More elephants for St Lucia

THE Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife Game Capture unit captured another group of elephants in the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Park (HUP) on Tuesday and transported them successfully to the holding enclosure on the eastern Shores of the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park. This is part of an ongoing game re-introduction programme in the Park undertaken by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife and the Greater St Lucia Wetlands Authority. The group consisted of five animals, a large female with a very young calf of about six-months, a younger female and two other sub-adults. Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife staff reported that the larger of the two sub-adults immediately began to "challenge" the electrified fence of the holding enclosure. This behaviour is very different from the very relaxed manner of the first group that was introduced on August 10. During the course of Tuesday night the elephants managed to push over several of the heavy steel posts holding the mesh and cable fence and escaped onto the eastern shores, splitting up, with at least one smaller group apparently heading east towards the coastal dunes. Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife staff, assisted by a researcher from the School of Life and Environmental Sciences of the University of Natal in Durban, are monitoring the elephants, two of which are fitted with radio collars. The introduction of elephants to the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park is part of a Lubombo Spatial Development Initiative (LSDI) project in co-operation with Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife and the Greater St Lucia Wetland Authority, to improve the tourism investment potential of the Park. (Miguel de Sousa)