Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife (Ezemvelo) released a statement on 19 January with plans to translocate the 69 elephants from Phongola Nature Reserve (PNR).
They noted the conflict caused between the elephants and the locals, explaining how ‘the elephants first started roaming out of Pongolo Game Reserve East (PGRE) to PNR around 2015, when the Phongola River dried up. The PGRE is a private game reserve authorised in 1997 to introduce elephants by the then-Natal Parks Board. By November 2016, these PGCE-owned elephants had found their way to the Eastern Shores section of PNR, where they have been multiplying over the years, destroying the PNR biodiversity and causing conflict with community members who have been using that area.’
Ezemvelo has reached out to PGRE multiple times to propose that they catch and translocate the elephants back into their game reserve. ‘To date, there has been some reluctance by the PGRE to relocate the elephants to their facility.’
In more recent discussions, Ezemvelo has engaged with NGOs, including Conservation Solutions and the Apinall Foundation, to either translocate the elephants back to PGRE or identify national and international protected areas (PA) with capacity for the 69 elephants. The NGOs have committed to funding the translocations as well as providing their expertise and resources to get it done safely.
They are hoping to move the first batch of elephants in March/April 2023 ‘should a new PA be secured’ by then. Although, translocations outside of the country could take up to a year to complete.
The NGOs will do an elephant count next week, as well as search for any crime scenes that have yet to be identified.
Siphesihle Mkhize, Acting CEO of Ezemvelo, said that ‘elephants are a big problem not only in KZN but in South Africa as a whole. We no longer have sufficient land to keep them… I also appeal to protected areas with extra space for elephants to contact us. We will donate the elephants. We have already secured funding from our partners who have already committed to pay for the translocation to any protected area inside or outside of South Africa.’
Pictures: GettyImages
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