Protrack Anti-Poaching Unit - About

8/14/2019 Protrack Anti-Poaching Unit - About

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PROTRACK ANTI POACHINGUNIT

Denvinlee Wildlife Management CC trading as

Protrack Anti Poaching Unit (Protrack) was

established in Hoedspruit in 1993, it was the first,

and is now the leading Private Anti-Poaching Unit

in the country, today. It started in 1987 on a part

time basis, whereby patrols where done over

weekends in the then Eastern Transvaal. Now the

unit covers Anti Poaching and Security needs all

over the Limpopo and Mpumalanga Provinces.


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From meagre beginnings, boasting two employees

the company has grown to employ in the region of

well over a hundred full time employees. In the

beginning the focus was exclusively on Anti-

Poaching, but over the years, other avenues of

crime prevention and law enforcement were

implemented with great success. Security work

was eventually incorporated in the services that

Protrack offers. Not only did this widen the scope

of services, it also provided the income to improve

technology, in the form of weapons, radios and

other advanced gadgetry.


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Protrack is a security company registered with

PSIRA that serves its clients with a wide variety of

security needs. Initially solely an Anti-Poaching

Unit it broadened its range of expertise to include

many forms of security services.

At first, as stated above the focus was for a small

team to patrol a large area in a rural setting,

usually, a game farm, to control crimes such as

trespassing and poaching. Not long thereafter the

enterprise expanded to include crop protection,

residential town patrols and securing commercial

premises.


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Protrack soon made a name for itself in Hoedspruit

as the arrest made by Protrack started to fill the

police cells. The security services became much

sought after and the scope of business further

expanded to include gate guards, lodge guardsand the use of tracker dogs, which included a

range of functions associated with these roles.

Today Protrack is the leader in both Anti-Poaching

and Security disciplines in the Hoedspruit Area.

The company has expanded to service areas in

White River, Hazyview, Tzaneen and Gravelotte.


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TRAININGProtrack is registered with PSIRA as a Training

Service Provider, including its own accredited

training centre.

Protrack offers a number of in-house training

modules. These relate to either or both the Anti-

Poaching and Security disciplines. Common to the

two is the Grade E as prescribed by PSIRA as a

minimum standard in the Security Industry.


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TRAINING (Continued)Fitness is a large component of the initial training

as employment in the bush is arduous and is both

physically and mentally challenging.

The Anti-Poaching sphere boasts an exciting and

colourful range of study fields, which the trainee is

gradually exposed to as he progresses. External

courses, such as firearm training and first aid are

offered, using outside specialists.


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TRAINING (Continued)On the security side similar training is provided

with greater emphasis on public relations and

observation, along with legal aspects as described

above. Refresher courses are offered from time to

time.

Promotions are considered on merit, dedication

and commitment. Self discipline is required to

maintain a positive attitude and will be rewarded in

the long run.


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THE POACHING TRAGEDYGame is a valuable resource with substantial monetary

value. Wildlife serves as an attraction to both tourists

and hunters from all over the world. The revenue

generated from Eco-tourism serves to improve tourist

attractions by upgrading facilities and optimally

stocking game farms and thereby creating

employment.

Poaching with snares is a devastatingly destructive

force, which decimates game stocks leading to

substantial loss of income and therefore hinders job

creation and development in all sectors of the

community.


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THE POACHING TRAGEDY A z ebra mare that had been snared around the foot

suffered weeks of pain and deterioration and finally

had to be destroyed. A n old wire snare that could not

effectively hold the animal snared the animal. The

snare dug deeply into her flesh, before the wire

snapped. This animal burdened with virtually no hope

for survival was infested with maggots and awaited a

slow agonising death.

A young giraffe bull also snared by an old wire noose,

that no poacher would return to, also died in vain. On

the very same farm a prime male warthog quietly was

strangled to death in a pocket of snares long left by

poachers.


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THE POACHING TRAGEDYIn all the above cases these animals would never feed

the mouths they were intended for. The snares in

these cases were not even intended for these types of

animals.

Snares are indiscriminate and as shown in the above

snared animals can cause great devastation and loss

long after they have been set and in most cases will

not be collected by the poachers. The only solution for

poaching is for the people to become aware of the

futility and sufferings involved and condemn the guilty

sections within the community.


