Farmers must pay up for shooting project lion

The appearance of wild lions that are still found in the northernmost parts of Limpopo recently came under the spotlight, when a free-roaming lion which formed part of a research project was shot by a group of Limpopo farmers.

Willem Gerhardus Kock (40), Nicholus Johannes de Wet (59) and Albertus Adriaan Janssen (66) appeared in the Louis Trichardt Magistrate´s Court last week on various charges relating to the illegal hunting of a protected species.

On February 28, 2009, Kock was camping on the farm of De Wet and Janssen, which is close to the border of Botswana. At one stage, Kock was walking from the campsite to his vehicle, when he crossed paths with the lion. Fearing that the lion would attack him, he shot and killed it.

Kock later testified in court that he was not aware that the lion formed part of the Northern Tuli Predator Project and had been equipped with a GPS-collar.

The project manager, Mr Andrei Snyman, testified that he and his team became concerned when they noticed that the lion’s movements became stagnant and even more so when the collar stopped broadcasting.

Investigations led Snyman to De Wet and Janssen’ farm, where he found the remains of the lion on March 26, 2009. The GPS-collar was missing and nobody could give a plausible explanation regarding its whereabouts.

After Kock, De Wet and Janssen´s first court appearance in February of last year, their case was postponed a number of times.

During their court appearance last Monday (17th), a deal was struck between the three farmers, the State and the Tuli Predator Project that, as an alternative resolution to the despute, Kock, De Wet and Janssen would pay an ex cracia sum in support of the lion project to the amount of R30 000. The trio also had to fork out another R25 000 as compensation for the missing GPS-collar.

Snyman expressed his gratitude about the outcome after the ruling. He was, however, saddened that, despite the ruling and their continuing work with local communities around the reserve, there are still farmers and locals who kill lions “due to perceived conflict with livestock.”

“Farmers have hitherto clearly not appreciated how few lions are left in the Tuli population,” said Snyman.

Snyman, with the support of the Mashatu Game Reserve, which is situated in the Northern Tuli Game Reserve, have been leading the project and is currently finishing an MSc degree, which will be followed by a PhD with the Tswane University of Technology. For the past five years, the project has been studying these free-roaming lions that are indigenous to the Tuli-block and the Venetia Reserve.

For more information on the reserve and the project, Snyman has invited those interested to log on to his research blog at www.tulipredatorproject.ning.com or www.mashatu.com.

News - Date: 28 January 2011

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