Lions Kill And Eat Suspected Poacher – Leave Only His Head

Animal poachers are hunters who illegally poison, catch, and kill animals so that they can sell the animal or its parts on the black market. In an incident that took place at a private game park in South Africa, it was the other way around.

A man believed to be a poacher was mauled to death by the pride of lions he was hunting. It happened in the province of Limpopo of northeastern South Africa over the weekend of February 10th. The pack of lions attacked and killed the suspected poacher near Kruger National Park at the Hoedspruit private game park.

Little of the man’s remains were left as the animals ate his body after killing him. Only his head was left behind. Moatshe Ngoepe, a local police spokesman, said authorities initially thought the dead man was a park employee and tractor driver who had gone missing. However, that man has since been found alive.

The identity of the eaten man is still being determined in an ongoing investigation. A loaded hunting rifle was found nearby, leading authorities to believe he was, in fact, a poacher. Additionally, poaching in the area has been on the rise in recent years due to an increase in rhinoceros poaching.

In January of 2017, three poisoned male lions in Limpopo were found decapitated and their paws had been removed as well. Poaching is hunting without legal permission from whoever controls the land and contributes to loss of vulnerable and endangered populations of animals like tigers, rhinoceroses, or orangutans.

Though rhino poaching is historically more common in this region, the man was found in what is considered lion territory. Since much of the man’s body was eaten, it creates a greater challenge when it comes to authorities being able to easily identify him. It seems having his head could be helpful in figuring out who he is.

“The process of identifying the deceased has already commenced, and it might be made possible by the fact that his head is amongst the remains that were found at the scene,” Ngoepe said.

A reason lion body parts are sought after by poachers is their use in certain traditional medicines popular in parts of Africa and Southeast Asia. Those caught for poaching animals are usually given penalties in the forms of hefty fines, so poachers see it as an economic risk-to-reward balance. Of course, there is nothing that can be done when it comes to the animals that are captured. And in this case, the risk-to-reward stakes were clearly more than economic ones.

Blue Macaw parrot from the movie Rio is now officially extinct

Remember Blu? The blue macaw from the movie Rio who thought that he was the last of his species? Well, his nightmare has come to life and the blue macaw parrots, who were declared endangered about seven years ago, are now officially extinct in the wild.

This bird from Brazil, also known as the Spix's macaw can no longer be seen in the wild, concluded a study done by BirdLife International. The study found that the blue colored bird now only exists in captivity and the numbers are extremely few and heartbreaking.

According to the organization, the bird has gone extinct due to the rise in deforestation and constant loss of habitat. The birds were also not so adaptive and lived near dominant species and predators. The birds are believed to still exist in some breeding programs, there's no official proof of the statement though.

The threat that the species might become extinct and we must do everything to conserve it was sparked in the 1980s! Author Tony Juniper even penned a book called "Spix's Macaw: The Race to Save the World's Rarest Bird", in an attempt to make people aware of the situation in 2002.

Other than the blue macaw, 7 other bird species have been declared extinct. The announcement was made this week, based on the statistical analysis by BirdLife International. Five of the species belong to South America and were victims of deforestation and too much human interference.

Three species - namely - the cryptic tree-hunter and the Alagoas foliage gleaner from Brazil and Poo-Uli from Hawaii have been completely wiped out and are now gone forever. All these extinctions were caused by human interference and not natural causes, it is sickening. How many more extinctions will it take for humans to finally learn to respect the privacy of other animals?