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THE POACHING TRAGEDYWorking in the field, It becomes evident how harsh,

beautiful and sometimes cruel nature can be. For any

living creature to survive in the wild it must defy

formidable odds stacked up against it. These may take

the form of seasonal changes, competition, predation

and last and probably the most ha z ardous, human

interference. The latter comes in many shapes and

si z es, poaching, habitat destruction, hunting etc. are

but a few.


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THE POACHING TRAGEDYThere was an old civet spending its last hours next to a

water hole. It was badly injured with what appeared to

be bite marks, possibly by another civet or predator.

The old animal, obviously way past its prime gathered

its last strength and dragged itself to the nearest water

and waited for the inevitable. It died of its wounds, but

sad as it may seem it led a full life and died the way

any wild animal probably wants to, naturally.


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ONE MANS STORYBy

AnonymousI am 42 years old I have been unemployed for several

months now. I have a wife and a child of 12 years. My

daughter goes to school and I pay for her school fees.

My wife is also unemployed and I support all of us.

I lost my job, because I stabbed somebody and the

police arrested me. That was when I lost my job. I was

in prison for 2 months and when I came out I asked for

my old job back, but my employer did not even want to

talk to me.

I sat without money at home. I tried to get work in

Phalaborwa, but could not find a job. I could also not

afford to go into town everyday, because I didnt have

enough money for transport and food.


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A man working on a game farm once approached me.

He claimed that he is not making enough money

working on the farm. He asked me to find people in

similar predicaments to my own to help him poach

game on the farm he works on. He supplied myself

and another man with 20 snares to set and if we

caught we would sell the meat and share the earnings.

The snares we set caught one impala. We sold the

impala for R300 and split the money three ways.

A fter another three days we checked the snares again

and found that we caught a waterbuck, because of the

si z e of the animal we found another man to help us

carry the meat. We sold the meat for R600 and split it

four ways.

ONE MANS STORYBy

Anonymous (Continued)


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From June onwards we have set more than 70 snares

and caught and sold 7 impala, about 15 warthogs and

2 waterbuck on only that one farm.

The man who works on the farm, I poached on, went

on leave and when he returned demanded his share of

the money. I explained to him that it had already been

spent. The next day he called me and told me that he

had a snared Kudu. A nd that he wanted me to collect

the meat. I went there to collect the meat, but he

waited for me there and arrested me.

ONE MANS STORYBy

Anonymous (Continued)


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POACHING WITH SNARESOne of the reasons why poaching with snares is

considered to be one of the most traumatic forms of

poaching, is because it is so indiscriminant.

The poachers tie the snares to the trees with various

materials. One of the most common materials used is

bark from the trees, which is pleaded into strips to tie

the snares to the branches. These snares are set up in

this position, with a loop of the wire positioned in such

a way that if the animal walks on the game path, it will

get its head caught in the loop, which tightens as it is

pulled.


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POACHING WITH SNARES(Continued)

Older snares often fall to the ground, but still pose

great risks as it may ensnare an animal by the foot. In

this case it may take the victim some time to die.

The poacher set snares at different levels and si z es

depending on the si z e animal and species which he

wishes to catch, however there are many cases in

which various species of animals can be caught in

these snares, especially once the snare has fallen to

the ground, it lays on the game path and can snare

anything from as small as Steenbok to an animal as

large as a Giraffe. Even our primary predators such as

Lions are often caught in these lethal snares.


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THE IMPALAThis antelope, a common sight throughout South

A frica is far too swift and nimble to be brought down by

the ordinary dog poacher, but commonly falls prey to

the poacher with snares.

They are commonly targeted by subsistence and

syndicate poachers alike. Their predictable habits and

group structures cause them to be extremely

vulnerable to snares set in their path. It is this and the

fact that they are of a si z e and weight that can be

carried by a single person that makes them sought

after by poachers.


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OTHER SPECIESV arious other animals regularly fall victim to snaring.

Some are targeted and others are simply at the wrong

place at the wrong time.

In order to specifically snare your larger game a

stronger snare is required, but a smaller and weaker

wire snares can also kill larger animals, but often the

snared animal tears the snare off its anchor and death

follows prolonged pain and suffering as result of

infection and shock. Such animals bearing a snare are

often kicked out of their social grouping and left to die

alone.


