Jewellery made from poachers snares - Poachers turn fashionistas.

July 2007. You might not find them in Kensington boutiques yet, but the latest fashion rage in some villages in Zambia is a line of necklaces, bracelets and other jewellery made from a one-of-a-kind material: wire snares once used to illegally catch wildlife. Called ‘Snarewear,’ the handmade jewellery is the latest in a line of products sold by a growing band of reformed poachers, all of whom have joined a highly successful sustainable farming co-op in Zambia’s rural Luangwa Valley.

 

The co-op, known as COMACO (Community Markets for Conservation), is a voluntary program designed by the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society, that allows poachers to turn in firearms and snares in exchange for training in organic farming methods, bee-keeping, gardening, carpentry, and now, jewellery making. So far, more than 40,000 snares and 800 firearms have been turned in. Many products are sold in Zambia’s capital, Lusaka, and outlying towns under the brand name ‘It’s Wild!’
(http://www.itswild.org). Last year the program grossed over $350,000 in sales and has attracted over 35,000 members since its inception in 2002. The Wildlife Conservation Society estimates that it has saved thousands of animals from poaching, including elephants, lions and leopards.

Snare wire jewellery is an idea that COMACO director Dale Lewis of the Wildlife Conservation Society proposed to a Zambian jewellery designer, Misozi Kadewele. Faced with many hundreds of yards of confiscated snares left to rust in storage, Lewis decided to see if they could be transformed into something more useful.

Misozi uses seeds from local plants and trees incorporated with snare wire that she has handpicked from large bags of the tangled material. She employees several other local people to complete her creative team. It takes one person one day to complete a necklace, the group can produce five if they collaborate.

Completed snare wire jewellery and pieces are for sale at the regional Mfuwe Airport in Zambia, where tourists from around the world pass through to see wildlife in South Luangwa National Park. However, plans are already underway to expand sales via the Internet, though, as Lewis likes to point out: ‘Supplies are hopefully limited as snares will become a thing of the past in Zambia.’