In a heartbreaking incident, nine elephants were destroyed on a farm near Vryheid, Northern KwaZulu-Natal, after they allegedly posed a serious threat to nearby communities. The large mammals reportedly escaped from the Mawana Game Reserve through a broken fence, sparking widespread concern among residents in the surrounding areas.
According to Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife spokesperson Musa Mntambo, the elephants had been a persistent problem, with their presence causing fear and disruption.
He emphasised that the elephants have been harassing the Mawana community for a considerable time, not shying away from confrontation, and causing damage in the areas they passed through.
Additionally, he highlighted a deadly encounter earlier this year. “They killed a shepherd in April 2024 while he was looking after his cattle, and at the time we could not destroy them,” said Mntambo, noting that Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife did not have the necessary permits to take action against the roaming elephants at that time.
The situation escalated on Saturday, 31 August 2024, when the elephants wandered onto a private farm near Vryheid.
The owner of the farm quickly contacted Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, fearing for the safety of the people on the property. “The elephants put the lives of the people on the property at risk, and we unfortunately had no option but to destroy them,” said Mntambo.
Furthermore, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife initially sent out a team by helicopter to confirm the presence of the elephants. After verifying the situation, they attempted to seek assistance in collaring the elephants and chasing them away. When this effort proved unsuccessful, the decision was made to destroy the elephants due to the ongoing threat they posed to human life and property.
However, the aftermath of the incident has sparked controversy. This comes as the Human Elephant Foundation has now voiced its disapproval, stating that Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife did not possess the necessary permits to destroy the elephants.
The Foundation is now seeking a court interdict to prevent further destruction of animals under similar circumstances.
Mntambo, however, clarified Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife’s position, emphasising that they had a standing permit to destroy damage-causing animals. “We use the standing permit from time to time when animals pose a threat and are prone to causing damage. However, it should be pointed out, there are two types of permits, one which would allow for the destruction of roaming elephants and one that allows to destroy animals in a property,” he said.
While Ezemvelo did not have the permit for roaming elephants, Mntambo stressed that once the animals entered private property, they could legally be destroyed under the correct permit.
As the death of these nine elephants leaves many in a state of reflection and debate, what are your thoughts on this incident?
Share your views in the comments below.
Comments 14
Are you trying to tell me that NONE of the elephant focussed charities who obtain hundreds of millions of Rands from donations, could not step in and remove these amazing animals? I guess doing nice adverts to attract people’s donations is more important. It is sickening to see that a wildlife organisation slaughtered 9 elephants. Can you imagine the chaos as this unfolded and what these intelligent animals were going through while these idiots butchered them.
Well said. It’s shocking that such a massacre was carried out when solutions could have been found for this herd which so many different interests battled over for years.. in the end, humans failed again and these poor elephants paid the price. The trauma among the remaining herd after these brutal killings is hard to imagine. Action is needed to save them!
Your questions 100% spot on, why didn’t the greenies and tree huggers cut a cheque for the safe capture and return of these elephants?
This seems to be a problem that has been ongoing with these elephants for many months and i’m sure Ezemvelo did every thing in their power and limited resources to remedy this situation before resorting and taking the unfortunate decision to cull this herd.
Was it a slaughtering, butchering session? I find that hard to accept and an unjustifiable accusation against Ezemvelo.
Could it have been avoided? 100% yes it could have, if only these greedy ignorant fools, that you so correctly pointed out, had stepped in and used the tens of millions of rands sitting in their bank accounts and funded a darting program and relocation of these elephants back to their natural reserve.
I blame the tree huggers for this, as all they every do is talk and never put their money where their mouths are. Shame on you fools, if you want to spend money on conservation send you money to Ezemvelo so they can afford to do the right thing without being hampered by limited funds.But you won’t, as it docent suite your woke narrative.
Exactly, good points made! It is pathetic to see so called elephant focussed charities claiming to be the drivers of conservation and positioning themselves as the protectors for these creatures. Yet, they do all of this from lavish offices, with fancy coffee machines and no clue of the actual challenges faced by organisations such as Ezemvelo. They are never in the bush, never hunt, walk the land or deal with communities. They are social media worriers more focussed on generating income through striking emotional cords with people through beautiful marketing campaigns than committing to tangible results. These animals could have been saved and relocated, it is that simply.
Many questions are raised, why are the communities invading the Emzemvelo area, which was zoned for a wildlife area, building their homes near the area shouldn’t have being allowed, due to their greed innocent animals had to be killed, obviously those people didn’t think, they saw land and choose to invade the space, second of all did the intelligence of the Emzemvelo heads not think to contact the ‘ tree huggers’ as you kindly call animal lovers, to assist in the removal of the elephants no it’s just to easy to kill an animal, for selfish reasons. I am sure if an elephant santacury was contacted they would have assisted, in my opinion these elephants were killed for the community to have free meat……this is so disgusting that cause of selfish reasons animals need to be slaughtered.
That’s not tirie. The elephants where used for years and years by land developers and they have done nothing to help the communities except make them empty promoses for over five years.The Land Developerss are to blame for thos as he wa informed butt his play straigjt inot his jands to eep raising money to his private companoes to Save the Elephants.!! Its Corruption dosguised as Conservation!!Shocking tje people should be in jail.
True …
the real killers who gave these elephants a death sentance are Private Investment companies owned by Grant Fwolds and James Arnott.
The have raised over R8,000,000,00 and mich more.plus lead lavish lifestyles
Watcj them use this slaughter to try and raise more money.
.I Hope the governemnt at highest levels also prosecutes them for fraudulent fundraising.
I am so hurt and angry about the elephants they could have been moved to another reserve why kill them shame on you
What a load of legal bull from Ezemvelo. The capture and translocation of elephants is feasible and a fairly common practise. The gunmen always rule when weak people do not come forward,
This is horrible! So many elephants killed in one go. Why couldn’t Ezemvelo cooperate with another elephant organization to relocate them to a safer place or sanctuary. In my opinion, this started awhile ago and they had enough time to find an alternative solution other than killing them. With due respect to the game reserve, I’m certain that an investigation would have informed on the reasons for the elephants dangerous behavior.
Unfortunately this article is full of half truths and misnomers…
AND some seriously bad information.
Massive issues of dark CONservation at work..The Human Elephants Foundation suddenly has money for PR spins but havent been in the area to assist communities for years!
Watch them go a pleading run for more money to Save The Elephants.
The man who asked for help has been made empty promises for years.
I hope the governement stops this outrageous attempts to raise money on tragedy.
Unreal that no research conducted by the writer.
Are you on crack? Did you read the article? The statements are not from the Human Elephant Foundation, they are from Ezemvelo’s spokesperson. The Human Elephant crowd only commented in the article. Get off of drugs and learn to read.
The bunny huggers are at it again. Elephant populations across SA is out of control. The KNP can only house 18000 elephant. The current elephant population exceed 32000 The park is being destroyed and along with it will go most other species aswell. Time to recoke the moratorium on culling. If not our wildlife will be destroyed. Otherwise we need to start culling humans to make space for the ellies
Anyone want fresh elephant chops?
Visit me at the municipality. Special price for you