Conserving Angola’s Wildlife: A Woman’s Perspective
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Loading... - Alezy Lourenco
- 11 Apr 2023
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Learn about how we work with partners in Angola, a landscape critical to the survival of numerous African carnivores, including wild cats. Hear from a woman community game guard about what makes her job so important to wild cats — and us.
In a country of lions, leopards and cheetahs, we are uncovering mysteries every day. But on the plains of Angola, we still have much to learn about the under-researched state of the country’s wildlife.
In addition to conducting encouraging camera trap surveys in the region (which showed healthy numbers of leopards, wild dogs, hyenas, smaller cats such as caracal, serval and African wild cat and prey numbers), Panthera and partners have engaged communities to restore threatened carnivore and ungulate populations in Luengue-Luiana National Park in Angola since 2019. Since then, a rapidly expanding team of community game guards has cemented a daily “boots-on-the-ground” presence in this deeply unfamiliar, isolated and war-torn part of southern Africa. Through patrols, monitoring of wildlife, anti-poaching efforts and law enforcement, our current team of 36 community game guards leads the movement to protect this vast landscape and conserve its wildlife. Through dark woodlands and tall grasslands, in piercing rains and searing heat, they cover, on average, roughly 15 kilometers daily, confiscating illegal hunting equipment and deterring poachers. Together, they removed more than 514 wire snares and over 120 gin traps, destroyed 32 poacher camps and confiscated everything from bushmeat to shotguns and nearly 150 kg of ivory in 2022. Read More..
