Rangers find severed gazelle, porcupine heads

Police launch investigation, suspect poachers behind gruesome display

A gazelle in the protected reserve of Deer Valley in Jerusalem, which is surrounded by roads and highways. (Haim Shohat/Flash90)
A gazelle in the protected reserve of Deer Valley in Jerusalem, which is surrounded by roads and highways. (Haim Shohat/Flash90)

Nature and Parks Authority rangers on Tuesday found four severed gazelle heads and the head of a porcupine in a nature reserve near Safed.

“Israel’s beautiful wildlife is being murdered because of the cruelty of poachers,” said Parks Authority director Shaul Goldstein. “We are determined to combat illegal hunting and keep on protecting our wildlife.”

Israel Radio noted that there is an ongoing struggle between poachers and park rangers in Israel’s Galilee region over hunting rights. A similar incident took place earlier this month, when two severed gazelle heads were placed on a fence post in Nahal Amud Nature Reserve. In that incident, the rangers’ vehicle was set on fire.

The Nature and Parks Authority filed a complaint with the Israel Police, who opened an investigation into the incident.

The Israeli sub-species of gazelle — referred to in Hebrew as the Land of Israel Gazelle and by scientists as the Northern Palestine Gazelle — hangs in the balance. Having flourished in Israel since biblical times, the gazelle’s natural habitat is under assault by rising urbanization and illegal hunting.

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