Another 72 snares have been discovered by Jaco Klopper of the South African Bush-Warrior Association’s (Saba) and his dog, Jessie in the Renosterkop area in Mbombela the week of July 21 to 25.

He was asked by a dog owner to help locate his Rottweiler that went missing and on their search mission found more than they were looking for.

“We did a search-and-rescue looking for a missing pet and managed to track down another 72 snares, one fake and two massive kudu snares,” Klopper shared on Facebook.

They covered a total of 10km around the area. This led to a total of 173 snares in five operations that are allegedly all set by the same group of poachers.

“It’s a minefield out there,” Klopper said.

Sadly, the Rottweiler has not been found yet and Klopper suspects that he might have been caught. He also shared that snares in and around Mbombela are becoming an increasing problem and that more shocking discoveries are made on their missions.

A full story on the underlying issues will follow in next week’s print edition.