No longer the desperate few. Today the killing is run by organised crime.
Poachers are no longer primarily impoverished local people killing wildlife to feed their families. Organised crime syndicates, and even terrorist groups, are now often the main perpetrators.
Four kinds of poacher. Each one a link in the same chain.
A person who kills one relatively small animal to feed his family.
Groups who kill significant numbers of larger animals to sell the meat in rural and city markets.
Funded by organised crime networks, primarily killing rhinos, elephants and pangolins. They also capture live animals for the exotic pet trade.
They fund their arms purchases with the proceeds of poaching.
One laced waterhole can kill hundreds of animals at once.
Poison is increasingly used in poaching, placed in watering holes known to be frequented by the target species. The collateral damage includes the deaths of hundreds of other animals drinking from the same source, and the scavengers that feed on the carcasses. Poachers also lace the carcasses of killed animals to eliminate vultures, whose presence might otherwise draw attention to the scene of the crime.
Poachers now bring their own dogs. We take them, and turn them against the hand that raised them.
And they prove remarkably effective at tracking their former handlers. The enemy's own dogs become ours.
Every sponsorship funds the training and deployment of a working dog and its ranger, the front line against the syndicates.
