michali Posted March 30, 2009 Share #1 Posted March 30, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) M8.2 & 135mm Apo-Telyt You may recall that I posted a picture here last week Wednesday 25 March, entitled "Two Very Serious Customers". By some bizarre coincidence these same lions had an encounter with poachers on our game reserve the same night that I posted their picture here. Here's an excerpt of an article from a Johannesburg newspaper over the weekend describing the incident: A small game poacher spent two terrifying hours up a tree, trying to hide from two lions in the Munyawana Game Reserve in northern KwaZulu-Natal on Wednesday night. Police spokesperson, Captain Jabulani Mdletshe, said the man was one of a group of four poachers who went into the reserve to poach small game. "They managed to get a wild hog. On their return home, they were attacked by two lions," said Mdletshe. The group ran for their lives, but while his friends managed to get away, the lone poacher decided to hide up a tree, leaving his hunting dogs at the bottom to try and defend him. "All six his dogs were killed by the lions and lay scattered beneath the tree," said Mdletshe. The poacher finally found a chance to escape when the lions chased after a hyena, said Mdletshe. The man fled to his homestead and was taken to a clinic for treatment of severe injuries to his body. "His friends went to report the attack at the game reserve but when police arrived at the clinic he had already left," said Mdletshe. Kevin Pretorius, regional director for Phinda Private Game Reserve, of which the Munyawana forms part, said there was not usually a problem with poachers. A case of illegal hunting had been opened and police expected to arrest the poachers soon, Mdletshe said. - Sapa Thanks for viewing Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted March 30, 2009 Posted March 30, 2009 Hi michali, Take a look here Lions 1 - poachers 0. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
stuny Posted March 30, 2009 Share #2 Posted March 30, 2009 Mike - The trend of scoring I like best. Let's see what we can do to widen the edge. Excellent story and shot. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
maurometallo Posted March 30, 2009 Share #3 Posted March 30, 2009 Cool lions! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLV Posted March 30, 2009 Share #4 Posted March 30, 2009 Mike, Obviously they are not LUF users and didn't see you former post or they would have known that these 2 were serious customers... Great story where the bad don't win everytime. All the best Jean-Luc Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Alfy Posted March 30, 2009 Share #5 Posted March 30, 2009 Mike, A pity the poacher did not carry an M8 + 18 mm. A short range full screen shot of a menacing lion with blood drooling from its mouth would have been a real killer. Max Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin T-M Posted March 30, 2009 Share #6 Posted March 30, 2009 Mike, superb picture, it ends very well the story. I'm just sad for the dogs. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
leicanut2 Posted March 30, 2009 Share #7 Posted March 30, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) Hope the lions win everytime. Cheers Jan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vdb Posted March 31, 2009 Share #8 Posted March 31, 2009 Excellent story and image Mike. The only bad news is that the dogs lost. What loyalty eh? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
michali Posted March 31, 2009 Author Share #9 Posted March 31, 2009 Thank you everyone for your comments. I agree about the dogs, as Virgil said that's unconditional loyalty. I do also feel sad for the animals that have died horrible deaths in snares. This type of poaching is mainly for meat, to supply what we call the "bush meat trade". The problem is that it has the potential to escalate into full blown rhino and elephant poaching for rhino horn and ivory. We have healthy populations of highly endangered black rhino as well as white rhino and elephant. So one has to be absolutely ruthless in dealing with this. This story has spread throughout the area so I don't think that we'll see poachers for a while. We spend vast sums of money in uplifitng the rural communities around us, by creating jobs for them and skills training, building schools and clinics. However there are always criminal elements operating within any community. The latest news as of this morning is that all 4 of these guys have been arrested. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
azzo Posted March 31, 2009 Share #10 Posted March 31, 2009 Excellent story and image Mike. The only bad news is that the dogs lost. What loyalty eh? Yep indeed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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