Twins take on bushmeat trade
PINESLOPES - Twin brothers, Kailen and Navelan Padayachee have a passion for nature conservation and have just launched a programme aimed at curbing poaching in rural communities.
The brothers run the KaiNav Conservation Foundation out of Pineslopes and live in Broadacres, but spend most of their time out in the field. They have started a programme, Snare which stands for snare neutralisation awareness and removal effort, at the Tswaing Nature Reserve in Tshwane.
Kailen explained that the aim of the programme was to address the ever-increasing bushmeat trade in South Africa. “In South Africa there is a lot of awareness about rhino poaching but we’ve neglected the bushmeat trade,” he said.
Navelan said the bushmeat trade had traditionally been more for subsistence in rural communities, however bushmeat iwas now being sold for profit. “The trade of bushmeat was one of the reasons ebola spread so fast in Africa,” he said.
The brothers realised that this trade had the potential to grow and not much research was being done on the matter. Navelan explained that poaching was directly linked to poverty, which was why the foundation started the programme in Tswaing as it was a nature reserve surrounded by a township. “We describe our programme as being more of a counter-poaching initiative rather than anti-poaching,” Navelan said. “We first search the area for snares, traps and weapons and then take down information about the materials that are being used, the location of the snares and what they look like.”
The aim of the information gathering is to one day establish a national database for poaching hotspots.
The programme also has another element which is awareness and education of the surrounding community. “We speak about the consequences of poaching to the community,” Kailen said. “We also talk about the health implications of eating bushmeat and alternatives to poaching.”
Navelan added that they don’t go in with an aggressive stance, but rather listen to what community members have to say. “Poachers are not necessarily bad people,” Kailen said. “They are just trying to survive.”
The brothers hope to expand the project to KwaZulu-Natal and also envision doing an urban version of the project soon, as their specialty is urban-ecology.
They encourage volunteers to join them on their trips to Tswaing because they want to give the public an opportunity to play a role in nature conservation.
Details: kainavconservation.org; www.facebook.com/kainavconservation
Read our previous story, It’s just their nature.
