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Victoria Falls Anti-Poaching Unit
Most of the information and pictures on these pages has been written by Charles Brightman (Project Co-ordinator, VFAPU) and members of his team. The text and photographs are reproduced with their kind permission. Subsistence Poaching
Once VFAPU has captured such people, we attempt to assist them in various ways such as seeking employment for them or even delivering firewood to their residence in efforts to keep them out of the bush. This type of poaching comes in the guise of snaring or trapping smaller species of birds or mammal for direct consumption together with the gathering of firewood to use as fuel. Wood PoachingConducted mainly by wood carvers in search of hardwoods such as Leadwood (Combretum imberbe), Mukwa (Pterocarpus angolensis) and Pod Mahogany (Afezila quanzensis) to produce carvings for the tourist market. Whilst there is a need for the local people to directly benefit from tourism, the method in which these trees are being destroyed is most definitely not sustainable; the extent of the crisis is shown through the grim statistic that approximately 70% of all Mukwa trees in our operational area have been chopped down. "Bush Meat" poaching
Commercial poachingThese poachers target "high value" game such as elephant and rhino, where the high black market prices paid for tusks and horns are their reward. For more informationPlease send a message through the feedback page which will be passed directly on to the project team in the field. |
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© Afrikeye 1999 - 2007 (certain items under permission of original copyright owner) |
The Victoria Falls Anti-Poaching Unit (VFAPU) protects an area of fifty
square kilometres, which surrounds the town, and it is within this area that we
come across various basic levels of poaching.
Where people that are so impoverished they have no real alternative but to
turn to poaching in order to survive.
Where
individuals and gangs make their living from hunting and snaring game in order
to sell the meat.