A cooperative effort between police and anti-poaching officials broke up an illegal hunting operation that had been taking place at private Mpumalanga game reserve.

Acting on a tip, Badplaas police and the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency’s (MTPA) anti-poaching unit arrested 20 people for illegally hunting birds, small antelope, bush pigs, and warthogs at the Nkomazi Game Reserve. The suspects - 14 men and six minors - appeared in court last week, and are scheduled to appear again in September.

1. Iberian Lynx

The Iberian (Spanish), Lynx lives in very small areas of central and southern Spain (Andalucia). It  used to live throughout Spain and Portugal but its numbers have been drastically reduced to the point where it is now one of the most endangered wild cats in the world.

In the early 1950s a virus named Myxomatosis was illegally introduced by a French scientist to wild rabbits on his estate to protect his vegetable patch. Tragically the virus spread rapidly, and killed about 90% of the wild rabbits in France.  Spanish rabbits also died  in huge numbers even going completely missing in some areas,  so thousands of lynx starved to death. Habitat loss, hunting and trapping also have decimated the lynx. They are protected now, but they still get caught in fox traps.  Another cause of death recently is getting hit by cars in Donana National Park.