Illegal snares wreak havoc

RANGERS at the Kruger National Park have collected more than 1 600 illegal snares this year, and the crude devices are wreaking havoc on the wildlife in the world famous reserve.

Johan de Beer, K9 manager and a ranger at the park, said they had seen a devastating rise of illegal hunting over the past two years in the western park boundary, up to Punda Maria.

He said this was due the growing bushmeat trade in the area.

“Snares have been an issue at the park. Traditionally that was the poaching the field ranger used to fight, but there has been a big increase in the last two years in the areas where it has been done.”

And while trade in bush or wildlife meat is the primary driver of the snare poaching, he said that “when they target the hyenas and lions, it’s for the muti market”.

Although De Beer couldn’t give an exact number, he said he had to put down a lot of animals which were found with snares and debilitating injuries.

“We get a lot of lions and hyenas with snares around their neck. Sometimes elephants get snares around their feet and we try to save it, but if the damage is too serve and there’s nothing we can do, we put the animal down.”

While most poachers target rhinos and elephants, De Beer said the snares were usually meant for buffaloes and impalas. He said they sometimes also find bird and fish snares.

De Beer said the perpetrators usually set out their snares around rivers and drinking holes in the middle of the night and usually come back in the morning before the rangers start patrolling.

He said sometimes lions and hyenas would come and grab the animals caught up in snares before either poachers or rangers could get there.

“This is very dangerous because previously they caught a big male lion which was feasting on the carcass and they killed it.”

De Beer said he was not happy with the sentences handed down to the offenders when they are caught.

“I think the sentencing is not harsh enough. They are sentenced to three to four years if they don’t pay a fine and sometimes the cases get dismissed by the courts.”