Protecting Zambia's Wildlife Heritage: Wild Dog and Lion Anti-Snaring Teams

Back to Conservation Home.

Despite being on of the most wildlife-rich areas remaining in Africa, Zambia’s natural heritage is under threat from poaching with meat hunting, in the form of snaring being one of the most widespread and pervasive activities.

Snares are typically of crude wire construction designed to tighten and constrict around whatever portion of an animal that encounters them.  Snares are set in great profusion around waterholes and other high use areas and, because of their indiscriminate nature and given that wild dogs typically move over very large areas they are particularly susceptible to coming into contact with snares, and in many cases such as in the Lower Zambezi, snaring can be the leading cause of mortality.

Hundreds of snares are recovered from wildlife areas by patrol teams every year.

Consequently, to help combat this serious threat to wild dog populations ZCP has teamed with the South Luangwa Conservation Society (SLCS) to assemble Zambia’s first African Wild Dog and Lion Anti-snaring Teams.

Funded through National Geographic’s Big Cat Initiative, Painted Dog Conservation Inc. and the Perth Zoo, and selected, trained, and employed through SLCS, the teams uses ZCP wild dog and lion movement data to identify high-priority areas for snare-removal.

The selected scout candidates graduated from an intensive paramilitary style training course at Nyamaluma Training College in South Luangwa in August 2008.  This long-standing course was conducted by senior instructors from the Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA).

Since being deployed for the first time in August 2008, the team has conducted hundreds of patrols, removed thousands of snares from critical habitat areas and desnared multiple lions, wild dogs, and hyenas across South Luangwa.

Rachel McRobb (SLCS) and the ZCP team desnare an adult male lion ensnared by the neck in Nsefu National Park. The lion fully recovered within 2 weeks.