Tour operators and ”jeep jockeys” cashing in on SA’s increasingly competitive wildlife industry have taken to taunting animals and herding them towards tourist vehicles for a close-up view – with fatal consequences. At least two people were trampled by elephants over the festive season.

Farmers in the western Free State hate small wild predators so much that after killing them they string them up along a public fence in a grisly head-hunting competition. Their trophies are on display at a T-junction of farm roads near Soutpan.

Breeders of ”canned lions” in the Free State are brazenly advertising what must be the biggest sell-off of endangered and exotic big cats in captivity that the world has seen to date. Six breeders are auctioning more than 84 big cats, including lionesses that are pregnant.

An American charity has offered to buy South Africa’s stockpile of ivory and burn it, in an attempt to stem the slaughter of thousands of elephants in parts of Africa and Asia.

Last Friday, September 13, was a bad day for the elephants of the Sabi Sands game reserve next to the Kruger National Park. Normally placid herds charged around in apparent terror, trumpeting, shaking their heads and running with their tails stuck straight out behind them.

Environmentalists are scrambling to ensure that a land claim settlement in Mpumalanga does not mean death for South Africa’s most endangered bird, the blue swallow. The misty grasslands of Kaapschehoop are home to 10 of the estimated 60 to 80 breeding pairs of blue swallows left.

Provincial parks boards are fighting a rearguard battle against draft legislation that could allow the central government to take control of their prime ecotourism attractions. The threat is contained in two draft Bills dealing with the management of natural resources.