Bushmeat in Kenya

Category: Bushmeat East Africa | Date: Nov 20 2008 | By: bushmeateastafrica

Hunting using wire snares is a very destructive and indiscriminate method of hunting that result in the killing of many untargeted species. Research has also shown that up to 90% of the animals caught go to waste as they rot before the hunter comes to check on his snares.

However, it is the painful death that this method inflicts on the animals caught that leave many animal lovers horrified. A snared animal takes many days before it eventually dies as you can see below. They die of starvation and physical injuries and not necessarily chocking as most people think.

Why is this method popular with poachers? Because the risk of being caught is low, wires are locally available, require little effort and investment. But it lead to a huge lose of wildlife, including endangered species like cheetahs, elephants, wild dogs, etc. That is why in Kenya organizations like Bornfree Foundation, David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, Youth for Conservation, ANAW etc have launched massive desnaring campaigns around the bushmeat hot spots in the country, mainly around the Tsavos, kajiado, Machakos, Mt Kenya, Masai Mara, Machakos, Taita and Naivasha.

Critics of this methods have sometimes raised doubt on the success of these program given that poachers have been known to double their effort once their snares are removed, while lately, they have devised new methods that are more efficient e.g. using a bright torch and a car horn at night to dazzle animals before killings them. What is not in doubt though is that fact that for every snare removed, an animal is saved!

Iregi Mwenja

Bushmeat Researcher

Technorati : Bushmeat, Snare, hunting methods, poaching, snaring

Technorati : Bushmeat, Snare, hunting methods, poaching, snaring