Lion carcasses to be examined
Pini Bothoko | Wednesday August 16, 2017 16:24
Last Sunday, during their regular stop, question and search patrols the police nabbed four men for poaching lions. The quartet was arrested in possession of lion bones and skins in their car between Middlepits and Bogogobo villages.
In an interview, Middlepits station commander, assistant superintendent Batani Lehuma said investigations on the matter are ongoing and they will ensure that this case reaches its logical conclusion.
“We are yet to take the bones and the lions’ skins to the wildlife biologist for examination. We have also retrieved a gun from the suspects and we have also arranged to take it to the ballistic expects to check if it was the one which was used to kill the two lions,” he said.
Lehuma revealed that the investigation process might delay the suspects’ arraignment before the magistrate court but they are currently in police custody. “They might not be arraigned before court very soon but as soon as we have concluded our investigations they will appear before court,” Lehuma said.
He said all the four men are aged 30 and are residents of Kgalagadi South district.
Lehuma has since raised concern over poaching in the area despite their endless interventions in fighting and educating members of the community about poaching.
“Hunting without a license is common in my policing area, but we have been doing community outreach programmes sensitising the community on issues of illegal hunting, but our efforts seem to fall on deaf ears.”
He said they are frequently arresting people in possession of meat of wild animals of different kinds of.
Mmegi has learnt that the market for lion bones is in Asia, but poachers in Botswana sell the skeletons to South Africa that seems to be supplying lion bones to meet the demand in Asia. It is believed that a lion skin sells for more than P30,000.