By Janet Anne Cuthbertson | Project leader
Thank you your support helps us prevent poaching!
We are grateful for your support that helps us ensure our anti-poaching methods succeed. We can never abandon our caution as poaching is driven by illegal bush meat and the traditional medicine trade. Poaching operators are very determined.
The replacement of our first section’s fencing was successfully done and we have now proceeded with a further area. Our special security fencing is difficult for any intruder to climb over or under and helps prevent poachers from simply climbing over the boundary fence to poach our beautiful and precious wild. The biodiversity of our Nature Reserve would be at risk, without the measures we take to keep all safe, through the support you have given us!
All our wild fauna and flora, is at risk, including red data mammals such as the diminutive suni-antelope, reptiles such as tree and water monitors, amphibians, birds, and even critically endangered trees such as the pepper bark tree. Our biodiversity is at risk of poaching for food and medicinal purposes. Traditionally flora is used in many ways and removing strips of bark carefully or sustainably would not cause damage. But poachers collect plants and animals without care, to supply the ‘muti”: traditional medicine market. Trees are sometimes ring barked causing the tree to die. Poaching is also cruelly driven by the illegal bush meat market and snaring is dreadfully cruel.
Apart from our secure fence we also use a drone to monitor our Nature Reserve. At night we have a full-time night watchman that work in shifts.
Another method of poaching control we use is outdoor cam cameras that capture movement day and night. From the cam cameras, we have seen some interesting animals photographed as they pass by: We often see leopard, and recently even a white tail mongoose. Sometimes a zebra or nyala will approach the camera and sniff at it, with their mouths and noses, making a comical expression. But the feedback of an intruder is extremely serious and is followed up immediately, footprints are tracked and followed even when they lead outside our Reserve, to the area that the intruder comes from!
Apart from all these measures, we also do snare sweeps. (wire nooses placed in strategic places to hopefully noose an animal or bird) Unfortunately, however, some poachers remove the snares by early morning, if they were set at night. This is why it is important to have patrols day and night.
Finally, we check footprints in our Reserve and none of our staff or visitors are allowed to walk in the bush except on designated trails and pathways. Thus, footprints in the bush always provide an alarm to investigate further!
Once again, heartfelt thanks for your support of this vital project that helps us to keep our wild safe and protect our Nature Reserve’s biodiversity.
By Janet Anne Cuthbertson | Project leader
By Janet Anne Cuthbertson | Project leader
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