South Africa's wildlife is under threat as some of the country's most iconic species are being targeted by criminal gangs. As these groups systematically slaughter and traffic animals to feed an insatiable black market for illegal wildlife parts, a scrappy troop of park rangers, scientists, trackers, and other conservationists are putting their own lives at risk to stop them.⁠ ⁠ OL’s news editor Dac Collins took a trip to the region to get an inside look at the war on poaching, and to meet a few of the men and women who have the courage to fight back.⁠ ⁠ "We’re just a stone’s throw from the vehicle when we see the first bootprints in the sand. They’re a few days old and cross a dirt road that runs along the backside of a large waterhole. The eight of us spread out along the same two-track and wait for Eugene Troskie’s signal before marching into the thick South African scrub. We walk in a straight line, slowly and deliberately, as if navigating a minefield. Only instead of explosives, ...