GEORGE NEWS - A vital step was taken in the fight against wildlife poaching when Leon Rossouw of the Wildlife Crime Information Network (WCIN) joined forces with CapeNature and SANParks to host an anti-snare awareness workshop in Wilderness on Wednesday 30 April.

Held at the Fairy Knowe Hotel, the event shed light on the often-overlooked but deadly threat of illegal snares – silent killers that claim the lives of countless animals across the Western Cape. 

This workshop is part of a broader initiative to raise awareness and educate landowners, conservancies, wildlife professionals, and local communities about the devastating impact of snares and to empower them to be part of the solution.

The workshop was attended by almost 40 participants, who learned how to identify, remove, reduce, and prevent snares in their area.

CapeNature and SANParks also delivered presentations during the evening. Snaring is an extremely pervasive method of poaching and can be carried out using anything from rope and wire to cable or nylon.

Snares are anchored cables or wire nooses set along well-used animal paths to catch wildlife. Animals are caught in snares daily. 

Endangered and threatened species are not spared from the poachers’ traps. 

A cable snare with a lock plate that is set by poachers on game paths.

Snares are often set to catch game meat species such as small antelopes and porcupines, but they are indiscriminate and take a huge toll on the entire ecosystem, also impacting predators such as caracals and leopards. 

Preliminary research suggests that bushmeat is the main motivation for snaring in the province, although the illegal trade in animal parts is also a significant factor and is becoming an increasing problem.

"We often find and remove snares set by poachers, and sometimes you have to deal with the consequences of illegal poaching through the loss of not only wildlife, but also domestic animals along the way. 

"It is also very important to know what to do when you find snares set in the wild. By just removing a snare from an area, you are keeping the wildlife safe for now, but you are not solving the problem. Many poachers will just return to set more snares, or move to a different area," says Rossouw.

Rossouw says it is always challenging to catch poachers red-handed, to present adequate evidence linking them to the crime, and to successfully prosecute them. 

Poachers are the long-standing enemies of wildlife conservation. WCIN joins hands with the conservation community, law enforcement agencies and other key stakeholders to help combat the illegal snaring problem and raise awareness about it.

"We all have the power to do something, and we believe that by working together and raising awareness about illegal snaring, we can make a difference," says Rossouw.

They invite landowners, farm managers, conservancies, wildlife experts, and the community to join and support these workshops and learn about:

• What is snaring, and why is this common poaching tool a problem?
• The different kinds of snares and what signs to look for.
• Illegal snaring and the law.
• How and where to find these silent killers in the wild.
• What to do when you find a snare.
• What to do when you find a live animal caught in a snare.

For more information about the Anti-Snare Awareness Workshops, contact 079 643 9556 or email info@wcin.org.za

About 40 people attended the workshop. 

‘We bring you the latest Garden Route, Hessequa, Karoo news’