Poaching is rife throughout East Africa, and the majority of it deals with the indiscriminate snaring of all wildlife to supply the bushmeat trade, an illegal market where 'unnamed meat' is sold at rock-bottom prices to unscrupulous caterers - meat that can be monkey, elephant, lion or any creature that happens to be caught in the snares. The animals are seldom killed by the traps and struggle in agony until the poacher arrives that evening, and spears or hacks the animal to death. Some animals escape, fatally maimed; elephants for example can tear their trunks off in the traps and bleed to death. Sometimes I can scarcely believe how much suffering we humans inflict on other creatures; again, the combination of Born Free workers (plus the teams from other agencies) and vehicles donated by Land Rover is creating real conservation work. This is where some of the money paid by Born Free supporters in Britain goes.
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As soon as we arrived on site in the National Park, just as night had fallen, there was a commotion - sixteen schoolchildren were lost on the slopes of the mountain and the rangers said they were in buffalo country. The Cape Buffalo is perhaps the fiercest and most belligerent animal in Africa, more so than lions and leopards. The children were in real danger and the rangers had no vehicle capable of scaling the tracks on the mountain and rescuing the kids - enter our Maggie and the Born Free Land Rover. After a quick conflab we headed off into the dark rainforest, eventually finding the kids amidst the herd and bringing them back safe, albeit very scared! They piled into the Landy, terrified, covered in mud, on a narrow shelf on a hillside where the darkness reeked of buffalo.
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This was conservation at the sharp end. We had two armed rangers with us from Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) and we had to tread warily; at risk ourselves from poachers and traps and also from ambushing buffalo who do not take kindly to humans tromping about in their forests! Again, we were humbled by the guys we worked alongside - if they are paid (and some work without salary) they are paid a pittance - they do it for the love of their native wildlife.
) A pit trap where the animal (probably buffalo) had fought against the snare |
) Some of the guys - left to right, Johnson (Youth for Conservation), John (KWS), Hassan (KWS) and James (Youth for Conservation) |
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Sadly, due to lack of funds, we had to move on after a single sweep of the mountainside. The poachers would simply move into the area when we'd left, set their snares again, and death would return to Mt Kenya. What is needed is more cash for the kitty - the guys hope Born Free can set up a permanent de-snaring team for the area, and that Land Rover will donate a truck to the KWS emergency veterinary team in Nairobi - that way, when, say, an elephant is found with leg injuries from a snare, the vets can reach the creature and save its life.
) The end of the patrol - Johnson gathers together the 9 snares we found, photo taken after we'd all raced off in pursuit of a poacher. |
) Packing the Land Rovers the next morning |
