Durban: Residents of the Nongoma region in KwaZulu-Natal harvested meat from an elephant that was put down after straying outside Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park (HiP) this week.
Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife said that on Tuesday it received reports of six elephants roaming in the Vuna area, a significant distance from their protected habitat.
Late in the day, an Ezemvelo official was dispatched to confirm the sighting. While the report was verified, fading daylight forced officials to delay intervention until the following morning.
The situation became more complicated overnight, as the elephants moved further into the Masokaneni region. Efforts to guide the elephants back to the reserve on Wednesday, January 22, were hindered by adverse weather conditions, which grounded Ezemvelo’s helicopter. Assistance was sought from Heligistix, whose chopper enabled officials to successfully guide five of the elephants back to the safety of the park.
Unfortunately, one elephant, believed to be injured, had to be destroyed.
Musa Mntambo, communications manager for Ezemvelo, explained the difficult decision: “The elephant was destroyed for safety reasons as well as its own wellbeing. This decision is never made lightly but was necessary under the circumstances to ensure the safety of both the community and the animal.”
Following the incident, members of the local community gathered at the site and began harvesting the meat from the destroyed elephant. A video of the residents harvesting the meat was shared on social media.
Ezemvelo clarified its stance on such practices, emphasising that they are not opposed to the community utilising the meat in such instances.
“We do not object to community members utilising the meat, provided that all parts required for conservation and management purposes are first removed,” Mntambo said.
However, Ezemvelo expressed concern about the sharing of videos and images of such incidents on social media.
Mntambo urged residents to exercise restraint, saying, “We strongly appeal to the community to refrain from posting videos or images of such incidents on social media. These posts can create a negative perception of the province and Ezemvelo’s work.”