Human remains found in a South African game reserve are believed to be those of a gang of rhino poachers who ran into a pack of lions.
Reserve owner Nick Fox told RNews that one of the reserve’s specially trained anti-poaching dogs first raised the alert that something was amiss in the early hours of Monday morning, but the bodies were not discovered until the following day.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"At about 4.30pm on Tuesday, one of our field guides on game drive alerted the Anti-Poaching Unit that there appeared to be human remains as well as other items in the immediate vicinity of the lions,” he said.
These items included “all the hallmarks of a gang intent on killing rhino and removing their horns”, Fox said, including a “high-powered rifle, gloves, wire cutters and the remains of a backpack”.
“The axe that was found on the scene is what is used to by these poachers to hack off the horn after they kill the animal,” he added.
Initial reports suggested that a lone poacher had been attacked, but further investigation of the grisly scene suggested at least two people were devoured by the pride.
“Judging from the shoes and items found on the scene‚ I suspect it is about two or maybe three,” Fox told DispatchLive.
The Eastern Cape are is a “hotbed for rhino poaching”, The South African reports, with nine rhinos having already fallen victim to poachers this year.
-
Nasa’s new dark matter mapUnder the Radar High-resolution images may help scientists understand the ‘gravitational scaffolding into which everything else falls and is built into galaxies’
-
Is the US about to lose its measles elimination status?Today's Big Question Cases are skyrocketing
-
‘No one is exempt from responsibility, and especially not elite sport circuits’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Israel retrieves final hostage’s body from GazaSpeed Read The 24-year-old police officer was killed during the initial Hamas attack
-
China’s Xi targets top general in growing purgeSpeed Read Zhang Youxia is being investigated over ‘grave violations’ of the law
-
Panama and Canada are negotiating over a crucial copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
-
US nabs ‘shadow’ tanker claimed by RussiaSpeed Read The ship was one of two vessels seized by the US military
-
How Bulgaria’s government fell amid mass protestsThe Explainer The country’s prime minister resigned as part of the fallout
-
Femicide: Italy’s newest crimeThe Explainer Landmark law to criminalise murder of a woman as an ‘act of hatred’ or ‘subjugation’ but critics say Italy is still deeply patriarchal
