A poacher has been sentenced to 23 years in prison for rhino poaching and other offences by the Skukuza Regional Court. Mozambique's Alsony Alberto Valoyi pleaded guilty to six rhino poaching-related charges after he was arrested inside the Kruger National Park (KNP) in November 2016.
Meanwhile three rhino poaching suspects have been arrested on separate incidents in the past seven days at Lower Sabie section of the park.
Managing executive of the KNP Gareth Coleman has congratulated all the teams involved in the arrests and successful conviction of suspects saying, “In the last seven days, we have noticed 25 poaching activities, indicating the relentless onslaught that is being waged against our natural heritage by criminal syndicates. We are grateful to have colleagues who are equal to the task of protecting our fauna and flora and continue to call on our communities to match the efforts of the rangers for us to defeat these criminals. We thank the tourists who assisted in one of the arrests and encourage everyone to be vigilant and report any suspicious activities.”
Local researchers are working on a potentially new method to deter rhino poachers and smugglers by using radioactive markers to make smuggled horns detectable...
Akhona Matshoba and Tanisha Heiberg 7 Jun 2021
South African National Parks (SANParks) also expressed its shock at the brazen killing of a suspected poaching kingpin in Hazyview on Thursday, 17 June, who was due to face trial soon in connection with a spate of rhino poaching cases.
