According to Reynold Thakhuli, SANParks general manager for media, PR and stakeholder relations, the search for the male lion that escaped from the Karoo National Park in Beaufort West has taken rangers and trackers as far as 42km north of the town of Sutherland.

Thakhuli says search and tracker teams have been trying to locate the animal in difficult terrain for weeks since it escaped on February 15 after it dug under a fence after rain.

Thakhuli says they had hoped the Bidvest Protea Coin team with their infrared technology, who have helped with the search since Friday, would have yielded some positive results but they have not had any luck over the past three nights.

Thakhuli says the Bidvest team consisted of a tracker who joined the team on the ground and it also had an aerial component. "We have one of only two choppers in the country fitted with forward-looking infrared (FLIR) or thermal imaging infrared cameras, which allows us to pick up heat signatures on the ground over a radius of 10km when flying at night," Thakhuli concluded.

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