A devastating scene of about 86 dead vultures not only shocked ranger Joe Nkuna but left him with many questions.

Nkuna didn’t understand why such a horrific act happened on the verge of the end of his 29-year career at the Kruger National Park (KNP).  

When the KNP received a call from Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre about a tracked vulture which wasn’t moving, Nkuna delegated his team of rangers to track the GPS location to establish why it wasn’t moving.  

“They gave us the GPS coordinates. I gave them to my guys so they could see what was going on with the vulture,” said Nkuna, the South African National Parks (SANParks) KNP ranger who will retire at the end of March.  

“When they got here, they found there was a snared buffalo. Poachers managed to harvest some meat from the buffalo and laced the leftover carcass with poison. When vultures came to clean up [the carcass], the carcass killed them.  

“They radioed me. I drove all the way here [to the scene in Mooiplaas section]. I had to organise police to come and attend the crime scene. It was terrible. We lost about 86 vultures and a hyena.”

The passionate nature conservationist said he didn’t know if the poachers harvested body parts of the vultures or hyena. He said when they arrived at the scene the animals had decomposed.  

“After the investigations were done, we were given the go-ahead to burn the remains of the vultures,” he said.  

During a media tour on Tuesday, SANParks regional ranger Don English and section ranger Richard Sowry briefed journalists about the impact and pressures of poaching in the park.

“If you poison a carcass, anything that goes to the carcass is going to be affected. If you put a snare, anything that walks will be affected,” said English.  

He said population growth in areas adjacent to the park and socioeconomic challenges such as poverty, unemployment and crime syndicates have contributed to the increase in poaching.  

English said poaching in the northern side of the KNP was different to other sections not only in terms of the targeted species but also the methods used by poachers.  

"We are hit primarily by snare poachers and poisoning and there was quite a bit of livestock smuggling through the park. We managed to stop smuggling with efforts from Pafuri section rangers and communities. We are working very closely with the community to curb poaching.

"We have been caught up in rhino poaching. Rhino poachers come in and shoot maybe two or three rhinos.

"We conserve for biodiversity. We should have equalised all species. I think that's how we must look at it. Rhino poaching is targeting a species and that causes devastation."

English said there appears to be a concerted drive by poachers to exterminate the vulture population because the carrion-eating birds detect carcasses.  

"We have lost close to 2,000 vultures in the past few years. It has seriously impacted on the ecology of vultures."

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