KZN animal lovers condemn Nkululeko's death

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KZN animal lovers condemn Nkululeko's death

 

 

July 16 2008 at 07:51AM

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Kamini PadayacheeKwaZulu-Natal animal lovers have condemned the killing of Nkululeko the hippopotamus in Verulam on Monday night.The hippo was killed in a joint operation by the eThekwini Municipality's natural resources division and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife. This followed the death of a 60-year-old man in the area at the weekend. The body of the man, Sihlobane Dlamini, was found in an area where hippo activity was evident, but officials have not yet confirmed that he was killed by the hippo.Ecologist Paul Dutton was upset that the hippo had been killed."It is disgusting. They should have at least attempted to capture the animal, without using drugs.

It is unacceptable that they shot the hippo before they knew for sure that it was responsible for the death of the man. They have killed an iconic animal that brought joy to many people's lives."eThekwini Municipality's health, safety and social services deputy head Christo Swart said on Tuesday that the municipality had to act responsibly."As a responsible municipality, we cannot take a gamble with the lives and safety of our citizens and yesterday morning (Monday), we took a final decision to put the animal down before any further incidents could occur - a wild animal out of its normal habitat is unpredictable when engaging with humans."Mary Ann Grafetsberger, who named the hippo Nkululeko in a competition run by The Mercury, said she was devastated that the hippo had been killed."They acted very prematurely, before they even knew whether the hippo had killed the man. It is just wrong. "For months now, the public have watched with keen interest the saga of the wandering hippo and have come to love this animal, as I did."The distraught Grafetsberger said the wildlife authorities should have tried to remove the animal before it became a danger."Nkululeko was led to its own slaughter by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, who failed to act timeously. I do sympathise with the death of the man, but Nkululeko would not have done this out of sheer malice, as animals do not think like that. If residents and authorities knew about him being in the area, then every effort should have been made to keep the two apart until they could relocate him."Animal Rights Africa spokesperson Steve Smit said the eThekwini Municipality had been "dishonest" in the manner in which it had carried out the killing."I was in contact with municipal officials yesterday (Monday) and they emphatically said they had not taken a decision on the animal. So I think they are very dishonest in their approach if their statement today says they decided to kill it on Monday morning."Smit said Ezemvelo was to blame for the hippo's death and that he would ask for a public inquiry into how the matter had been handled by the wildlife authority.However, Ezemvelo spokesperson Jeff Gaisford said the hippo was "the municipality's baby". He said that Ezemvelo had worked with eThekwini officials on the matter, but that the municipal authorities had been tasked with handling the situation.Police Superintendent Muzi Mngomezulu said on Tuesday that a post mortem had been carried out on Dlamini, but that the results had not been released.Swart said on Tuesday that the carcass of the animal was buried at a municipal landfill site.kamini.padayachee