39 Wildlife Park Rangers Missing In The Congo

By Lynsey Ford

Virunga National Park, Congo - Thirty-nine wildlife rangers dedicated to protecting some of the world’s last mountain gorillas are unaccounted for in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Fears are growing for the workers who were forced to flee into dense forest after their headquarters were stormed by rebels on Sunday.

The rangers, who patrol and protect Virunga National Park assisted by EU funds from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), have no food, water or shelter and are surrounded by warring armed groups.

ZSL’s Africa Programme Manager, Dr Noëlle Kümpel, said: “The situation in Virunga is incredibly dangerous; the safety of the rangers caught in the crossfire is our first priority.”
 
“These people have devoted their lives to protecting Virunga’s mountain gorillas - whose survival now also hangs in the balance.”
 
Dr Emmanuel de Merode, Provincial Director of the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation (ICCN) said: “Virunga is in an unprecedented crisis. The fighting continues to spread in all directions, the rangers have lost control of the southern sector of the park, and 39 gorilla rangers are still missing. We urgently need support to protect the rangers and their families.”
 
ZSL is supporting the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation (ICCN)’s emergency appeal to help the gorilla rangers of Virunga and their families by raising money for vital supplies.
 
More than 120 rangers have died in the last decade of civil war and instability while protecting Virunga’s wildlife. Many have worked with little or no wages to guard the Park’s unique wildlife and last fragments of unspoilt forest.
 
Now Virunga National Park’s 200 mountain gorillas are under severe threat as armed rebels invade their habitat and the humanitarian crisis in DRC deepens.
 
Dr Kümpel added: “This humanitarian crisis is likely to have a devastating effect on conservation efforts in this area for a long time to come.”
 
“The Park’s dedicated rangers are critical to its future and they need continued support. We are asking people to log on to our website http://www.zsl.org to donate money which will go straight to them and their families.” 
 
The rest of the rangers based at the Park headquarters at Rumangabo and those at other patrol posts in the southern and central sectors of the Park have been evacuated along with their families to a camp in the town of Goma. Funds are urgently needed to provide basic food, water, sanitation and medical care for the 670 people in the camp, which also experienced a cholera outbreak this week.
 
Virunga National Park, founded in 1925, is Africa’s oldest national park and contains the greatest range of habitats and vertebrate species diversity of any African park. In the last 30 years, conservation management in the DRC has been severely constrained by three successive decades of dictatorial rule, economic collapse and armed conflict. The Park is situated in North Kivu Province, which has had to cope with an influx of nearly 2 million refugees. As a result, its borders have been eroded, permanent settlements (fisheries, pastoralists, agriculturalists) within the park have increased, and military camps have been set up, leading to massive deforestation and poaching. Designated by UNESCO as Africa’s first natural World Heritage Site, in 1994 it was listed as a World Heritage Site in Danger.
 
The Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation (ICCN) and its rangers work throughout the country to protect the National Parks of DRC and their wildlife from poachers, rebel groups, illegal miners and land invasions. While ICCN has remained committed to Virunga National Park’s conservation, its management capacity has been severely hampered as a result of the civil wars of 1996-2003.  It is working with NGO partners such as ZSL to restore the integrity of the Park.  For more information go to www.iccn.gorilla.cd.
 
ZSL’s  Africa Programme focuses on capacity building, training, management support, research and monitoring with stakeholders such as governments, industry and local communities, and works in 35 African countries including Gabon, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia and the Democratic Republic of Congo in equatorial Africa. ZSL has been supporting ICCN in DRC since 2001 and provides 23% of the annual operational costs for the management of Virunga National Park through its EU funded project.
 
Founded in 1826, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is an international scientific, conservation and educational charity: our key role is the conservation of animals and their habitats.  The Society runs ZSL London Zoo and ZSL Whipsnade Zoo, carries out scientific research in the Institute of Zoology and is actively involved in field conservation and research in over 80 countries worldwide. For further information please visit www.zsl.org
 
Donations towards supporting the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation (ICCN)’s emergency appeal to help the gorilla rangers of Virunga and their families can be made via http://gorilla.cd/ or www.zsl.org