Injured lioness is rescued from snare around her neck

The video shows the incredible work done by a wildlife rescue team in the African wild, removing a wire snare stuck around the neck of a lioness.
The wildlife living on the African continent fulfils many important roles and is key to its existence. Every year, millions of tourists visit Africa, with majority making time to go on safari and admire the incredible wealth of wildlife. Because of safari tourism, millions of jobs are created for local people at the same time. Wildlife plays an even more important role on the continent by ensuring the ongoing existence of key biodiversity areas and are also deeply rooted in the history and heritage of local cultures. For these reasons, nature conservation and the protection of wildlife are ultra important. Unfortunately, not everyone shares the same view. Thousands of animals are lost yearly to poaching. The main reasons for the poaching of wildlife are usually either greed and self-enrichment or out of poverty and hunger desperation.
While leading a safari in the Kruger National Park with a group of tourists, we came across a pride of lions. After viewing the lions for some time, I noticed that the one lioness was not looking in great condition. I also noticed an unusual scar around her neck. Viewing her through binoculars I realised that the lioness had a wire snare around her neck. That was not good. I immediately contacted the park’s wildlife rescue team and notified them of the situation. Poachers driven by hunger set these types of snares along well travelled game paths, in the hope to trap an antelope which will supply them with meat. Unfortunately, antelopes are not the only animals walking along these game paths. Many other animals that are not targeted for their meat, such as this lioness, also make use of these game paths and can end up in these snares, choking them around their necks.
We kept an eye on the lioness until the arrival of the rescue team. The team included a wildlife vet that got onto our vehicle with his tranquilizer rifle. I followed his instructions, got closer to the lioness and the vet shot her in the back side. Slowly the lioness started dozing off and after about 5 minutes, she was out. The vet first made sure the lioness was totally tranquilized, pulling her tail and giving her a few pats on the back side to check for any possible reactions. While the rest of the team blocked off the scene for the other nearby lionesses, the vet quickly proceeded with his pliers to remove the wire snare from the lionesses’ neck. It was a great relief to see the female lion finally free from the terrible piece of wire around her neck. After the removal of the wire, an antidote was injected. It took another good ten minutes again for the tranquilizer to work out before the lioness, still groggy and drowsy, managed to get back onto her feet to go and join the rest of her pride again. The rescue team was very efficient and did a great job. We all felt good, knowing that a lioness was saved, and all our efforts contributed to the ongoing conservation efforts of looking after the precious wildlife roaming the African continent.