Letter: Other options to shooting Sylvester

CUSTOS naturae (guardians of nature) – this is the legend which SANParks not only proudly displays under its kudu logo, but has purportedly presented as its core mission from day one.

Not so long ago, a bull elephant was strolling along a road in the Kruger National Park. A carload of visitors tailed the animal by driving right behind it at such close proximity, that the elephant, due to its large protruding mid section and its flapping ears, was unable to see it, but, knew it was there.

Eventually, the elephant apparently, according to eye witnesses, turned around and rolled the car over. Regrettably a passenger was unsurprisingly injured.

The animal was shot! Who was to blame?

The elephant going about its life in its own environment and territory, or visitors who, I grant, had no intention of irritating the beast, but who acted nevertheless irresponsibly? SANParks decided the animal was too dangerous to exist and shot it. Custos naturae!

Sylvester the lion escapes from the Karoo National Park. He kills 28 sheep, a cow, and a kudu.

He is returned back to the park after R800 000 is spent on the exercise. Sylvester escapes again supposedly by crawling under the park fence at a point where the ground is eroded by rain.

This time, and might I add, so far, he has killed a cow. Naturally the fear is that this, the largest of Africa’s land predators, might attack a human.

The decision is taken to find the lion and kill it. Clearly the authorities have concluded it is a dangerous animal worthy of destroying.

According to a SANParks spokesman, the lion has now got a GPS collar, yet it has managed to stray 20km away from the park. Despite the fact that this lion has demonstrated character, guile and resourcefulness, nobody has had comparable character or honesty to admit that bad fence management and poor monitoring of the lion allegedly is totally to blame.

The fact that there are other options that could easily be employed in the interests of the lion such as relocation is curious, to say the least. If finance is a significant factor, which it no doubt is, I would on the blind guarantee that a dozen sponsors await to assist at a drop of the right word. Custos naturae!

By the time this letter is published, chances are Sylvester is no more.

(Information was obtained from News 24, Algoa FM and You Tube.)