Poachers kill 249 animals in South Africa's Kruger park

Yahoo News 11 May 08;

Poachers have killed 249 animals in South Africa's largest game park, Kruger, in the last four years, including at least 44 white rhinos, an opposition parliamentarian said on Sunday, quoting official figures.

"A reply to a DA (Democratic Alliance) parliamentary question to the minister of environmental affairs and tourism has revealed that over the last four years at least 44 white rhinos and 31 buffaloes were killed by poachers," Gareth Morgan said in a statement.

"The jewel in the crown of South African conservation, the Kruger National Park, is the hotspot for poaching of mammals among the various parks managed by the South African National Parks. In total 249 mammals were killed by poachers in Kruger during this (2004 and 2007) period," he said.

Morgan, DA's spokesperson on environmental affairs, later told AFP that the figures "were provided to me by the minister on Friday in a written reply to my query on the issue".

He said that the Kruger figures might be much higher as "many of the animals killed by poachers disappear without a trace".

Kruger National Park has the ability to monitor poaching, unlike a majority of the other 21 parks in the country, he said.

A total of 8,665 marine species were poached last year at the Table Mountain National Park, compared with 4,578 in 2006 and 3,378 in 2005.