Africa Wild

https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/sout ... increases/

Trap poaching on rise in Kruger as game meat appetite increases
BY PENWELL DLAMINI - 30 July 2019 - 19:45

The high demand of game meet across the country is causing havoc at the Kruger National Park as trap poaching is on the rise.

Just last weekend, over 200 traps were removed in a kilometer radius as rangers came searching for poachers.

Trap poachers simply put their snares along paths leading to rivers in order to catch animals.

“Some of them take the meat and they still leave the other snares behind. In other instances the animals get caught in the snares but they break them and walk with them in the veld,” said Johan De Beer.

In other instances, De Beer said, the poachers set the traps and do not return to check on them. Animals get caught and they suffocate in the loop as they try to escape.

Traps are designed using a piece of steel wire which has a loop and is tied to a tree.

Why do we hardly ever hear of meat poachers being arrested

Good question!

Very good question.

I have already asked that question in this topic

Forest of snares in Kruger Park shows bushmeat trade growing

environment 31.7.2019 06:15 am | Amanda Watson


Johan de Beer, commander of the Kruger National Park K9 unit, in front of a fence showing a mass of confiscated snares. Picture: Amanda Watson

Members of the K9 unit and honorary game rangers dismantle dozens of snares daily.

The thick steel wire ran between the horns of the buffalo skull embedded deep in the bone, and circled around the right side to where it had cut through the skin on the lower mandible, preventing the animal from being able to eat properly.

It was believed the snare had been slowly choking the female for about a year, said Johan de Beer, pictured, before two lionesses killed her.

He is the commander of the Kruger National Park K9 unit and aside from catching poachers, his team is responsible for removing the plethora of wire snares in the park.

“We have a problem along our boundaries, especially in the Pretoriuskop area, with some in Malelane and Skukuza,” he said yesterday.

Punda Maria and Pafuri in the north of the park were also full of snares, beyond subsistence hunting to full-blown commercial trapping.

“The guys place about 200 snares at a time and then pick up the meat later,” said De Beer. “They will take some of the meat and leave the other snares behind.”

Few animals have the power to snap the snare’s wire, instead sometimes breaking the tree or branch it is attached to.

The simple but deadly effective running loop system allows the wire to tighten instantly, sentencing the animal to a slow death.

Members of the K9 unit and honorary game rangers dismantle dozens of snares daily.

Last year, more than 3,000 were removed as the demand in the muti and bushmeat trade grew.

Behind De Beer on the unit’s administration block boundary fence hung thick, twisted, cables used for elephant and hippo poaching to bloudraad fencing wire and thin braided strands used to catch smaller animals. But as soon as the snares are removed, the poachers replace them.

“If you catch the guy, the sentence is not as big for poaching. I think it should actually be more, given the cruelty to animals,” said De Beer.

Five years in prison is the maximum sentence handed down.

Kruger Sightings
‏Verified account @LatestKruger
2h2 hours ago

URGENT ALERT!
SNARED LEOPARD
"Snare around the neck!!!) Leopard previously Whatsapped. now not visible anymore"
S65, N'waswitshata cement dam. was trying to hunt impala, but went into thickets E of the cement dam.
Near Skukuza
5/5
Tinged by Juanita K + Eline Naude.












Kruger Sightings
‏Verified account @LatestKruger
15m15 minutes ago

Update
Photos of the Leopard on S65
Tinged by Beck