Poison, snares ravage animals in Kruger Park as poaching escalates

Kruger National Park officials in the Nxanatseni region have expressed worry over the devastation and mutilation of animals as poaching, poisoning and snaring acts escalate.

While officials did not cite internal corruption as the main reason for these acts, it is understood the attacks come from three countries – Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa. In 2023, 3 350 snares were removed, with 250 animals killed.

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According to Kruger National Park ranger Don English, the poaching of animals in the north region of Kruger was very different to the south – and it increased for a number of reasons, which included population growth in the surrounding areas adjacent to the park, poverty, no jobs, crime syndicates and organised crime.

“Not only in terms of the target species, but also the methods used by the poachers. We get hit primarily by snared poachers, poisoning and there was quite a bit of livestock smuggling throughout the park,” he said.

English said while snaring was historically the oldest form of poaching for personal consumption, nowadays it was no longer the case. He said there was no more subsistence poaching where people did it to “survive”.

Poaching now ‘commercialised’

He added: “It’s now commercialised, done on a large scale, and its money-driven. So, the more you can kill, the more you can sell and the more money you get.”

English said poisoning was “more devastating than any form of poaching”.

“We got caught up in the whole rhino poaching and did not realise the extent or the devastation of the results of poison poaching,” he said.

“The rhino poachers come in and shoot one or two or three rhinos. Rhino poaching is targeting a species, and they are causing devastation and reduction in that way.

“Poison poaching is just indiscriminate and anything coming into contact with that poisoned carcass is going to die – from insects to the biggest of predators.”

Poisoning had escalated worryingly over the past few years. It had had initially started off being done for muti, or traditional medicine, where traditional healers used body parts of vultures and lions, such as the fat, skins, nails and floating bone in the lion, all for medicinal and cultural purposes.

This then spread to the eastern Asian countries. “And the demand grew, so the pressure grew,” said English.

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“However, in recent times, specifically in vulture poisoning, it’s not being done for muti. There is a concerted drive to exterminate the vulture population purely to get rid of them because it’s a detection for us to find carcasses.

“We’ve lost close to 2 000 vultures in the past few years. It’s seriously impacted on the whole ecology of the birds. At this stage, we have roughly nine active vulture nests in our region from probably over 100.”

English said the Punda Pafuri area had its lion and leopard populations just about decimated.

“We’re at the point where we’re relocating some of the larger predators, specifically lions, to try and get the ecological balance going again,” he said.

“And even as it is now, it’s difficult for us to successfully release and relocate lions there, because the hyena population has exploded due to the lack of lions.”

English added that the Kruger was working very closely with communities to try and curb the poaching.

“They have actually established task groups on their own initiative that are working in conjunction with the police and with us, conducting their own anti-poaching work outside. It’s been very effective up until now,” he said

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