Azra Hoosen | ah@radioislam.co.za
6 December 2024 | 16:00 CAT
2 min read

The Mpumalanga High Court has ruled in favour of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA), permitting the culling of overpopulated wildlife at Marloth Park to address a crisis of starvation and disease. The court’s decision forces the Nkomazi Local Municipality to take immediate, humane action, including providing feed and veterinary care to the affected animals. This ruling marks the end of years of delays caused by legal disputes and conflicting resident groups, paving the way for urgent measures to safeguard the park’s wildlife.

Jacques Peacock from the NSPCA shared insight on the issue, describing the situation as “quite unique” due to the town’s proximity to the Kruger National Park, which is owned by the local municipality. He explained that while people own properties in the area, wildlife roams freely between the houses, creating a delicate balance. Peacock emphasised that the problem has been building over time, stemming from an artificial ecosystem. The lack of natural predators in the neighbourhood has disrupted the balance, leading to severe overgrazing and overpopulation of wildlife. The consequences have been devastating, including widespread illness, starvation, and death among the animals.

Peacock highlighted the incidents that sparked the need for urgent intervention. “We saw animals so thin that you can’t even imagine the suffering that they went through. Or animals drowning in people’s pools because they were looking for water,” he said.

He noted that the responsibility for managing the wildlife population within Marloth Park falls to the local municipality, which owns the reserve and, in terms of the Animals Protection Act, the owners of the animals. However, in 2017, a Residents’ Association secured an interdict preventing the municipality from culling animals within the town or near the homes, effectively halting the entire process. “Apparently, their concerns were based on human safety and the manner in which culling was initially done. However, it failed to address the management of the wildlife population going forward, so since then, absolutely nothing has been done; although the municipality wanted to, their hands were tied by the court order. Although the Residents Association saw that the animals were suffering, they didn’t want culling to take place in between their houses, so it was technically a perfect storm waiting to erupt,” he explained.

According to Peacock, the court order does not specifically mandate culling but calls for humane management, whatever form that may take, for the municipality to implement. The Residents’ Association has proposed relocating the animals to a part of Marloth Park that is either predator-rich or free from homes and residents, where they can be safely managed or culled to maintain a healthy biodiversity and ecosystem in that area.

“Our objective at this stage would be whatever the municipality chooses to do in order to comply with the court’s order to ensure it is done humanely and in the best interest of the animals,” he said.

He emphasised their stance has always been that all humane solutions should be explored. The NSPCA has never advocated for culling as the first option. In this case, the municipality did explore alternatives, but given the urgency of the situation and the rate at which animals are suffering and dying, those alternatives would either take too long to implement or be too costly for the municipality to manage. “It is not an ideal situation, and I don’t think any alternative, if there was one that was chosen, would have had a perfect outcome,” he said.

Peacock expressed hope that the municipality will establish a sustainable and healthy wildlife population within Marloth Park, supported by a clear management plan outlining what needs to be done, when, and how. He emphasised the importance of collaboration with Marloth Park residents to ensure effective and responsible management of the area’s wildlife.

“We will continue to monitor the welfare of animals at Marloth Park, and we hope this order achieves some sort of synergy between the municipality and the Residents Association, who seem to be at loggerheads. In that type of conflict, people might lose focus of what’s in the best interest of the animals,” he said.

Peacock remarked that South Africa often struggles to reach positive outcomes or resolutions on certain issues, stressing the need to focus on prevention rather than reacting to crises after they emerge. He pointed to the ongoing situation in Marloth Park as an example of a problem that became a long, drawn-out process, highlighting the importance of addressing such issues before they escalate. “Prevention is better than cure,” he said.

LISTEN to the full interview with Muallimah Annisa Essack and Jacques Peacock, Manager of NSPCA Communications, here.