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Twelve wire snares and dead mountain reedbuck found during Kloofendal patrol

Two mountain reedbuck running across open grassland
Conservation · Trade & poaching

An anti-snaring patrol in Kloofendal Nature Reserve in Johannesburg, South Africa found 12 wire snares and several dead mountain reedbuck (Redunca fulvorufula) in May 2026. The patrol was carried out by Friends of Kloofendal volunteers after visitors had reported snares and trapped animals in the reserve.

Ten volunteers took part on 23 May, dividing into three teams and covering about four kilometres through areas regarded as snaring hotspots. Tracey Herbst, a qualified snare-patrol guide with Friends of Kloofendal, told the Roodepoort Record that the teams found 12 wire snares. She said a few mountain reedbuck had been caught and died in the snares, along with rock hyraxes.

The patrol was the fourth carried out in the reserve during 2026. Friends of Kloofendal said earlier patrols in March and over Easter had already found a total of 64 snares. Committee member Karin Spottiswoode described this as a clear increase from 2024, when about 27 snares were reported for the whole year.

The volunteer patrols are intended to locate areas where illegal trapping is concentrated, remove snares and look for animals that have been caught. Friends of Kloofendal also asks visitors to report trapped or distressed wildlife and suspicious activity so that reserve staff and conservation volunteers can respond.

Kloofendal is a 128-hectare urban nature reserve managed by Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo, whose official reserve information lists mountain reedbuck among the mammals occurring there. The May patrol documented direct mortality from illegal snaring inside this protected urban reserve.

Friends of Kloofendal continued scheduling further snare patrols after the May operation as part of its effort to reduce illegal trapping in the reserve.

Sources and image credit

  1. Vilakazi, N. (2026, June 1). 12 wire snares and dead reedbuck found at Kloofendal. Roodepoort Record.Local report based on direct statements from Friends of Kloofendal patrol participants.
  2. Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo. (n.d.). Kloofendal Nature Reserve.Official reserve information, including the occurrence of mountain reedbuck at Kloofendal.

Image: Kelly Abram — mountain reedbuck in South Africa; representative image, not from Kloofendal. Source: Wikimedia Commons. · CC BY 4.0 · Source

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