Elephant Tails Found in Jeppe Factory. (28 September, 1996)

Police on an anti-car hijack operation have found a load of elephant tails with an estimated street value of R70 000. The 363 tails, many with the hair removed, were found by police at a factory which had ceased operations in the East Rand industrial township of Jeppe in Johannesburg.

Gauteng Nature Conservation Chief Investigations Director, Kobus Schoeman, showed the heap of elephant tails to journalists on Thursday. He said the police were searching a car near Jeppe when a curious policeman happened to peer through a window of a factory and saw the tails. Mr Schoeman said there had been no arrests but that investigators were trying to locate an Indian woman who arrived and asked 'suspicious' questions during the factory search.

He said the investigators suspected the people who hid the tails in the factory might have panicked and left everyting behind a few weeks ago. Mr Schoeman said it was not known where the tails came from. Game reserves such as the Kruger National Park could not shed any light on the find. Staff Reporter. Courtesy of the Pretoria News.