Snare removal project 181Ofen and Pascal were transferred from snare removal duties to education. We started
a programme of weekly education meetings in villages and schools. This programme
continues, in modified form, today. After three months, in July 2000, we re-started snare
removal, recording the location of snares to obtain an idea of the areas of heaviest snaring.
The education programme appeared to be having a big effect. During the 16 months from
22 August 2000 to 13 December 2001, just 399 snares were found, fewer than in the first
three months of 2000. However, since that time numbers of snares brought in have begun
to rise again. In May 2003, for example, over 300 snares were removed from compartment
N4, adjoining the BFP’s site and in the range of the Sonso community (Tumusiime 2002).
We now remove snares daily and continue the education programme. There has not
been a repeat of the removal of scientific equipment from the forest, nor have our
snare removers been threatened again. Initially there was an increase in snaring in the
Nyakafunjo area at the southern end of the Sonso range.^70 More recently we have
Table 9.1: Types of snares removed from Budongo Forest, January–March 2000.
Month, year Thick wire Thin wire Cord or nylon Fishing line or
electric wire
January 2000 23 160 47 1
February 2000 7 147 14 4
March 2000 11 77 4 19
Totals 41 384 65 24Fig. 9.9: Snare removers with three boxes of snares collected in the Sonso community range,
January–March 2000 (photo: V.R.).
(^70) On a single day, 4 July 2003, our four snare collectors brought in a total of 64 snares all collected in
compartment N4 near Nyakafunjo.