Victoria Falls Anti-Poaching Unit September – October 2025 Update
The last two months have been busy and I must start this update with an apology. Between being in the field and out of town, I did not manage to write a September update. As such, the below represents two months’ worth of effort for the Unit.
It’s been a bumper couple of months with fundraising golf days, award nominations, joint patrols in Hwange and Zambezi Parks and the growth of our intelligence as we continue to work towards mitigating the ever present poaching threat.
The 22nd annual Victoria Falls Safari Collection Golf Day kicked off in September. Taking place at the amazing Borrowdale Brooke Golf Course in Harare, it is a massive day for our Unit. An event that has been supporting our work for 22 years and besides being our biggest fundraiser in the year it is also an opportunity for us to showcase our work to a greater audience.
A massive thank you to the amazing Victoria Falls Safari Collection for yet another incredible event!
It is our great desire to have multiple golf events happening in unison across many destinations on the same day. All in support of anti-poaching and raising funds for our work. 2025 saw the start of the dream being realised with the 1st annual Victoria Falls Golf Day. Organised and hosted by Round Table 7- Victoria Falls, the inaugural event kicked off in style with 20 teams taking to the fairways (sometimes) and swinging for conservation.
A massive thank you to Round Table 7-Victoria Falls for sharing our vision and taking charge of a Vic Falls Golf Day. We look forward to this becoming an annual event!
October saw the nomination of our Founder, Charles Brightman, for the prestigious World Wide Vets Gold Star Award for his work in conservation. With VFAPU about to complete its 26th year of operation, Charles has dedicated much of his life to protecting our wildlife and the natural spaces around us. His work is one of the main reasons that animals are found in abundance within the Victoria Falls landscape and this award would represent a small recognition of his work.
STATISTICS FOR THE MONTH
The dry season is traditionally a busier period for us, and this year has been no different. With animals congregating around limited resources they are easier to target for poachers. Sadly, and despite our best efforts, September and October saw several attempts on our wildlife.
Almost half of the snares recovered in this period have come from outside of our traditional patrol areas. VFAPU sent a team to the Sinamatella area of Hwange National Park during September to boost manpower resources. This vast area is under a constant poaching threat and being able to unite our efforts against this is exactly why the Wildlife Conservation Coalition was formed.
Similarly, VFAPU Rangers joined forces with National Parks, Matetsi Unit 7 and Zambezi Park Support Foundation to sweep along the river front. There has been an increase in cross border incursions targeting our wildlife and our united team of 29 strong sought to mitigate this threat through a show of force.
Just the one animal in need of rescue during the last 2 months. We are extremely happy to report that this statistic is significantly down from the same period last year. 5 in 2025 compared to 23 in 2024. This is largely due to the significant arrests that have been made this year with some of the major culprits currently behind bars.
This rescue was a little different to the norm. A report came of a buffalo with a tin can stuck over its back right hoof. Most certainly an accident, but another man made incident that needed to be addressed. Working closely with the IMPI Horse mounted Unit and the Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust, our teams rushed to the scene to assist the animal. It was an adult female and part of a herd of about 50 who had all just come from a mud wallow. Covered in mud, it was nearly impossible to see a can. Eventually the herd began to move off, and right in front of us was an adult female limping badly on her back leg.
The VFWT Vet immediately got a dart into her and we backed off to let the drug take effect. Once she was asleep, the team moved in to aid the distressed animal. We quickly determined that there was no can on the foot! Worried we had darted the wrong animal we immediately began washing the mud off to get a better look and determine the cause of the limp.
A fresh wound was found near her hock and believed to be the cause of her discomfort. It was cleaned and treated and the animal was reversed. With the rest of the herd watching over us from close by, we were able to get a good look at the rest of them and determined that this indeed was the right animal, and she must have managed to dislodge the can on her own. Regardless, the wound was undoubtedly caused by the foreign object she had picked up and needed to be cleaned out.
We continue to report all carcasses found, including the inevitable deaths by natural causes. Sadly we discovered 4 animal remains where the cause of death was deemed to be natural with no sign or evidence of foul play.
A rather large crocodile was discovered on a routine patrol. It was alive, but considering its proximity to the Safari Lodge water hole and the river, we didn’t think much of it. Over the next few days, we saw it regularly, not moving much out of the vicinity.
Sadly, on our next visit we found that it had passed away. With no obvious sign of fighting and nothing conclusive in the tests, it has been deemed a natural death. One of the stranger ones for our team to encounter.
Animals lost to poaching is always a bitter pill to swallow. Whilst such losses are unfortunately part of the job we have chosen to do, we take it personally and cant help but feel that we have failed these animals. Sadly, we lost 3 animals that we know of in the last two months due to poaching.
The first was an adult hyena. Discovered trapped in a wire snare. The destruction of the earth round the scene told a story of struggle and suffering. What makes this worse, is that we believe the snare to have belonged to a poacher we arrested in August for killing a kudu. Whilst we swept the area around the kudu scene we failed to detect two other snares not too far away. It was one of these snares that caught and killed the hyena. A senseless, unnecessary loss!
Upon further investigation we found a second buffalo carcass less than 20 meters away. Caught and killed just days before, with much of its meat having been taken. Whilst loses like this are tough, there is always information to be gained. These buffalo have alerted us to a new gang that seems to be operating.
The area in which the animals were poached is close to a construction site, and we have already begun surveillance and intelligence gathering around the area. Key to understanding and predicting poacher motives.
Causes of Death:
1 Crocodile, 1 Impala, 1 Buffalo Calf, 1 Elephant died of natural causes
1 Hyena, 2 Buffalo killed by Poachers.
We continue to see a reduction on the firewood poaching front. We believe this is a combination of the cold weather now having gone, and a new tactic we have been deploying to further deter this type of poaching.
We expect to see the demand on wood begin to climb again, as people start to stockpile before the rains well and truly descend. But will continue to mitigate this threat as best we can. Our big win, which came in October was the arrest of 4 individuals for attempting to sell a live pangolin in another part of the country. Whilst VFAPU was not directly involved with the arrest, the information gathered and the resources used to effect the arrest came from VFAPU and our growing informer network. This is a massive win for us, and probably the furthest afield that an arrest has been made thanks to our efforts.
We extend our deepest appreciation to the Law Enforcement agencies who enacted the arrest.
This is still an active case, and as such details have been withheld. This success is another step in our desire to mitigate the illegal trade of wildlife across the region!
