Snares – the unseen killer lurking in the forest

The snares that poachers set pose one of the greatest threats to the park’s wildlife.

One of most important jobs of a Virunga ranger is to locate and remove wildlife snares. The snares that poachers set pose one of the greatest threats to the park’s wildlife. Snares are non-discriminating and brutal, and often lead to a slow death for the unsuspecting animals that get caught in them.

Sadly, there have been many examples of what snares do to park wildlife. The most recent snare incident occurred early this month and involved one of Virunga’s critically endangered mountain gorillas. Young Mutaganzi of the Bageni group was likely playing in the forest or foraging for food when he tripped the snare that caught him. He would have heard a sudden whipping sound of branches releasing from tension. Before he could discern the direction from whence the sound came, he would have felt a sudden and powerful tug on his arm, followed by a searing pain in his hand. And yet, Mutaganzi is one of the lucky ones because rangers discovered him before he succumbed to his injuries.

The infection in Mutaganzi’s hand was advanced and progressing toward sepsis — a systemic infection of the blood that leads to organ failure and death.

When you donate to Virunga National Park, you are helping rangers prevent these kinds of incidents. With less than 1000 mountain gorillas left on the planet, the importance of your donations cannot be overstated.