Kruger National Park has received a R1,75m donation from the SANParks Honorary Rangers to assist in its efforts to fight rhino poaching in the park. The rangers also provided Kruger National Park with counter poaching equipment to be used by its rangers.
Kruger National Park has a major poaching problem, with 196 rhino having already been poached this year. This surpasses the previous annual record of 146 rhino killed by poachers in 2010, and is a major portion of the 347 rhino that have been poached in South Africa this year.
The donation was orchestrated by ‘Unite Against Poaching’ which is a partnership between the SANParks Honorary Rangers and Unitrans VW and Audi dealers. The car dealers donates R500 to counter poaching for every vehicle they sell.
Managing Executive of the Kruger National Park, Abe Sibiya, welcomed the donation, saying the rangers faced a number of challenges and, given the financial constraints, were not always adequately equipped. He added that dealing with poachers was a very complicated issue because they kept changing tactics and the rangers needed to constantly adapt to confront the new tactics.