I Love It When Stuff Like This Happens!

[dales]

Three Rhino Poachers Eaten By Lions in South Africa
Christina Zhao 3 hrs ago


© Provided by IBT Media
A pride of lions ate a group of poachers after they broke into a game reserve earlier this week in South Africa to hunt rhinoceroses.

Three men were believed to have been eaten alive by the predators sometime between Sunday night and Monday morning after they entered the Sibuya Game Reserve in Kenton-on-Sea to hunt rhinos, Nick Fox, the park’s owner, told Newsweek.

After the incident, authorities recovered the remains of their parts, three pairs of shoes, wire cutters, high-powered hunting rifles fitted with silencers and a type of ax that is commonly used by poachers to remove rhino horns.

“The only body part we found was one skull and one bit of pelvis, everything else was completely gone,” Fox said. “There is so little left that they don’t know exactly how many people were killed, we suspect three because we found three sets of shoes and three sets of gloves.”

Fox also revealed that rhino poaching groups usually consist of three people.

Although Fox admits that the incident was tragic, he also noted that it should send a “message” to other poachers who risk their lives to hunt game in his reserve.

At around 4.30 a.m. on Monday morning, one of Sibuya’s anti-poaching dogs gave her handler a warning that something was wrong. The handler then heard a commotion from the lions but didn’t investigate as there usually is around the early hours. This is when authorities believed the incident occurred.

One day later, one of the reserve’s rangers then stumbled upon the remains of the poachers. After immediately alerting the police, the staffers decided to continue their investigation the next morning as it was getting dark.

On Wednesday, Sibuya employees and police found the poachers’ gear scattered through the thick bushes.
“They [found] an ax and high-powered rifle with a silencer, which is a surefire sign of rhino poachers,” Fox said.
Captain Mali Govender, a police spokesperson, revealed that detectives are investigating the incident to determine exactly how many people were eaten.

“We do not know identities, but firearms have been taken by the police and will be sent to the ballistics laboratory to see if they have been used in poaching before,” she said.
The search party also enlisted the assistance of a helicopter to locate any survivors. None have been found at
the time this article was published.

Sibuya is one of the most popular game reserves in the South African province of Eastern Cape. The facility boasts 30 square miles of wildlife and contains Africa’s big five game animals: lions, rhinos, elephants, buffalos and leopards.

Due to its prominence and collection of animals, the park has faced multiple break-ins by poachers in recent years. In 2016, three rhinos were shot dead by poachers who broke into the reserve to cut off their horns.

[Scooter]

Was any of them named Trump?

[Joe Guy]

Instant Karma! They attempted to steal and became a meal.

[BoSoxGal]

Way to go, lions!

[Big RR]

While part of me believes they got what they deserved, I still think the wrong people were attacked. My guess is that these were uneducated, poor people doing the best they could to make a living and providing rhino horns to wealthy smugglers who sell them to rich people. It's the other end of the equation that should be so-punished, but like in many other areas, that never happens. So we have a few poor families without fathers now, and the smugglers and rich buyers go on unscathed.

[Joe Guy]

[Long Run]

From Captain Phillips: There's gotta be something other than being a fisherman and kidnapping people.

There are plenty of people upstream to target, but if that is successful, then these poachers will do what they would have done otherwise. And that is what they should have been doing instead of attempting to commit this heinous crime. Just because they are not the worst actors in this vile trade, doesn't make them sympathetic.

[Big RR]

LR--I agree they're not blameless, but if there was no market for the rhino horns, these guys would not be hunting them. It's just a lot easier to go after these guys than to go after the smugglers who make boatloads of money, or the customers who have the money to set this whole thing in motion. And in my estimation, it is those smugglers and customers who are far more culpable than the poacher.

Perhaps some prefer to do this, but I think most would rather have another way of feeding their families than poaching and risking death. so as far as I can see, there are two better ways to address this problem--find jobs for the poachers so they can do something more helpful to their communities, and stop the demand by targeting the customers and the smugglers.

As for being "sympathetic" , they are the ones being killed so some jerk can get a hardon (or think he's younger or whatever); the customer loses nothing.

[Econoline]

You don't have to be from Detroit to cheer for these lions!

Bon appetit!

[Crackpot]

Our lions don’t give us reason to cheer

[Lord Jim]

A pride of lions ate a group of poachers after they broke into a game reserve earlier this week in South Africa to hunt rhinoceroses.

Looks like the animals there have a very effective Neighborhood Watch program...

[Econoline]

Nice kitty...nice kitty...nighty-night...

[Sue U]

A pride of lions ate a group of poachers after they broke into a game reserve earlier this week in South Africa to hunt rhinoceroses.

I didin't even know that lions hunted rhinoceroses.

A pride of lions ate a group of poachers after they who had broken into a game reserve earlier this week in South Africa to hunt rhinoceroses.

FTFY, IBT Media.

[Big RR]

Taking Meade's place Sue?

[Sue U]

I waited, but I could no longer be a mere bystander to crime.

[Bicycle Bill]

I waited, but I could no longer be a mere bystander to crime.

If by 'crime' you mean the murder of the English language, that happened so long ago that the only thing anyone might be guilty of nowadays is mutilation of the corpse.

-"BB"-

[BoSoxGal]

I waited, but I could no longer be a mere bystander to crime.

If by 'crime' you mean the murder of the English language, that happened so long ago that the only thing anyone might be guilty of nowadays is mutilation of the corpse.

-"BB"-

The words of a man who doesn’t read . . .

[Gob]