Snare Scare

Poverty in South Africa has reached an all time high, with over 50% of the population living in poverty and well below the breadline. The large majority of these people live in rural areas, are unemployed and are not offered much, if any, assistance from the government. These people need to eat, so they will find ways and means to do so.

One of the most common ways is to snare. A snare is a wire or nylon, or similar, type line or cord which is tied with a slip knot in a noose type fashion. These snares are placed in high traffic areas, over game paths or in high activity fields etc, where an animal would have their head or limbs caught in the line. As the animal moves or struggles the noose tightens, with the other end securely fastened to a tree or some permanent feature the animal will be caught and most certainly die if not discovered in time. The snares are not always fastened well enough to the tree or branch resulting in the possibility of larger animals being caught in the snare noose, but managing to break free, leaving the wire around their head, neck or limbs. This often results in the animal suffering from gaping wounds that are unable to heal due to the constant friction from the still attached snare. These animals will suffer for long periods of time until they succumb from infection or even blood from the open wounds.

The KaiNav Conservation Foundation removes a snare from a zebra after the zebra was seen walking with the wire and gaping wound on its neck.

Snaring has become one of the most popular ways to generate an income or simply put food on the table. With the weakening economy it has also become the only way to do so for many South Africans. Snares are used to capture animals for meat and for resale of meat or Bushmeat products.


Rural communities in South Africa are full with traditional beliefs and therefore the need for traditional healers and their "muti" is high. "Muti" is any form of traditional medicine or tonic used for a specific purpose. There are muti's for the common cold, erectile dysfunction, liars, a cheating spouse, financial problems and the list goes on. These muti's are made with naturally occurring plants and animals or animal parts, thereby creating the demand and snaring becomes the means.

A snare is a non-selective means of capturing an animal, the poacher who places the snare has no means of deciding which animal or type of animal will get caught. Most often, if the animal caught is one of which they do not want or can not use the meat or other parts the carcass will simply be discarded. However, there are those who take advantage of any animal caught and supply what they can to the traditional healers.

 Snares can be found throughout South Africa, with the majority being in or around domestic farms or Private game ranches. Private landowners have a great problem with snaring. They are usually game breeders or have some sort of rare game on the ranch. The snares often capture or injure their expensive breeding stock so as a preventative measure many ranch owners hire private security to patrol and remove any snares found. They are not always successful but it does form a deterrent from their land. Other landowners or domestic farmers are turning to dogs to patrol at night to catch and prevent anyone putting up snares.

Very little official research has been done on snare hot spots, type of snares being used etc making it difficult to proactively work against snaring.

 The KaiNav Conservation foundation has been running the S.N.A.R.E program for some time. With a group of volunteers they visit areas and reserves with known snaring problems. They spend the day or weekend walking through thick brush to find and remove snares as well as record data about these snares. From this research they hope to find ways to proactively fight the snaring problem this country and its natural environment faces.

The foundation is hoping to spread the work they do further throughout the country and to do this they require funding. The ever elusive factor in conservation. Funding has and always will be a problem for conservationists as people simply do not understand the importance of the work being done. There will always be something more important, like sport and conservationists will need to continue finding creative ways to raise the funds needed.



 The KaiNav foundation, however, have found their own way to raise much needed funds. By using the very snares which cause so much devastation and harm to the environment and turning them into beautiful works of art that will fund the great work they do, as well as creating income for the poverty stricken people of this beautiful country.

The wires removed during the S.N.A.R.E expeditions are given to local rural artists who transform the snares into beautiful African animals and other works. These are then tagged with a Snare Art tag and sold to raise much needed funds. Snare Art has proven to be a huge success and some works have even gone to their new homes in Dubai and the USA!

For more information on the KaiNav conservation foundation, The S.N.A.R.E initiative and other projects please visit the website https://www.kainavconservation.org/ or follow them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/kainavconservation/

You can also donate to the foundation via the following link https://www.kainavconservation.org/donate

The work they are doing is vitally important in collecting enough data to be able to find and implement proactive and effective snare management protocol for South African Farmers and breeders. Any and all support is greatly appreciated and needed!

 The S.N.A.R.E initiative, by the KaiNav Conservation foundation.

All video footage and images courtesy of The KaiNav Conservation Foundation

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