Congo: park rangers murdered, hippo poaching continues


Snip from Getoutdoors blog:

A few weeks back we blogged about WildlifeDirect, a website started to allow African Park Rangers to blog and communicate to the outside world about their activities. One of the blogs, Congo Rangers, has been trying to stop the slaughter of hippos, while defending themselves from roving bands of rebels. It looks like in both cases, the dangers to the rangers and hippos continue, with both rangers and hippos dying at the hands of marauding rebels. A post from the Jan 22nd on the danger facing the park rangers and murder of two park rangers:

I have just heard that rangers from Lulimbi and Kabaraza have had to flee their stations. This follows threats of an imminent attack on the two stations by Mai Mai and Interehamwe rebel groups. We have alerted MONUC who are on their way now, to assess the situation, but things aren’t looking good. We are not sure where exactly the rangers have fled to, but recent attacks on Lulimbi and Kabararaza will be fresh in their minds. The last time Kabaraza was attacked, over 300 rebels surrounded the station, killing the two rangers on night watch and launching a vicious attack on the rest of the station with hand held rocket launchers and heavy weapons.

Link to complete post. (Thanks, climb_ca). Image courtesy getoutdoors.com. Here's Wikipedia's entry on the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Link.