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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PROTRACK ANTI POACHINGUNIT
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 ANTI POACHINGUNIT
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 ANTI POACHINGUNIT
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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OTHER SPECIES(Continued)
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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OTHER SPECIES(Continued)
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.
THE WARTHOG(Continued)
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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
THE WARTHOG(Continued)
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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