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OTHER SPECIES

Larger species such as giraffe require large snares,

which are pretty unique to them. In this instance there

is no doubt that this is syndicate or commercial

poaching as opposed to hunting for the pot.


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OTHER SPECIES(Continued)

Some species are poached for reasons other than

food. Crocodiles as an example may be poached for

muthi where body parts are used by witch doctors for

medicinal purposes or magic.

The stomach of crocodiles contains small pebbles that

are ingested, to aid in digestion. These pebbles are

highly sought after in the muthi trade.


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V ultures are believed to have the power of seeing into

the future or the past and by ingesting the brain of a

vulture these powers will be bestowed onto a human

being.

Pangolin scales are still used in circumcision rituals

with which the foreskin of an adolescent is removed

with the scale. This signifies the transition to manhood

in some cultures.


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There are numerous other examples of parts of plants

or animals with medicinal properties that cause them

to be utili z ed in the muthi trade. In some cases such

plants or animals are protected or endangered. This

would make the harvesting of such organisms illegal

without the applicable permits.


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POACHING WITH DOGSThis is a very successful method of poaching. This form

of poaching is very difficult to monitor. Poachers do tend

to make use of the full moon whilst hunting with dogs,

however they have been known to infiltrate farms at all

times of the month. These poachers are very difficult to

catch, they are very experienced hunters.

They hunt in groups of up to 4 poachers with as many as

15 dogs, a group of poachers have been known to

remove up to 8 warthogs in one night. They often build

fires in the entrance to the Warthog holes to smoke the

animals out and then the dogs are trained to bring the

Warthog to the ground. These poachers dogs are

underestimated by many; they are actually very well

trained, moving silently and obediently through the bush.


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THE WARTHOGThese comical creatures are often seen kneeling on

front knees with the snout grubbing in the soil for food.

Hardly the major drawing cards like lions and other

large game. No game fence can contain them and

their fate is often to be culled, hunted or poached. A s

is the case with any other animal they have a well

deserved niche within the ecosystem. They are by no

means endangered yet ecologists may tell you that

their numbers are amongst the first to decline if the

veldt is under stress.


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B y culling or hunting their numbers are kept in check

by using calculated formulas on carrying capacity and

farm management guidelines, but in some farms they

are mercilessly poached. Warthogs make the ideal

target for the syndicate poacher. It has predictable

habits in that it is diurnal and reverses into its burrow

at night where it becomes an easy target for man and

dog. From that position there is but one way out,

straight into a spear after it has been driven into fren z y

by smoke filling its hole. The options are few, suffocate

or face an almost certain death dealt by man and dog.

THE WARTHOG(Continued)


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The wire or cable snare is far less discriminate. Like a

landmine, void of emotion, it lies in wait to spring its

trap. Someone may return to claim the meat of the

animal or else the carcass will rot and waste. The

poacher will rarely set one snare and hope to catch.

The risks are too high. B y setting a large pocket,

success is more likely and less time is required to

check and collect the meat. Once an animal is

removed, the remaining snares are all too often

abandoned and cause a significant number of

unclaimed fatalities.



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To the average game farmer, the poaching threat is

not aimed at a rhino or expensive antelope, but rather

at this humble pig. The warthog is often one of the sole

targets of the uninvited night prowler.

These pictures are a few examples of scenes where

poachers have hunted warthogs with dogs or snares.

The poacher often cuts the carcass in half to share the

load between them. Often the carcass is gutted so that

a smaller carcass can be carried in the chest cavity.

B ark is often used to tie the carcasses together or to

make slings or handles for easy carrying



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SERVICES OFFEREDAnti-Poaching

Exploratory Sweep Establish thepresence andseverity of problems

Multi Team Sweep Finding andRemoving of Snares

Visible Patrols B y creating a presencevisibly to reduce poaching

Clandestine Patrols Focus on theapprehension of poachers

Ambushing Focus on the return of a poacher to aspecific location


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SERVICES OFFEREDSecurity

Security:Crop ProtectionFarm ProtectionHome ProtectionGate GuardsExecutive Lodge GuardsBusiness Premise GuardsVehicle PatrolsTown PatrolsD og PatrolsReactions A rmed ResponseReactions with Tracker D ogsPayout SecurityFollow up

Documents

Protrack Anti-Poaching Unit - About