Snared Straight

I was on assignment in South Africa with the game rangers, they are in charge of protecting the wildlife in Kruger National Park. I have worked with law enforcement for the last 7 years and have never seen or experienced anything on patrol like South Africa. What started out as a patrol looking for snares turned into much more than I could have ever expected. Snares are used in South Africa to catch wild game, they are small metal hoop wires that trap any type of animal.

Poachers from the local village outside of the park sneak in at night and set hundreds of snares to try and trap wild game for food. It’s was hard to see the local people struggle for food but there is a right way to do it and this was not it. After cutting hundreds of snares we came across an impala trapped and struggling in a snare. We were able to calm the impala down, cut the snare from around it’s torso and watch it run back into the bush. Most of these wild animals end up dying in these snares from trying to free themselves and then the local poachers jump the fence and try to retrieve the animal for meat.

The game rangers work very hard trying to prevent this but with over one million acres to patrol they have an impossible job.

Being from Texas, I have never seen poaching on this scale.