Coast KZN

Illegal snares in semi-urban green belt areas are putting our remaining wildlife at risk. Durban-based Snare Aware – an NGO that has removed 1 251 snares in its three years of operation – is trying to combat the issue and recently visited Sheffield to find animals in need of saving.

“Snares are everywhere, in the big game reserves, in small green areas among sugar cane fields and in forests next to highways. We call them the silent killer and it is a crisis,” said the director of Snare Aware, who asked to remain anonymous. A ‘Covid baby’, Snare Aware was established when the director used the limited exercise hours to get back into nature and found snares to be a wider problem than expected.

Team members began removing snares regularly and realised there was a need for the service across KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), later being joined by five volunteers who continue to make up the bulk of the team.

“We have operated across the province, from the South Coast, inland to Pietermaritzburg and into the game reserves in the north. Although we try and remove as many as we can, we are limited by time and manpower.

“After scouting, we try and set up public events with likeminded people and conservancy organisations, train them up and let them carry the torch in their areas.”

Snares have a tightening loop which trap animals once they have passed through.

One such organisation, Monkey Helpline, reached out for assistance in Sheffield Manor where the team visited at the end of May, finding 11 snares in just over an hour. Snares have been used to catch animals for centuries, but modern access to cheap and durable materials such as metal wires are allowing an indiscriminate approach to snare placement.

“The whole problem with snares is that they are untargeted. Someone might set up a snare for bush buck, but wild dogs and leopards follow that same trail and are just as likely to walk into one of those and get caught. They can catch your neighbour’s cat or a buck or a mongoose.”

Snares are often difficult to spot and it is easier to find them by noticing artificial manipulation of the surrounding bush. A loop of metal wire is typically set up on common animal corridors which tightens once the animal passes through, incising into their skin the more they struggle.

Sometimes the snare placer will return, but often they set up many at once to increase the likelihood of catches, leaving animals to die painfully and rot before they could be collected.

“Anything from monkeys to large spotted gennets to cane rats and porcupines are commonly caught. If they are lucky, maybe a blue duiker or bush pig will be caught, but larger animals have typically already been hunted out of these areas.”

This monkey was found deeply ensnared and went into the care of Monkey Helpline.

Trapped animals are used for food, their hide and in the muthi trade depending on what is caught. The highest risk areas are the green belts near low-income communities that do not have other presence such as people on running trails or cycling. Snares are commonly set up at a natural choke point on trails, and the best way to spot them is to look for human activity, artificial manipulation of the bush and anchor points in nearby trees.

Snare Aware encourages reporting snares to them via their Facebook page, but cannot promise immediate response.

Ezemvelo Wildlife should be the environmental organisation in charge of snare sweeps, but the manpower and funding is not in place to do so.

Visit Snare Aware on social media to find out more.