A family of elephants at a watering hole File picture of elephants at Hluhluwe Imfolozi Park. Picture: Supplied
The Mawana Game Reserve in northern KwaZulu-Natal, from which elephants escaped and have been roaming in nearby villages, causing anger and safety fears among residents in surrounding communities, is working on solutions to resolve the problem.
This is according to Johannes van der Walt, who is one of the owners of the reserve.
Last week, The Mercury reported that herdsmen and residents encounter elephants daily, affecting their lives. In March, an elephant attacked a herdsman.
Van der Walt said the elephants have been escaping from the reserve since 2014, and an estimate of 40-45 free-roaming elephants remain.
He said the legal status of the elephants is Res Nullius, which means that they are ‘unowned’.
“As soon as a game reserve loses their Certificate of Adequate Enclosure, like we did in 2018 due to the state of our fences, that reserve cannot own the elephants anymore,” he said, adding that Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife is the guardian of all wildlife in the province and, therefore, the Mawana elephants are under their care and responsibility.
Van der Walt said nine elephants were recently destroyed by Ezemvelo after constant complaints by nearby communities.
According to Van der Walt, his father passed away due to cancer, which had hindered his ability to perform daily tasks like fence maintenance and addressing elephant breakouts.
“Mawana has always faced many challenges with poachers hunting illegally with dogs inside the reserve, fences being sabotaged and stolen for snaring our game, as well as organised armed poaching by syndicates from outside,” he said.
He said on three different occasions, the reserve was issued non-compliance notices by Ezemvelo, one of which was for non-compliance relating to the perimeter fence.
Mawana has suffered tremendous financial and personal losses in the past eight years, he said.
“We lost our brother-in-law too, who was trampled in February 2020 while herding back the elephants from a privately owned neighbouring farm.”
In 2017, he said Mawana Reserve explored creating a larger biosphere for elephants with an NGO. Various NGOs and third parties joined forces with the NGO, and a concept biosphere proposal ‘Loziba’ was submitted to the reserve, which would also accommodate black rhinos, van der Walt said.
“Significant amounts of funds and donations were received by these parties in the past seven years; many promises of new fences were made, but Mawana never received any financial assistance in order to address the state of the fences or to replace stolen fences,” said van der Walt, adding that the Mawana farms have also been subjected to unmerited land restitution land claims.
Van der Walt said elephant movements are monitored daily.
“A WhatsApp group has been established with community members and affected parties as participants. When elephants approach community land within close proximity to villages, an alarm is raised, and interventions are made.”
“Mawana is always involved in the herding back of the elephants, even recently, and has spent huge amounts on helicopter fees. Elephants are herded back to safe ground, away from communities and villages,” he said.
In addition, van der Walt said contraceptives are annually introduced to the elephant cows to curb their numbers.
“Mawana has submitted a proposal to the Minister of Fisheries, Forestry and Environment and to Ezemvelo a while back, where we proposed to make our land available to host the elephants as a sanctuary on Mawana. We have the land; we only need funds. This will assist Ezemvelo with the responsibility towards the elephants and keep the communities safe. We are still awaiting their response,” he said.
Van der Walt further explained that Mawana is in negotiations with an established APU (NPO, anti-poaching unit), Ezemvelo, and other NGOs.
“The APU will set up a base on Mawana to combat the high levels of poaching Mawana currently experiences. Also, to assist with the management of addressing the proposals which have been made to address the elephant/community situation by raising funds to mitigate immediate risks,” he said.
Van der Walt said other NGOs have also pledged funds in the past months.
“We humbly beseech all NGOs involved with elephant conservation for assistance. Apart from funds for fences, collars, monitors, satellite phones, etc, waterholes need to be filled for a sustainable water source on Mawana to keep the elephants from escaping to other water sources outside the reserve. In the longer term, perimeter fences may be expanded to accommodate the biosphere concept,” he said.
Department of Fisheries, Forestry and Environment spokesperson Peter Mbelengwa said the department is aware of the situation regarding the elephants in northern KZN.
“It is engaging with the provincial authority to find the most appropriate solutions for the animals and surroundings. Any other questions must be referred to the province.”
THE MERCURY
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