During the month of August 2023, members of the SA Hunters Mopani Branch and the Phalaborwa Natural Heritage Foundation (PNHF) conducted five snare removal operations through the Snare Busters Conservation project.
Four properties were patrolled, covering a total of 42 kilometres on foot.
205 snares were removed, the majority of which were large cable snares.
An estimated R4,500 worth in fuel was driven out by members and organisations involved.
44 persons attended the operations with an average of 1320 man hours spent during the operations.
33 carcasses were discovered while conducting the operations, include the following:
- 1 adult zebra stallion, 1 adult mare with a foal
- 3 adult female impala, 1 juvenile male impala
- 2 adult giraffe, unknown gender
- 1 juvenile male kudu, 1 adult female kudu
- 4 adult cape buffalo bulls, 3 adult cows, 4 sub-adults of unknown gender
- 1 trophy blue wildebeest bull
- 2 elephant calves, unknown gender
- 1 adult Spotted Hyena, unknown gender
- 1 adult Side-striped Jackal, unknown gender
- 6 adult domestic cows, africanus race.
All the snares removed were made from material that was stolen from fences surrounding the reserves and properties. The large cable snares come from the elephant-proof fences surrounding the Greater Kruger National Park. These fences have thick cables that consist of four to five strands of cable wound up around a sisal rope to form the larger cable used to make it elephant proof. The poachers unwind these larger cables and use the individual strands to create snares.
We removed 1451 snares since January 2023.
