Bushmeat and snares
Wire snares set for bushmeat are the most prolific and indiscriminate form of poaching across East African savanna and forest ecosystems. They are also the largest non-targeted cause of injury and dea
Bushmeat refers to wild animals killed for local consumption; snares are the dominant tool used to catch them. Both are major drivers of biodiversity loss in East Africa, and snares regularly catch non-target species as bycatch.
Key Facts
- Snares are cheap, silent and indiscriminate — a single poacher can set hundreds in one night.
- Major non-targeted victims include lions, elephants, wild dogs, leopards, hyenas and primates.
- Snared animals that escape often die slowly elsewhere of infected wounds.
- Community-led snare-removal patrols have proven more cost-effective than militarised approaches.
- WARN's Snare-Free Savanna appeal funds snare-removal patrols and veterinary darting in Kenya and Tanzania.
Why snares are so widespread
Wire snares can be made for almost nothing from fencing wire or motorcycle cables. They require no firearm, no training and no licence. A determined bushmeat hunter can set dozens of snares in a single day across a wide area of bushland, and they continue catching animals long after the hunter has left.
The bycatch problem
Snares set for medium-sized antelope routinely catch much larger animals — lions, leopards, elephants, hyenas — that walk through the wire and either die at the snare site or escape with the snare embedded in a limb. Snare-amputation injuries in elephants and lions are common in East Africa.
How rescue work responds
The standard response combines proactive snare-sweep patrols (often community-led), rapid-response veterinary darting teams who can sedate and treat snared animals in the field, and intelligence work to identify the supply chains feeding the bushmeat trade. WARN's planned East Africa programme contributes to all three.
