Cape Town - Caracals have unfortunately also become a target for poachers along the Noordhoek wetlands, and are usually sold illegally or eaten.
The animals’ tracks are still found along the wetlands, which is a good sign that they remain present in the areas. Poachers usually attract them by lighting fires.
Urban Caracal Project co-ordinator Laurel Serieys said: “Fires unearth seeds that small mammals feed on once the fire has passed. For the first couple of weeks after a fire there will also be green shoots that the grysbok, which is a favourite caracal prey, like to feed on.
“Poachers often light fires to flesh out wildlife from the bush, but this actually attracts caracals. For all poached wildlife, the poachers may eat them or sell their pelts and body parts for muti.”
She said they currently were not monitoring collared caracals in the area, as was done as part of a fieldwork project in 2017. All collars on monitored animals had come off after that period of data collection.
“One adult male was already chased and killed by a poacher’s hunting dogs near Imhoff’s Gift. We found his collar cut off of him. In another instance, SA National Parks (SANParks) honorary rangers found a previously collared adult female (Spitfire) caught in a snare in the wetlands but she was safely released,” she said.
CyberTracker Conservation executive director Louis Liebenberg said: “The Noordhoek wetlands are an important part of the Table Mountain National Park, since the wetlands add to the diversity of the landscape. It is this diversity and the wetlands that makes (the area) less accessible to people, allowing animals to thrive.”
He said poachers did not specifically always target caracals, and mainly targeted francolin, guinea fowl and grysbok for food. However, caracals were caught in snares. “It is not fully known if the poachers utilise caracals (if snared) or whether they are simply left in the field (to be scavenged by crows). There are still caracals roaming in the wetlands,” he said.
Serieys said: “The poachers and their snares are moving targets, as when SANParks remove snares from an area, the poachers move to the next area, but we do find that poachers visit the same areas over and over again, like the wetlands and Dassenberg.”
If members of public find a snare, report its location to 079 837 8814. SANParks and trained rangers perform snare-sweeps in the areas where snares are found.
Cape Argus