[Image: The Herald]
Four elephants had to be rescued from an overturned truck en route to the Samara Karoo Reserve in the Eastern Cape on Wednesday, 5 March, on Olifantskop Pass.
The large animals were loaded onto the truck at the Addo Elephant National Park early on Wednesday morning, en route to the Samara Private Game Reserve near Graaff-Reinet.
At around 1PM, the vehicle overturned on the Olifantskop Pass, and the poor creatures became trapped inside the truck in 31°C heat for a couple of hours as authorities rushed to the rescue.
SANParks spokesperson Fayroush Ludick confirmed via Daily Maverick that the roads were blocked off as two recovery vehicles arrived on the scene to assist in recovering the truck with the intention of reloading the animals onto another truck to complete the journey.
The NSPCA was informed that two veterinarians, one being from SANParks, were also on site. According to reports, the elephants did not sustain visible injuries, and the driver was also fine.
Initial reports indicate that a shift in weight caused the accident. However, the animal rights organisation questioned why the animals were transported during the heat of the day.
“It would be interesting to know why the elephants (what the government would term ‘assets’), are being donated to a private game reserve. The NSPCA already has enough concerns and problems about elephants in private game reserves as it stands.”
SA People notes that the Sama Karoo Reserve responded to the insinuation on Facebook that the elephants had been gifted to them for hunting purposes.
“It is categorically FALSE that Samara offers ‘hunting opportunities.’ Samara Karoo Reserve is a conservation undertaking committed to wildlife reintroduction and land restoration, funded by photographic tourism. We are NOT a hunting operation”.
The private reserve stated that the four elephants were captured in Addo Elephant National Park and translocated to their site, with the aim of establishing a new population of elephants in the area.
“This translocation is about expanding the habitat available for elephants to thrive. Samara is assisting SANParks by providing homes for elephants as the current population in Addo Elephant National Park is expanding beyond the park’s habitat resources.
“All the appropriate permissions were granted for this translocation”.
DM points out that in October 2017, after elephants were absent from the Karoo for 150 years, six female elephants were released into the Samara Private Game Reserve. In November 2018, they were joined by two bull elephants from the Phinda Private Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal. Elephants were also resettled in other Karoo reserves.
In an email to us, Sarah Tompkins, Co-Founder of Samara Karoo Reserve, said:
“We are incredibly thankful that the elephants are safe and that after many months of planning, there are now four more elephants roaming the Samara landscape.”
“Samara would like to thank all those involved in the translocation and who assisted with the unfortunate accident,
including SANParks officials and the Conservation Solutions translocation team, whose professionalism and deep
care for their work was truly in evidence. The safety and well-being of the truck drivers and the elephants were the
team’s number one priority throughout the incident.
She said the camaraderie of the conservation community is unmatched and concluded by thanking the public for their “heartening messages of support”.
[Source: NSPCA & Daily Maverick]
