S. Africa turns to churches for intervention in wildlife crime

After intensified efforts have failed to stop wildlife crime, South Africa is turning to churches for spiritual intervention to end the scourge.

As part of the move, the Kruger National Park (KNP), one of Africa's largest game reserves in northeastern South Africa, is partnering with various church denominations from the park's neighbouring communities to pray for the protection of wildlife and the rangers as well as to condemn wildlife crime in general, the park said on Wednesday.

An assembly to this effect will take place this coming Saturday at Skukuza Soccer Field outside the park.

"This gesture of goodwill by our local churches is a good example of the fact that there is room for anybody to actively take part in the fight against the killing of our precious wildlife," said KNP Managing Executive Glenn Phillips.

"The duty of churches is to pray to God for Divine protection and this is what they will be doing for us on Saturday," he said.

The KNP welcomes this support unconditionally and is grateful to have churches stepping in to help in the fight against the torture of rhinos and elephants, Phillips said.

Dr Elijah Maswanganyi, a well-known Pastor, an author and motivational speaker will lead this prayer session amongst a very long list of church Ministers who will be attending the prayer service.

There will be specific prayers for amongst others "protection of the wildlife", "protection of the anti-poaching teams and security forces" and "prayer for the welfare of the organization".

The move is designed to break the public's silence "because withholding of information on wildlife crime does a lot of harm for us as society", Phillips said.

"We cannot continue to protect criminals in our society who are selfishly enriching themselves at the expense of all of us by wiping off our natural heritage to the detriment of our future generations," he said.

With tourism being one of the country's economic drivers, high prevalence of poaching which may lead to extinction of species can have a negative effect on those that rely on the wildlife for employment.

"Tourists who come to this country for wildlife will stop coming and people will lose their jobs whilst our country's economy will be negatively affected," said Phillips.

Wildlife crime has been on the rise in South Africa, with rhinos as the major target. The country lost a total of 363 rhinos in the first four months of this year, official statistics show.

The KNP continued to bear the brunt of rhino poaching, losing 232 rhinos from January to April.

Last year, the country reported 1,175 poached rhinos, of which 826 were in the KNP. Endit