SANParks: Respect our animals
Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2014 3:46 pm
2014-01-21
Cape Town - It's been less than a month since the controversial Kruger National Park killing of an elephant that charged and injured two tourist after they got too close for comfort - and yet another video has emerged of a similar situation with lions.
Two children can be seen hanging out of a car window, less than 3 metres away from two lions. The male lion eventually assumes an attack position and gives off a warning growl.
SANparks Acting Head of Communications, Reynold Thakhuli said, “Unfortunately if the lion had mauled the children we would have been faced with same situation of having to put the animal down.
“Once these wild animals have human contact and taste human blood we have to put them down.”
Thakhuli said it was disappointing that people chose to “take a grand stand approach to these incidents instead of reporting it to the authorities”.
“Visitors must respect the SANParks rules and respect our animals, which includes remaining in your car at all times and keeping a 50m distance between you and the animals,” Thakhuli said.
“I appeal to our visitors to report these incidents to us instead of posting it to social media.
“Upon entering the park people are given a pamphlet detailing the code of good game viewing. We rely on our visitors to familiarise themselves with these rules and to adhere to them.
“The scourge of rhino poaching has the park's limited resources stretched and we cannot police everybody that comes into the park."
South African law requires SANParks to submit a written statement of an eye-witness account along with video footage in order to prosecute individuals who break the rules.
Visitors who witness an incident are advised to report it to the nearest camp reception or to a park manager at the nearest Kruger entry point, along with the registration details of the car involved.
Incidents can also be reported to the park’s 24hr emergency call centre – 013 735 4325
“We have taken action before to reported incidents with fines between R500 and R5 000 being issued. In some instances we have in fact banned people from coming to the park. But we need people to report the incidents before we can do something,” Thakhuli said
Cape Town - It's been less than a month since the controversial Kruger National Park killing of an elephant that charged and injured two tourist after they got too close for comfort - and yet another video has emerged of a similar situation with lions.
Two children can be seen hanging out of a car window, less than 3 metres away from two lions. The male lion eventually assumes an attack position and gives off a warning growl.
SANparks Acting Head of Communications, Reynold Thakhuli said, “Unfortunately if the lion had mauled the children we would have been faced with same situation of having to put the animal down.
“Once these wild animals have human contact and taste human blood we have to put them down.”
Thakhuli said it was disappointing that people chose to “take a grand stand approach to these incidents instead of reporting it to the authorities”.
“Visitors must respect the SANParks rules and respect our animals, which includes remaining in your car at all times and keeping a 50m distance between you and the animals,” Thakhuli said.
“I appeal to our visitors to report these incidents to us instead of posting it to social media.
“Upon entering the park people are given a pamphlet detailing the code of good game viewing. We rely on our visitors to familiarise themselves with these rules and to adhere to them.
“The scourge of rhino poaching has the park's limited resources stretched and we cannot police everybody that comes into the park."
South African law requires SANParks to submit a written statement of an eye-witness account along with video footage in order to prosecute individuals who break the rules.
Visitors who witness an incident are advised to report it to the nearest camp reception or to a park manager at the nearest Kruger entry point, along with the registration details of the car involved.
Incidents can also be reported to the park’s 24hr emergency call centre – 013 735 4325
“We have taken action before to reported incidents with fines between R500 and R5 000 being issued. In some instances we have in fact banned people from coming to the park. But we need people to report the incidents before we can do something,” Thakhuli said
