Target: Premier Refilwe Mtshweni-Tsipane, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa
Goal: Enforce humane, transparent population control so starving wildlife in Marloth Park are relocated safely and recover under strict oversight.
Marloth Park in South Africa has faced years of severe overpopulation, barren grazing and mass wildlife deaths tied to starvation, malnutrition and disease. A High Court order in November 2024 required urgent, humane population management. Large-scale relocations since June 2025 have reduced monthly deaths, yet more than 1,000 animals were still moved in October alone, underscoring a crisis that demands stable, accountable solutions.
Accounts describe an ecosystem that collapsed after culling was halted in 2017, with animals increasingly reliant on human feeding. October operations moved giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, bushbuck, impalas, kudus and warthogs to reserves and sanctuaries. These emergency measures appear to help, but they also reveal gaps in long-term planning, transparent reporting and sanctuary capacity that could jeopardize animal welfare if momentum stalls.
Sustainable recovery requires clear targets, public reporting and independent veterinary oversight. Humane fertility control, science-based carrying-capacity limits and accredited placements reputedly reduce suffering while restoring habitat. This petition urges the Province to embed those safeguards in binding directives, expand sanctuary partnerships, and publish monthly metrics until the reserve stabilizes.
PETITION LETTER:
Premier Mtshweni-Tsipane,
We respectfully ask your office to ensure that Marloth Park’s wildlife crisis is met with decisive, humane action. Media accounts and official updates document years of overpopulation, habitat depletion and widespread deaths, followed by emergency relocations of more than 1,000 animals in October that have reduced monthly mortality. These gains will only endure if the Province locks in transparent, enforceable standards.
Please require a published management plan with independent veterinary oversight, accredited-sanctuary placements, humane fertility control, science-based carrying-capacity limits and public monthly metrics on removals, mortalities and outcomes. We further urge a moratorium on any lethal measures unless independently certified as necessary and compliant with welfare best practices, and only after nonlethal tools are exhausted.
Stronger oversight, audited reporting and sustained funding will prevent a relapse into starvation and suffering. We urge you to act now so recovery continues and Marloth Park becomes a model of humane, evidence-based wildlife stewardship in South Africa.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo credit: Tambako The Jaguar
