Snare Wire Art weblog

Earth Info is pleased to announce that it has launched a weblog for the Painted Dog Conservation project in Zimbabwe.

The Painted Dog conservation project was set up 15 years ago by Greg Rasmussen. Over this time Greg has persuaded many farmers to stop shooting dogs, and also invented a special collar which can cut through wire snares and help drivers to see dogs on the road. Sadly, despite these valiant efforts, Painted Dogs, which used to roam across much of Africa, remain three times rarer than the Giant Panda, and critically endangered.


Greg employs over 50 people and, as part of their work, the project's team of rangers have so far collected over 10,000 wire snares. Poachers use these snares to catch bush meat and illegally, indiscriminately and painfully kill 1000s of animals each year.

Recently, local artists have started converting this wire in beautiful works of art, such as those in the picture below. Last year some of these sculptures where sold in a celebrity auction at Christie's in London and raised £13,000 for the project.


In addition to the project's core conservation efforts, Greg has recently established a fantastic bush camp for local children and a new bush trail.

This is all the more impressive when you know that Greg recently survived a terrible plane crash, which resulted in him shattering both of his legs.