourism authorities or the police. “They might have succeeded in killing this one, but next time they will be hurt because it is not easy to control such an animal when it is angry,” warned the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency’s enforcement manager, April Lukhele. April said while human beings normally run 10km per hour, hippos were four times faster. He added that it is illegal to kill hippos in South Africa. “Those who are arrested for killing hippos can face big fines,” he said. Villagers who were involved in killing the animal refused to give their names. “We tried to call the tourism authorities so that they could catch it or remove the hippos from the infested river but they arrived very late. “That’s when community members came with pangas and made sure they killed the animal,” said one community leader.
Posted on: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 16:12:25 +0000
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