Virunga Elephants Recovering Thanks to Heroic Park Guards

NEW YORK, New York, June 21, 2006 (ENS) - Numbers of elephants and other large mammals have increased in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Virunga National Park since the last census three years ago, conservation groups in the United States and DRC report.

The most recent census was conducted between June 9 and 12 by researchers from the Institut Congolais pour la Conservacion de la Nature (ICCN), the national conservation agency of the DRC, and from the Wildlife Conservation Society based at New York's Bronx Zoo.

Funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the census found that efforts to protect the park’s wildlife appear to be succeeding in reversing a steep decline in numbers of large mammals due to poaching and armed conflict that claimed nearly four million human lives since 1995.

“The results of the census are encouraging, and proof that protecting the park’s wildlife can be done in the most turbulent conditions,” said researcher Deo Kujirakwinja of the Wildlife Conservation Society.

The researchers give credit for the animals' recovery to the anti-poaching efforts of park guards who patrol this World Heritage Site at great personal risk.

DRC national army officers hand over weapons to ICCN park guards, in the presence of UN peacekeepers at a ceremony in Beni. The weapons are used for training of a special anti-poaching group. (Photo by Robert Muir, Frankfurt Zoological Society courtesy WCS)

Currently, park guards receive only $1 per month as a salary from the DRC government, although this amount was increased to $30 per month with funds from UNESCO from 2002-2005.

Additional support for the park guards will come from the European Union through the Zoological Society of London in the near future.

Established in 1925, Virunga National Park once had the highest density of large mammals in the world before a wave of unrest and poaching descended upon the region.

Since the 1960s, the park’s populations of elephants, hippos, and buffalos have plummeted, with the heaviest levels of poaching occurring in 1980s and during the past 10 years since the beginning of the DRC's civil war in 1996.

The park’s once abundant elephant population, estimated in the 1960s at 4,300, had been reduced to a few hundred individuals by 2003.

In the past three years, however, elephants have increased from 265 to 340 individuals. The census also found approximately 3,800 buffalo, up from 2,300 in 2003.

Deo Kujirakwinja (rear) from WCS, and Pyther Banza of WWF work on law enforcement monitoring in Virunga National Park. In 2005, Banza won one of the first awards given by the Alexander Abraham Foundation for valiant Congolese park guards and other Congolese conservationists. (Photo by Andrew Plumptre courtesy WCS)

“Poaching is still taking a toll on wildlife and the rate of recovery is being slowed as a result, but it is clear that the efforts of ICCN and its partners are finally leading to a reduction in the level of poaching,” Kujirakwinja said.

Virunga National Park has been the major destination for tourists in the DRC since it was created, but unrest over the past decade has resulted in a decrease in tourism dollars as well as wildlife.

Tourism in the region has the potential to generate significant revenues for the parks and the country. In Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania, the tourism business has generated millions of dollars, not only for parks but also for local communities throughout the region.

“Virunga Park will be the key to any tourism industry in Congo with its large mammals, gorillas, active volcanoes and biodiversity," said Dr. Andrew Plumptre of the Wildlife Conservation Society.

"It is clear that Congo needs to invest in the future of this park if they are to realize any of the benefits of tourism in future,” Plumptre said. “It is also clear that park guards will need continued support if the park is to show an increase in the large mammal populations in future.”

Virungas' wardens and senior staff pose in front of Nyiragongo, one of two active volcanoes in the park. (Photo by Andrew Plumptre courtesy WCS)

The occupation and struggle to exploit these natural resources killed nearly four million people since 1995.

Wildlife suffered a great deal from the conflict, according to the 2001 report by a Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo convened by the United Nations.

The panel found "numerous accounts and statistics from regional conservation organizations" to show that, in the area controlled by the Ugandan troops and Sudanese rebels, nearly 4,000 out of 12,000 elephants were killed in the Garamba Park in north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo between 1995 and 1999.

"The situation in other parks and reserves is equally grave, including Kahuzi-Biega Park, the Okapi Reserve and Virunga Park. The numbers of okapis, gorillas and elephants have dwindled to small populations," the panel reported.

The panel learned that poaching of elephants in violation of international law - the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species - was well organized.

"Either soldiers hunted directly with the consent of the commander or they provided equipment and protection to local villagers to execute the task with the objective of collecting elephant tusks," the panel said. In some areas, "commanders take the tusks, soldiers negotiate the wholesale price with some locals, and the locals sell the meat in the market place as retailers."

Virunga National Park is located in the eastern DRC, a lawless part of the country where rebel groups are strongest.

In an effort to keep order, some 17,000 UN peacekeepers regularly conduct joint operations with DRC government forces. The country is preparing for its first multi-party elections in 40 years on July 30.