Lions ate two poachers — maybe three — who were trying to illegally hunt rhinos on a South African game reserve on Sunday night or Monday morning.
The poachers’ remains were found Tuesday afternoon local time by rangers in a lion enclosure in the Sibuya reserve close to the town of Kenton-on-Sea, AFP reported.
“They strayed into a pride of lions — it’s a big pride so they didn’t have too much time,” Sibuya reserve owner Nick Fox told AFP. “We’re not sure how many there were — there’s not much left of them.”
A powerful rifle and axe were found with the poachers’ remains along with wire cutters and food supplies.
Nine rhinos have been killed in the province where the reserve is located this year and more than 7,000 have been killed in South Africa in the previous decade because some superstitions say the rhinos' horns have aphrodisiac qualities.
The Sibuya reserve lost three rhinos in March 2016. Fewer than 25,000 rhinos are still alive in the wilds of Africa because of the rise in poaching.
Police are patrolling the area in case any poachers survived the attack, the BBC reported.
The reserve remains open to guests, Fox told AFP. “It’s still business as usual, it doesn’t change anything we do,” he said.
“The comments on our Facebook are all talking about karma and warnings.”
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