'Live animals horns hacked'

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Some 200m away, to the north of the carcass, another dead rhino lies buried under scores of excited vultures.

Nobby Shabalala, dressed in green overalls and a matching hat, approaches the grisly scene slowly.

For a few minutes, Shabalala and SA National Parks senior crime investigator Kobus de Wet circle the area, try to piece together details of what happened in the final moments of the once mighty animal.

Once satisfied that they have gone through the required procedures as required by regulations of their work as environmental forensic investigators, they begin examining the carcass.

Such gruesome scenes have become a regular occurrence in Shabalala's work in recent months, with 521 rhino killed by poachers in the park alone last year. More than 800 rhino were killed countrywide.

Shabalala says she was called out to at least 10 such crime scenes in one week recently. "It's depressing."

Spent cartridges from high-calibre rifles, bags containing tinned food and bottles of water are the common finds at such scenes, she says.

In the searing heat, Shabalala and De Wet dissect the rhino with sharp knives, searching for clues of where the deadly blow entered the animal's body.

Later, De Wet confirms that the rhino was killed by a bullet that went through its back and shattered its lungs.

"I'm used to it," says Shabalala about her job. "When people ask me what I do, I tell them I cut up dead rhino, I don't feel shy about it."

Her tools of the trade include knives, a metal detector and a backpack carrying evidence bags and paperwork to be filled in at the crime scene.

Once satisfied with collecting crucial evidence around the carcass, the investigators cut up skin samples which are sent to Pretoria to be sampled and added to a database.

At this particular scene, recovered items include a cool drink cap, which will be taken for fingerprint analysis.

"We do this so that if a person is arrested with a rhino horn, then it can be tested to see if it's linked to any of the crimes that occurred in the park," Shabalala says.

She works quietly and meticulously, cutting up chunks of the rhino's hard skin into square pieces, slicing up the innards crawling with maggots and helping De Wet to tear off the cut-up pieces.

Shabalala and her team are often called at night when a poacher has been arrested, to help process them and hand them over to the police.

"They say they are hungry and there are no jobs where they come from," says Shabalala about the poachers they apprehend.

The poachers cross the international border from Mozambique, walking up the Lebombo Mountains into the park. They risk dangerous animals and patrols by the military and rangers to kill rhino and slice off their horns - sold through a network of people linked to international crime syndicates.

Once shot, the poachers hack away at the rhino's horn with axes and other sharp objects, sometimes while the animal is still alive.

"It is sad for us to see such a wonderful animal lying here like this," Shabalala says.

While Shabalala has the task of dealing with crime scenes, ranger Sinah Mthombeni* faces the daunting challenge of patrolling the park to prevent poachers from killing animals.

She spends most of her days carrying an R5 rifle, patrolling the areas identified as poaching hotspots.

It's a dangerous job which even requires that her identity be concealed in case the crime syndicates track her down.

The mother of one child has been doing this for the past three years and says she relishes the challenge.

Recently, she helped apprehend poachers who had entered the park from the Mozambican side of the border.

"They are usually very poor people. You can see by the clothes they are wearing. But they are very dangerous because they don't surrender so, if they fire at us, we also need to fight back," Mthombeni says.

*Her named has been changed to protect her identity.

Source: Sowetan