Snare poaching a scourge in Kruger
Kruger National
Park (KNP) is worried about the impact of snare poaching in t’s boundaries with
hundreds of snares being set every month.
According to Johan de Beer of the K9 unit in KNP, snares poaching is increasingly not for survival but has become commercial.
“They set up to 200 snares at a time,” says De Beer, noting that sometimes poachers don’t even take all the meat from the animals they catch in this way.
However, larger animals like elephants and buffalo can get caught in the snares and end up dragging them around for weeks or even months, suffering tremendously in the process.
De Beer notes that there is a significant demand for game meat in South Africa, but that the snare poaching is also fuelled by a demand for animals’ part for traditional medicine.
“If someone came in and took one impala you might look past it but coming in setting 200 snares lead to animals dying and the meat just rotting,” says De Beer, noting that the current situation is not sustainable.
The Honourary Rangers assist KNP in removing snares that are generally made from very thin but strong wire that cut deep into the animal’s flesh and are meant to kill them, but often end up maiming them.
The Honourary Rangers are a volunteer organisation that contributes significantly to fundraising for KNP with a significant portion of the funds needed to run the K9 unit that De Beer manages coming from them.
KNP’s Ike Phaahla, points out that 90% of poaching arrests are affected with the help of the K9 unit, making them an invaluable resource.
Listen below:
PICS: Wildlife selfies in Kruger steal the show
In a selfie era, most visitors to Kruger National park (KNP) want to get a pic either of the big five or of them with the big five, but it's not often that one hears of wild animals themselves taking selfies.
Black rhino guardian programme yielding results: SANParks
While there are about 20,000 white rhinos globally, there are only about 5,000 black rhinos alive across the world, heightening the need to study, understand, and preserve them. SANParks has had a Rhino Guardian Programme running in the Northern parts of the Kruger National Park (KNP) since 2017.