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Leonard Ncube

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A ZIMBABWE National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority ranger has been arrested on suspicion of being responsible for the shooting of the three lions that were found without heads and paws in Hwange National Park last week.

Hali Mabuya (39) who was working at Mtshibi Camp in Hwange National Park was found with a Point 458 service rifle that was allegedly used in the callous killing of the three big cats and 52 live rounds of ammunition.

About 30 of the rounds had not been issued to him by the employer.

Source: American Hunter

Mabuya allegedly used a service rifle which was recovered from him while a bullet head found on the scene reportedly matched the gun.

The poaching was carried out between Monday and Tuesday last week.

Mabuya was linked to the offence after he approached a workmate in the armoury department and asked her to alter dates in respect of when he had signed for and returned the Point 458 Rifle.

Source: WordPress

This prompted investigations which led to his arrest.

The carcasses were found near Dom Pan waterhole in the giant park and each had gunshot wounds on shoulders while some tyre marks and footprints were seen on the scene, raising suspicions of the presence of a poaching syndicate.

Mabuya appeared before Hwange magistrate Ms Fungai Dzimbiri on Saturday facing a count of unlawful hunting after Contravening Section 24 (1) (b) As read With Section 24 (2) of the Parks and Wildlife Act and another of unlawful possession of ammunition without a firearm certificate, a contravention of Section 4 (1) as read with Section 2 of the Firearms Act.

Source: Online

Mabuya, who was represented by Ms Joyline Change of Mvhiringi and Associates, was remanded in custody to November 1.

The State suspects that there could be poaching syndicates involving rangers.

Prosecuting, Ms Jemesina Makanza said Mabuya unlawfully hunted and killed one collared gestating lioness, another female lioness and one male lion using a Point 458 rifle and went away unnoticed.

“On 22 October at 9am the accused approached his workmate who works at armoury and asked her to change the dates when he returned the rifle which had been issued on 20 August. The request prompted some investigations leading to the recovery of the carcasses with bullet wounds,” said Ms Makanza in court.

The court was told that the Point 458 bullet heads were recovered on the scene.

The gun was found in his possession.

Further searches led to the recovery of eight rounds of the Point 458 rifle in Mabuya’s black satchel,

15 more rounds of a Point 458 rifle, nine rounds of a Point 416, 11 rounds of a Point 373 rifle, one round of a Point 308 rifle, one round of gragnoff rifle, one round of a Point 223 rifle as well as 12 by 7 bore.

In total there were 52 live rounds recovered from Mabuya, and 30 rounds a Point 458 had not been issued to him by the employer, raising fears of a long standing poaching expedition.

The lions were valued at US$60 000.

Source: etsy.com

The incident invokes memories of killing of another collared and famous lion called Cecil in June 2015 by Walter Palmer, an American dentist and recreational game hunter from Minnesota who reportedly paid US$50 000 to a local professional hunter and guide Theo Bronkhorst to kill the 13-year-old cat that had a Geographic Position System (GPS) micro-chip on its neck.

Cecil the lion was being used for research.

The killers had lured Cecil to the border of Hwange National Park and Gwayi Conservancy on Mr Honest Ndlovu land where they shot and injured him with an arrow from a crossbow and later finished him off with a rifle after tracking him for 40 hours.

Cecil was also beheaded and rangers found the carcass with no GPS tracking collar and head.

The killing drew international media attention and sparked outrage among animal conservationists and celebrities against Palmer.

-@ncubeleon