> the Wildlife Conservation Act, put in place in 2013, carries a life sentence or fine of $200,000 for offenders; however, the sentences weren’t acting as a strong enough deterrence.

Clearly, a life sentence is an extremely strong deterrent. You will not gain significant deterrence from capital punishment, people that are committing the crime clearly don't expect to be caught. Or they have such desperate circumstances so as to completely skew their risk/reward perception - case in which capital punishment can even be seen as immoral.

Therefore, attention should be focused on properly enforcing the existing law, making sure the fines are applied in addition to strong prison sentences, going after the ring leaders, their profits and cronies in office, etcetera.

You cannot fake a working judicial system with political theater and draconian sentences applied only to those poor enough to get caught.