Quantifying the threat of wire snares using camera trapping data in India

Abstract

Wire snaring is a prevalent method of hunting in tropical Asia driven by various factors, including occupational, subsistence, to meet demand for bushmeat and wildlife by-products at regional and international markets. While snaring is a common hunting practice in India, research on its local impacts is scant. This study aims to examine the impacts of snaring on wildlife using camera traps, deployed from 2013 to 2023 across different conservation management regimes in Karnataka, southern India. Seventeen independent snaring events of five different species were documented during the study. The mean encounter rate was 0.0386 (SD = ±0.001) and the highest encounter rate was recorded in non-protected areas. In addition, we recorded 34 snaring events during our forays on foot while collecting data on camera trapping where the highest snaring events were also recorded in non-protected areas (76.5 %). The study highlights the indiscriminate nature of snaring practices and outlines recommendations to curb its impacts on wildlife populations in India, especially in non-protected areas. The study results could help advocate for collective action against snaring practices, in protected and non-protected areas. This study also highlights that camera trapping has a limited ability to document snaring as a threat as forays on foot resulted in detecting much higher snaring events during the same study period.