Attendance of the CRR at the two day Snare Symposium in Pretoria left us with much to think about. It would be impossible to share everything that was learned, but the salient points are:
- Snaring is a huge problem that plagues Africa, not just South Africa
- The causes are many but the main cause, without a doubt, is socio-economic.
- Snaring will always be a problem. This is a reality we all need to face.
- Education of all role players is key.
- Involving the community in and outside of the natural areas where snaring is taking place is essential if we want to make any headway
- Some of the legislation on poaching is not particularly clear but there is legislation that protects individual animals that is perfectly clear and, if applied, would carry very real consequences for the snarers
- Law enforcement does not always take snaring seriously and are not always equipped or well enough informed to deal with the problem
- There is constant work being done on the removal of snares and looking at new methods to help us fight this scourge by many very dedicated individuals and organizations
- Collaboration and the sharing of information will be of great benefit to all stakeholders
What was striking is how unique our Reserve is. We have multiple landowners with smaller properties and we are surrounded by very large communities like Diepsloot and Atteridgeville. It would be impossible for us to make any meaningful socio-economic changes or to educate these communities as a whole.
This does not mean we admit defeat! Far from it in fact. Robin Quivers said “So you start one person at a time. Change one person, you can change a village.” We can do our best to improve the lives of our staff and smaller communities such as the Leazonia Informal settlement, wherever possible. We have already been doing this for years. We need to stay committed and continue in our efforts. The word will spread.
Practical solutions:
- Attending snare walks. The more snares we remove through regular snare walks the more we discourage those setting them. Support your area.
- It is impossible for one snare walk group to cover the whole Reserve. The solution is Landowners doing regular checks on their own properties and one group per area clearing properties that are not occupied or identified as hot spots.
- Collaboration between the Landowners and snare walk groups can make us a force to be reckoned with.
