Delinquent elephant responsible for ranger’s death

ONE of the three "delinquent" elephants destroyed in the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife staff last week has been identified as having being responsible for the death of Imfolozi trails manager Fortune Mkhize earlier this year, as well as for the deaths of three white rhinos in the last 10 days. The young elephant bull was seen by a visitor attacking a white rhino near the bridge over the Black Umfolozi River on July 20. Field staff from the Imfolozi section went to the scene immediately where they found the fresh carcase of an adult male white rhino but were unable to locate the elephant that had by then moved off into the darkening bush. In the late afternoon of July 22 staff managed to locate and positively identify the elephant amongst the herd and decided to shoot the animal from the air. According to Ezemvelo, this was speedily done with minimal disturbance of the herd. After a close examination of the animal and comparison with photographs, staff were able to identify the elephant as the one responsible for Mkhize's death earlier this year. (Lucy Siebert)