Once constructed with material such as vines, snares
nowadays are mostly mad of wire, nylon or cable.
Wire can be made
from gold, silver, iron, aluminium, copper, nickel or steel and have many uses
in electrical, telecommunication and heat transmission but a similar demand is
made by the building industry for fencing, ages, suspension bridges etc.
Although there is a lot of controversy on when and by
whom wire was invented, we know that already in the antiquity some wires were
used in the jewellery industry (gold, silver, copper). To contain cattleman
American farmer - Joseph Glidden - is thought to be the inventor of the today
“barbed wire” - which was welcomed by farmers because wooden fences with barbed
wire managed to contain their livestock more effectively than wooden fences.
A simple indiscriminate, silent, yet ruthlessly effective
circle of wire, one end anchored to a secure base, and a circle suspended over
a game trail is all it takes to set a snare. From this point anything that
walks through this noose is doomed to a torturous death of strangulation and
agony. Snares often don’t kill their victim but leave it suffering - dying
slowing or hanging by a bloodied limb until the hunter arrives days later
occasional being forgotten. Some animals manage to escape their snare trap,
many are injured in the process - losing a paw, limb occasionally jaws.
The challenge besides the raw cruelty of this hunting
method is the huge ecological damage it causes to an eco-system. It is non-selective
and kills anything from predator to prey.
It is thought that four out of five animals captured in snares are non
target species.
This random slaughter causes dramatic imbalances on all,
levels, damaging environments and ultimately communities who could be
benefiting from their land rather than
losing a potential sustainable source of income, that is in essence a national
treasure In certain areas the wire from the western boundary fence of the
greater Kruger national park fences is
ironically being used to set snares.
This becomes a political challenge as finances,
maintenance, patrols, responsibilities etc, which involves land-owners,
communities, conservationists, government and others.
No species is safe. These areas contain some endangered
species such as wild dogs, elephant, giraffe, hippo, pangolins, aardvark and so
many more, that access the danger of these silent wire death traps.
For each animal within the area that we currently operate
in, we aim to create a safe bubble where this threat is lessened even
eradicated, so we can move on to create the next safe zone for greater Kruger
national park.
And this, hand in hand and with the acknowledgement,
empowered of the local community living in the region since many generations.
It can be understood as legitimate for people to take
meat from the bush as an essential sustainable resource. But in a world being
rapidly sliced up by roads and human land use. The necessity to create area
free of snare is now more necessary than ever or there won’t be much to
conserve for future generations.
Our operation is not aimed to confront or persecute
poachers, our mission is to work with the poachers gaining access to their
vast, knowledge and bush skills in keeping wildlife and ancient knowledge life
and install the values of conserving in each and every one of us.
Save the wild - One snare at a time!
