Four arrested after poaching elephant tusk

May 26 2006 at 10:37AM

By Empangeni Bureau

In what is said to be the first ivory poaching incident recorded in the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Park, four people have been arrested for allegedly trying to sell an elephant tusk outside the Zululand game reserve last month.

The arrests of a woman and three men and the recovery of the huge tusk follow an investigation by the Richards Bay Organised Crime Unit.

Police were reluctant to disclose the estimated value of the tusk, thought to have been taken from an animal that had been attacked by a lion.

The huge specimen will be taken to the University of Cape Town for forensic analysis.


Four suspects were granted R10 000 bail in the Empangeni magistrate's court this week.

They are due to appear again on June 1 in connection with charges of theft of the tusk and of dealing in ivory.


This article was originally published on page 4 of The Mercury on May 26, 2006

"Help Stop Poaching." I guess that's why the DWR here in Nevada and Utah will never let anyone have those huge mule deer racks from freeway killed deer. (they need them for their own trophy rooms)

FWIW - I spent several days at Hluhluwe-Umfolozi in 2003 . We spent several hours at a river and watched as over 350 elephants came down to drink. Not one of them had ivory that was worth taking. It's very possible but I would be surprised to find a bull from that area with big enough tusks to make it worth poaching.

Just my .02 worth.