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Protrack Anti-Poaching Unit
Feb-2009
What is a bush kitchen?
A bush kitchen in poaching terms is a temporary shelter hidden away in the bushfrom where a poacher can store poached meat, hide, and lay low for an extendedperiod of time before and after checking his snares.
A recent arrest in the Gravelotte area of the Limpopo Province, graphicallyillustrates how some poachers live inthe bush whilst poaching.The debate on whether subsistencepoaching is justifiable and where theline between syndicate or commercialpoaching lies, is ongoing.It is in cases such as these where these“lines” blur into grey areas. It hardlyvalidates the death of a Kudu, twoWildebeest, three Zebra and a Vultureto feed a single family. This is abusiness and a very lucrative and illegalone at that all at the expense of thelegal occupier of private land.In this instance it is clear that thepoacher occupied this temporary basefor some time, he had enough food tosustain himself for many days, by eatingthe food he had with him and his catch.He had sleeping gear and salt withwhich to process the meat that washanging on wire.
Written by: Alex VolkerPage 1 of 3
 
Protrack Anti-Poaching Unit
Feb-2009
The poacher, who was arrested, did notsubmit easily and attacked his arrestingofficer with a knife. It must be noted thatpoachers are criminals and they fear the reprisals of the law as would anyother person caught in the act of committing an offence. This makesthem potentially dangerous. They areusually armed with at least knives,spears or pangas and will not hesitateto use them.Poaching is simply not seen as a harshcrime. It is not surprising that peopleworking in the anti-poaching industryget despondent. They brave theelements, imminent danger and manyobstacles stacked up against them toapprehend poachers who slip throughthe legal processes more often thannot.To arrest a poacher, he must be caughtin the act either with the meat or handling snares. Trespassing alone israrely taken seriously enough by theauthorities.The losses suffered by the land owner and the environment may be immense.The replacement value of plains gamesuch as Zebra, Kudu and Wildebeesrun into thousands, but theWhite backed Vulture (
Gyps africanus
)
Written by: Alex VolkerPage 2 of 3
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Jen MacLeod

Maybe if more was known about these issues and more information such as this was available something would be done...please write more...

reply03 / 03 / 2009
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