Illegal trapping, snaring on the rise in the Vaal triangle

The SPCA say they regularly respond to help animals stuck in snares and traps and have pleaded with landowners in the Vaal area to remove and report active snares and traps before they can cause fatal damage.

“We respond to at least two call-outs a month to retrieve animals stuck in illegal snares or traps,” says a SPCA inspector.

It is not only wild animals that suffer this terrible fate, as traps do not discriminate in the species of animal they catch.

A trap set to catch a small buck will also catch a porcupine, a caracal cat, a velvet monkey, a mongoose, a tortoise, a genet cat, a guinea fowl or a domestic dog or cat.

The SPCA say illegal snaring and trapping is on the rise. Landowners and farmers are asked to remain vigilant to the presence of snares on their property and at their boundary fences, and to remove any active snares and traps that they may see, and to report it to the SPCA.

By doing so they can help the SPCA to map the areas commonly snared.

If you see wildlife in distress in the Vaal area, please call the office on 016 422 1505 or 083 292 5862 after hours.