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Volunteers…prevent the slaughter of elephants — and you don’t have to be in Virunga to help!
 
 
CLICK HERE to go to the Elephant Crisis Page and see how you can help.

I’m writing to ask for your help.  Last week we suffered the loss of one or our elephants in the Mabenga area.  This is extremely worrying because it could indicate the beginning of a major poaching crisis in that area.  We have to act fast and vigorously to stop this crisis before it even begins and we really need your support for this.

This was a short film we took of one of our Mabenga elephants last year.  The event reminds us how friendly and trusting they are, but also how incredibly vulnerable they are to poachers, and nothing short of 24 hour armed protection will keep them alive.

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There are about 80 elephants in the Mabenga area; it’s one of the park’s most important populations to have survived the war.  We have received information that the people involved in the killing of the elephant are still in the area and we must deal with this problem. We will be putting together a team of ten rangers to specifically protect this area.  We also need to build proper surveillance, elephant monitoring, intelligence gathering etc.  For that reason, we want to set up an elephant protection unit as a long term solution to the poaching problem.  Their job will be to provide 24 / 7 protection to the Mabenga elephants to avoid their possible extinction.

We need your help to set up this protection unit. The park has very limited resources, but we have to respond to killing incidences like the loss of our elephants last week.  I would be very grateful for your thoughts on this and in particular if there is anyone who would be willing to volunteer their time to make this elephant anti-poaching unit a reality.  I passionately believe that anybody anywhere in the world can make a profound difference to the future of the park.  The kind of support that we need is for people to campaign on the behalf of the park, getting feedback from the rangers on the ground and raising support by communicating this to a community of supporters around the world.  It would involve a few hours of voluntary work a week, and you will be working from your home but in close collaboration with my field team that will support your efforts with web support, information and ideas on mobilizing communities.

I hate to show this picture, but it’s important to realise just how awful elephant poaching is.

If there is anybody who feels they could help us with this campaign please do send us a message on elephantcrisis@gorilla.cd, with some information about yourself.  Please don’t hesitate if you have ideas on helping the elephants of Virunga.

It’s been a rough week where security is concerned in the central and northern sectors. On the positive side, the program for rangers’ widows, the lodge construction, and the anti-poaching bloodhound program are all successfully moving forward.

Ranger Michel’s widow Valeri (back row right), with 3 of her 6 children.

Rangers

• After years of planning and effort, most of the key pieces are finally coming together for our program to support the widows and orphans of rangers who have died while protecting the park. This involves setting up the Fallen Rangers Fund (which we have previously called the Widows Fund), raising monthly support for the widows from individuals like you, and getting support from larger donors to fund other important long-term parts of the program. Probably the most important piece before anything can be implemented properly is to register all the widows so we can set up bank accounts and monitor everything efficiently. Our new Human Resources manager, Fantassin, has just completed the first step of registering all but three of the widows from 2005 to now, from all sections of this large park. This is the first step in setting up bank accounts and regular payments. Keep in mind that none of these widows have email and most don’t have mobile phones, or can’t afford to buy credit for them. Communication in Congo is a bit more complicated, so this is a big step.
• Thanks to an extremely generous grant from the Swiss organization Zurich Animal Protection, our anti-poaching bloodhounds will get a new kennel. Construction began this week, and is moving swiftly. The dogs and all of us who live in the nearby camp will be happy when it’s completed. Hopefully the early morning wake-up call of barking bloodhounds will subside a bit when they are fed in their kennel in the morning. Thank you Zürcher Tierschutz!

The new dog kennel under-construction. You can see the small wooden houses in the background where the dogs are currently living.

Security

• Although the southern sector has been quiet and safe, it has been a week of immense tension around Lake Edward with some serious security incidents in the north and central part of the park. One incident involved a shootout between our rangers and poachers on the shores of Lake Edward in which one poacher was killed. This of course has led to an inquiry because of the loss of life.
• Thirteen Mai Mai militia were reported near the area of Muramba, all armed with AK 47s. We have received intelligence that suggests this group may target our rangers.
• Some poachers with bushmeat were arrested near Mutsora. The recovered meat was primarily from Thomas’ Kob and waterbuck. One of the three poachers was Ugandan and so handed over to the Ugandan Wildlife Authorities at Queen Elizabeth National Park across the border.
• We had two serious attacks on two different patrol posts, one in the central sector and one in the north. In the second attack near Vitshumbi, one attacker was accidentally killed by his own men.
• The insecurity has hit the local population as well. Sixteen fishermen were kidnapped by FDLR militia who are asking $3000 in ransom. There is a report that the men are buried up to their waist to prevent escape.

A beautiful bungalow interior of Mikeno Lodge - just waiting to be furnished. A small lounge area will circle the fireplace.

Tourism

• The lodge is nearing completion. I know we’ve said this before, but we are clearly nearing the end with electric and water lines going in, water tanks installed, bathroom fixtures nearly finished, kitchen completed, and landscaping taking place. The final step will be furnishing and decorating, which is a couple of weeks away. This lodge is a milestone for the park, the first of this kind, and hopefully one that will bring income to help finance some projects and operating costs of the park.

Kitchen for Mikeno Lodge

Over the past month we have suffered a growing number of very serious poaching incidents across the central savannas of the park. These killings have affected the elephant population (which has declined by 90% in the past twenty years) the buffaloes, and more recently lions, which are critically endangered in eastern Africa. We have had 5 elephant killings in the last four days.

A lionness killed and eaten by soldiers a few months ago

Read the full story »

One thing we’ve learned in Virunga, is that when you have a major setback, you double your effort. Nsekanabo’s killing was a catastrophic setback for us.

We were in Bukima yesterday, working to strengthen the de-snaring effort. Our main problem is that we don’t have the manpower to deploy enough patrols in the sector. We have 36 Rangers across the sector, and at the moment we can carry out 8 patrols a day, every day.   Although these patrols removed several thousand snares from the area in 2009,  Nsekanabo’s killing has shown that this isn’t enough to keep the Mountain Gorillas safe. Read the full story »

Mount Visoke is an extinct volcano in the Virunga mountains that straddles DR Congo and Rwanda. It lies at the heart of mountain gorilla habitat – and so naturally our Rangers often venture onto the flanks of this mountain for anti-poaching patrols or to rid the area of the snares that threaten the mountain gorillas and other animals.

Mount Visoke, at 3,711 meters (just over 12,000 feet). Mount Mikeno rises up behind Visoke.

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Last week, a poachers ring had dismantled buy Rangers patrol at the East sector of Rwindi field in the center sector of Virunga National Park.

A Read the full story »

We have received a report from our colleagues at IDPE detailing an alarming rise in poaching by FARDC government soldiers in the central sector of the park (see map). In the month of August alone soldiers killed 8 hippos and 6 elephants, as well as the female lion recently shot in Rwindi.

One of the killed elephants- its tusks had been removed and trunk cut off.

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This is Diddy. More bad news I’m afraid. I went to the Ranger Station in Kabaraza, which is about 60km north of Rumangabo. When I arrived, the Rangers there told me that another elephant had just been killed. Of course the tusks had been taken by the poachers, but so had the meat.

We are very worried because it is starting to look like there is someone in our area who is buying ivory. The elephants killings are continuing and it is clear that the demand in ivory has re-emerged.

You will remember that Ephrem posted about the elephant killing spree in April. There have also been several press reports, including on the BBC and in the Times. We still do not know if the six poachers who were caught have been successfully prosecuted…

Elephants In Better Times