Lion wearing a snare illustrates threat posed by subsistence poachers

Lioness in Kruger National Park is wearing a poacher’s snare. Photo: ©Judy Spangler Jones

Anger about the recent poaching of Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe has yet to subside, as new developments surrounding the viral news story seem to arise almost every day.
But trophy hunters, such as Walter J. Palmer, the Minnesota dentist being sought by Zimbabwe authorities for shooting the iconic Cecil for his head as a memento, are only one problem facing African lions.
The photo atop this post shows a female lion in South Africa’s Kruger National Park wearing a cable snare that’s cutting into the flesh around her neck.

image: http://cdn.grindtv.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/lioness2.jpeg

Judy Spangler Jones says Lioness was resting on a termite mound. Photo: ©Judy Spangler Jones

Veterinarians have been searching for the cat in a remote part of the vast wilderness reserve since it was photographed on July 26 by an American tourist, Judy Spangler Jones.
Jones told GrindTV that the lion was with two others that had walked across the road as she drove through the park in an RV.
According to a report in The Citizen, the Punda Maria portion of the park is littered with snares and other types of traps used illegally by subsistence poachers.
The lion in the photo somehow broke free of the snare it had stumbled into, but veterinarians would like to find the cat before the snare causes further damage.
Gabrielle Venter, a spokeswoman for South African National Parks, said that helicopters would offer the most productive means of finding wounded animals.
But unfortunately, Venter added, most available helicopters are being used in the effort to combat rhino poaching, which is perhaps the most serious issue facing African wildlife.
Rhino horns, like elephant tusks, are so prized for their ivory that the animals have been poached to the brink of extinction. Last year alone, 1,215 rhinos – or about three rhinos per day – were killed in South Africa.

Read more at http://www.grindtv.com/wildlife/lion-wearing-a-snare-illustrates-threat-posed-by-subsistence-poachers/#hvABvVX1fzTmpbhq.99