The Mostly-Female Black Mambas Take on Poachers and Win

A South African ranger group made up mainly of women has been named one of the winners of the United Nation’s top environmental accolade, the Champions of the Earth award, for its anti-poaching work.

The United National Environment Programme (UNEP) said, “The Black Mambas are an inspiration not only locally, but across the world to all those working to eliminate the scourge of the illegal wildlife trade.”

The Black Mamba Anti-Poaching Unit consists of 26 mostly women, many of them mothers, who work in the Olifants West Nature Reserve that forms part of the Balule Nature Reserve, near Kruger National Park. The unit was started by the conservation group TransFrontier Africa.

UNEP said the unit has ensured that not a single rhino has been poached on the land under their watch in over 10 months. In a neighbouring reserve, 23 rhinos have been killed over the same period. The reserve is also home to leopards, lions, elephants, cheetahs and hippos, among other wildlife.

Since being founded in 2013, the Black Mambas have also helped arrest six poachers, reduced snaring by 76 per cent (finding 350 snares and 13 fishing traps), removed over 1,000 snares and put five poachers’ camps and two bush meat kitchens out of action, the agency said.

Watch a Channel 4 production of the Black Mambas – Saving the Rhino:

Amy Clark, the project administrator at Transfrontier Africa, said the women – who have to do paramilitary training before beginning their fence patrols and manning lookout posts day and night – have to endure the judgement of others while trying to prove themselves on the job.

“Since the majority of our Mambas are mothers, they also have to leave their families behind for extended periods of time while on duty in the reserve,” she said.

“Former soldiers and old-school conservationists had doubts that the Mambas could effectively protect wildlife, but the success of our female mambas has triumphed over the skepticism.”

Clark said that even though the team had captured poachers, its mission was to prevent poaching altogether by early detection and visual policing.

“We do not measure our success on the number of poachers caught, but on the number of weeks free of any poaching-related incidents.”

The Champions of the Earth award is the United Nations highest environmental honour. Four more laureates will be announced between today and 18 September 2015.

Sources: Media Club South Africa and UNEP

MORE INFO

Black Mambas:
http://www.blackmambas.org