Kally Ubisi
In only three months, SANParks Honorary had removed more than 800 snares from the Kruger National Park (KNP).
This shows that a lucrative nearby bush meat market is operating as snares found, were machine made.
Poachers are targeting the southern section of the Park which stretches from the Paul Kruger area to Malalane.
According to Kally Ubisi, a section ranger in Skukuza, in one instance a pregnant giraffe was found badly hurt with a snare around her neck. It was however possible to save the animal but most are not so fortunate.
Villages are springing up right next to the Park’s fencing and communities are even cutting the fences to fabricate snares or let the wild animals escape. In the event that they cannot kill an animal, the rangers are called to remove it.
Villagers are aware that it is extremely difficult to get traumatised animals back into the Park and rangers are left with no choice but to kill it and give the meat to the community, which was the idea all along. Ubisi said even wild cats, which have no trading value, are caught in snares and left to die. Poachers are only interested in bush meat of animals most people eat. Taverns have been built in communities closest to the fence, providing poachers with easy access to the KNP.
According to Honorary Ranger, Roland Mastnak, not even regular community awareness campaigns are stopping the increasing demand for bush meat.
As it is a lucrative endeavour, people are prepared to put themselves and their livestock at risk of diseases wild animals carry and that could spread into residential areas or getting caught.
Mastnak however told CALM that no matter the challenges, the Honorary Rangers would continue to assist the Park in removing the deadly snares to keep wild animals safe.
