Our Akashinga patrols discovered and immediately removed roughly 200 wire snares.
Snares are stealth and torturous killers of wildlife. There are no loud gunshots, no dog chases, and no pit falls that animals plummet into as herds run by.
These cables are capable of being used again and again, with an endless number of animals vulnerable to their reach depending on the area and when the snare is recovered.
As you can see here, all that is needed is a wire. This “snare chain” hangs on a tree at IAPF’s Akashinga base camp and grows bigger as the days pass and our rangers recover ever-more snares on their patrols.
Akashinga ranger Vimbai Kumire said that while her heart bleeds to see these cruel traps, she feels a great deal of joy to know that, despite how well-hidden these are, she and her unit managed to remove them before another animal was taken by this cruel contraption.
Fellow ranger Wadzania Munemo feels confident and excited because when the snares are fresh, that means sometimes they can track and arrest the poachers responsible. When she sees the snare chain, she is reminded of how far they’ve come in protecting wildlife—and she feels confident that she and her colleagues will continue changing the landscape of Africa for the better.