South Africa Elephant Poacher Gets 20-year Sentence
12/23/99
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Title: S. Africa elephant poacher gets 20-year sentence
Source: Reuters
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: December 23, 1999
Byline: Ed Stoddard
Conservationists welcomed a 20-year jail term today handed down to a
South African elephant poacher, saying stiff sentences were needed to
protect the continent's endangered wildlife.
"We can only applaud the fact the court has handed down a harsh
sentence...we welcome any deterrent to would-be poachers," Sarah
Scarth, the director of the South African branch of the International
Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), told Reuters.
A regional court on Wednesday sentenced Shalate Khoza to 20 years in
prison after he was found in the renowned Kruger National Park in
July with elephant meat, an automatic rifle and nine rounds of
ammunition, park spokesman William Mabasa said.
Khoza later took wardens to the carcass of a bull elephant he had
shot for its 65 kilogramme (143 pound) tusks which he had hacked off.
The sentence, the longest ever for a poaching case in South Africa,
included 10 years for killing an elephant in a national park and 10
years for arms-related offences.
At the time of his arrest, Khoza was wanted for killing a black rhino
in Kruger Park in September 1998 - a crime which earned him a 10-year
sentence. The 10 and 20-year terms will run concurrently."This will
send a clear message to poachers that they cannot go into a park and
kill animals at will," Mabasa told Reuters.
"We really need strong sentences to help with our conservation
efforts," said Dr. Leo Braack, the head of the Kruger Park's
conservation department.
Mabasa said heavily armed poachers were also a threat to wardens and
even tourists in the country's game parks and needed to be treated as
dangerous criminals.
Kenya several years ago introduced a "shoot-to-kill" policy for
dealing with poachers.
IFAW's Scarth said poaching in South Africa would worsen if the
country went ahead with its controversial plan to auction about 28
tonnes of ivory next year, after similar one-off sales to Japanese
buyers this year by Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe.
The three countries say the proceeds from the sales are being
ploughed back into conservation projects but many environmentalists
claim a fresh supply of ivory on the market will be like a red rag
for poachers.
The total ban on ivory sales, imposed in 1989, is widely credited
with stemming the slaughter of Africa's elephants.