Identifying areas of high snaring risk in Kruger National Park: A novel citizen science approach for carnivore conservation

Wire snares are a frequently used method for illegal bushmeat poaching and are increasingly recognised as a global threat to biodiversity. However, studies investigating the underlying drivers of snare placement and areas of increased likelihood of detecting snared animals are lacking, particularly in fenced protected areas. We estimated the occurrence of large carnivore snaring incidents in Kruger National Park (KNP), South Africa, using citizen science records reported on social media pages. Using occupancy modelling to account for imperfect detection, we assessed the drivers of snare occurrence and predicted areas of high snaring risk across KNP. Our results suggest that the probability of snared large carnivores increases with proximity to areas of higher human activity. Specifically, snare occurrence is significantly higher at the reserve boundary in areas that are bordered by human settlements. Our findings suggest that areas of increased accessibility are the primary motivator for snare placement in KNP. To validate our findings, we compared our predicted probabilities of snared carnivore occurrence to a database of snare detection locations from ranger patrols. We found that 75 % of snare locations occurred in cells where Ψ ≥ 0.50, suggesting that the location of snared carnivores can act as a proxy for areas of increased snare risk. Our novel approach can be used to predict areas of increased snare occurrence and inform applied law enforcement and mitigation strategies. Further, we encourage the wider adoption of an occupancy modelling framework to inform snare mitigation strategies across African protected areas.