Volunteers retrieve snares to save wildlife
The group is volunteer based, and they try to get together at least twice a month. The next meeting is this Sunday. Everyone welcome.
The South Coast’s Anti-Snare Group headed up by Craig Saunders is tackling the growing poaching problem – one snare at a time!
Since the group was formed, they have managed to remove a total of 342 snares from mostly bushy areas on cane farms.
Craig said that all these snares have been on local farmlands between Port Shepstone and Umzumbe.
In their last two patrols, they removed a total of 31 snares from areas in Tweni and Marburg.
“The group is slowly growing, well in terms of new volunteers. It’s a bit of a up and down process. We are still trying to look for new areas to try help out.”
The group is volunteer based, and they try to get together at least twice a month and cover as much bush as they can with the available hands.
“We try to target hot spot areas where there has been poaching activity or that poachers have been spotted. We don’t ask for funds to cover the areas. But we accept donations towards the group to get odds and ends,” said Craig.
Craig explained that snares are an unethical way of hunting as the animals are strangled to death.
“Most of the poachers that put the snares in place either don’t go back to check the traps or forget where they were placed, at the end of the day making the animals suffer for no reason,” he said.
The group’s next patrol will be this Sunday (20th).
LUCKY TO BE ALIVE
On a separate recent note, a family from Shelly Beach luckily found their dog which was caught in a snare.
The dog was returned to them from the Lower South Coast SPCA after recovering for more than a week, due to the terrible injury sustained.
They contacted a group called Snare Aware based in Durban who immediately jumped in to assist.
Members from Snare Aware, asked to remain anonymous for various reasons, but thanked one of their followers on Facebook for sharing a recent story with a group on the South Coast.
The family then contacted Snare Aware after their dog was rescued from a snare close to their home.
An emergency trip was arranged and three members travelled to Shelly Beach to help them.
They had a great morning with three generations of the family joining them on the sweep, and all so eager to learn how they go about their business of finding and removing snares.
The team from Snare Aware was taken to the spot where their dog was rescued, and soon afterwards found another two active snares.
The first, a perfect textbook version of creating an artificial funnel, leading into the waiting snare. The second, covering the only hole in the fence alongside the pathway.
Snare Aware said the family were so shocked to see this happening so close to their home, but this is a reality.
Due to spreading awareness more lives (wildlife, and pets) were saved.
Follow Snare Aware on Facebook, or contact Craig from the Anti-Snare Group on 072 2587907 if you want to join the patrol this Sunday.
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