“A big cat poacher has been killed and eaten by the pride of lions he was hunting at a private game reserve in South Africa,” Daily Mail reports. “The hunter was heard screaming for help as he was attacked at the Ingwelala Private Nature Reserve in Hoedspruit outside Phalaborwa.” . . .
Police at first thought the dead man was a tractor driver who worked at the game reserve.
But when he [the tractor driver] turned up alive, they realised he [the guy who got eaten] may have been a poacher. A hunting rifle was found close to what was left of the blood drenched body.
A clue! A good clue! But that wasn’t all . . .
Police Lieutenant-Colonel Moatshe Ngoepe said: ‘The process of identifying this body has already commenced and it might be made easier as his head was amongst the remains found at the scene’.
A local worker, from a nearby nature reserve, described the area as lion territory and added: ‘The head was still there but the lions had eaten most of the rest.
Fun fact: lions kill up to 250 people a year in Africa.
That said, more lions are killed by people than the other way around (an estimated 20k African lions remain in the wild). And it’s not legal hunters doing it. It’s poachers looking for a payday.
Their bones have become highly prized in the the Far East with a skeleton fetching up to £7,000 and the skin £3,000. Teeth can fetch £500 each.
Once again, ethical licensed hunting is the best way to manage wildlife, regardless of the market for illegally killed creatures’ body parts or poachers’ economic desperation. A point that the Young Turks almost make . . .
