At least three suspected poachers who were apparently hunting for rhinos have been mauled to death and eaten by lions on a game reserve in South Africa, the owner said on Thursday. 
 
 The men entered the Sibuya Game Reserve on the southeast coast armed with a high-powered rifle and an axe in the early hours of Monday and were found dismembered the following day. 
 
 "They strayed into a pride of lions - it's a big pride so they didn't have too much time," reserve owner Nick Fox, 60, told AFP news agency. 
 
 "We're not sure how many there were - there's not much left of them. 
 
 "There seems to be clothing for three people. I've not heard of it before in our area." 

 JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - At least two rhino poachers were eaten by lions on a South African game reserve, the owner of the lodge said on Thursday. 
 
 A ranger taking guests at the Sibuya Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape on a safari drive on Tuesday afternoon discovered human remains close to a pride of lions. 
 
 “We suspect two were killed, possibly three,” Sibuya owner Nick Fox said. 
 
 An ax and three pairs of shoes and gloves were found later when police and an anti-poaching unit arrived. The lions had been heard making a commotion in the early hours of Monday. 
 
 “We thought they must have been rhino poachers but the ax confirmed it,” Fox said. “They use the rifle to shoot the animal and the ax to remove the horn.” 
 
 South Africa is home to more than 80 percent of the world’s rhinos, whose population has been depleted by poaching for buyers in Vietnam and China where rhino horn is coveted as an ingredient in traditional medicine. 
 
 More than 1,000 rhinos were killed in South Africa last year.
– In a case of poetic justice, rhino poachers were recently eaten by lions in a South African game reserve. A ranger at the Sibuya Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape discovered remains of at least two, possibly three people near a pride of lions Tuesday; an ax and three pairs of shoes and gloves were later found nearby. "We thought they must have been rhino poachers but the ax confirmed it," the preserve owner says. "They use the rifle to shoot the animal and the ax to remove the horn." He adds to AFP, "The comments on our Facebook are all talking about karma and warnings." The lions had been heard making a "commotion" early Monday, Reuters reports.