

In my previous post I spoke about the S.N.A.R.E project run by the KaiNav Conservation Foundation and how they use the wires recovered from their expeditions to create Snare Art . Thereby creating income for rural communities as well as producing a profit which funds further expeditions and other conservation projects.
Conservation foundations are in abundance, each doing their part in attempts to preserve, conserve and protect our natural Fauna and Flora. However many foundations, associations etc there may be, they never seem to be enough. That is where the citizen conservationist comes in. Everyday average individuals doing their part in helping rangers, conservationists, parks, conservancies and all the rest to achieve their goals in the conservation of their area. Lize Bester is one of those people, and through the simple use of a little bit of Facebook savvy and a caring community she has recruited many more.

The group currently has 794 members from around the globe and is administrated by 3 dedicated individuals who ensure that current updates are posted as soon as they come in and that no post is missed as animals lives are in danger and time is of essence!
Members of the group will post their own photos as they see animals entangled or caught in a snare and report the location and time of the sighting, this information is then passed on to the rangers and they fall into action to locate the animal and attempt to remove the snare.

It is imperative to the research teams involved to try by all means to keep the members alive, this group is doing just that by responding and updating snared animal sightings constantly.

The group also takes their work another step further by posting other relevant information that may curb negative stigma around the work rangers do, conservation efforts against poaching and the general state of our National parks. A short while ago a dead elephant was seen in the Kruger National park and it was noted that the tusks had been removed. The fast response of the team to report on the group that the elephant had in fact died of natural causes and that the tusks were removed by a section ranger may have spared the park and nation from horrible tourist reviews and rumours about poaching in the park.

In the past 5 years there have been over 1000 rhinos poached in South Africa annually, and over 30 elephants in the Kruger
National Park alone between January and June 2017.
The incredible amount of poaching in this country has even lead to theories about the ivory and rhino horn trade funding terrorism, a very scary thought.
However, there seems to be hope in the future as a result of UK officials making a great decision, as in a report by The Guardian, to stop their trade in ivory. The UK is the biggest exporter of legal ivory and believe that by shutting down their trade they may impact the illegal laundering of illegal ivory and assist in the fight against elephant poaching.
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This helps further in the awareness roll of the group and any other group or person doing something similar. By making the public and visitors to national parks aware of the need for action, more and more people are likely to get involved, which will make it increasingly difficult for poachers to get what they want and be a huge discouragement to them to put up any more snares.

This is one of the wonderful posts shared by the group and members would comment and post recent sightings and how glad they were that she is going to be alright.

For anyone wanting to join the group or take part in assisting in this battle please take note of the following information posted by Lize to have a better understanding of how it all works:
Information needed:

-Precise date and time of sighting -What type of animal was seen with snare? -Where on the animal is the snare situated: neck, left hind leg etc?-The road number you spotted the animal on, the distance from the closest or distance from the next turn-off (the road number of the turn-off)-Please take photos of the animal with snare. A photo must be available to be sent by message, take one with your cellphone as well.- A GPS reading of the latest location of the snared animal would be perfect!- It would be ideal if someone can keep the animal in sight and someone else can drive off to make the phone call or send a message with details.
The Park Officials are not always readily available and there are a few actions to be taken sometimes before the call goes to 'despatch'.
As per arrangement with the Park Officials, the message or phone call must be made to me. [number available on the group] (We also have a whatsapp group for those who want to become involved in the day to day of this group. It's a bit more personal).
I give the case and details personally through to the coordinator of all the services in the Park. She makes sure that it's been registered at the Joint Operational Centre in the Park. The message goes through to the Rangers, the SANDF, the SAPS and the Veterinary Services in the area where the animal with the snare was reported. We make sure everyone in the vicinity knows and keep an eye open for the ensnared animal. What we need to get everything going are all the relevant details and the photo. If someone can keep an eye on the animal with the snare, and someone else can call for help, the better and easier to find the animal. If the animal is moving, please take note of the place last seen and the direction the animal moved off.
The Enough is Enough-group keeps the statistics of all the animals reported and provide it to the Park officials. We also keep an eye on later sightings to confirm that the same animal is not reported as a new case, the duplication of reports frustrates the rangers a lot. This is the arrangement made between this group and the Park officials. We made sure it worked in a smaller group before we went public, it worked perfectly. We already made a difference in a few animal's lives.
Education is key. The more we can spread the word and educate people about this situation the more people will be able to stand up and do something about it, even if it is just a post on Facebook. A single post can save a life.

Please follow me on twitter and Instagram via the links below to see the world from my perspective, with a foot in the door.
https://twitter.com/BiancaBothab211
https://www.instagram.com/aconservationistsjourney/
Read my scholarship articles for The WOMA at the links below:
The WOMA Scholarship : Conservationista by Bianca Botha
To visit or donate to my crowdfunding page please follow the link below! Thank you for your support!
US, UK and South Africa:
Back-a-Buddy Conservation study fund