13 hippos left, and counting…
Category: Crises, Hippos | Date: Dec 04 2006 | By: admin
Hippo carcass on the edge of Lake Edward
I have just flown over Vitshumbi where less than two months ago we had counted over 200 hippos. Today we saw just 13. This follows a massive slaughter over the past week by a group of Mai Mai some 20km East of Vitshumbi on the southern shores of Lake Edward.
I was flying Ben Anderson and his film crew up to Mutsora to do a documentary on the Advance Force to be aired next spring. He saw first hand the threats the rangers were facing, and flew over hippos being hacked into pieces and loaded on small canoes destined for the illegal fishing villages along the west coast.
Only two days ago, this same group of Mai Mai attacked Lulimbi, a ranger station in the East of the park. Fortunately no one was killed, but they left a ranger badly injured and made off with 10 rifles and 4 walkie-talkies.
How long will the UN let it go on? Without their immediate support it may all be over for Virunga’s hippos before Ben has finnished filming for his documentary.
It’s not often you see a presenter left speechless
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5 Responses to “13 hippos left, and counting…”
Helen Jordan, on 07 Dec 2006
UN assistance is required urgently. I may be ignorant of the situation involving the militia. Negoitiation may not be somthing they are willing to do, but is it possible to get them on side by paying them to protect the hippos - provide them with more funds than they would receive in profits from culling them.
Robert Muir, on 07 Dec 2006
Hi Helen,
Unfortunately demand for hippo meat from illegal settlers on the west coast is just too high (especially given that their principle source of protein, fish, has now all but disappeared from the lake). Furthermore it would appear that much of the hippo meat has been used for rations to support the Congolese military during their recent operations against Laurent Nkunda.
The best thing we can do now is put pressure on MONUC (William Lacey Swing, the Special Representative of the UN for the DRC) by requesting immediate UN intervention in support of the ICCN in an attempt to stop the total destruction of this World Heritage Site. He can be contacted on: casseusm@un.org
You could also try to get hold of your MP, Ambassador, Senator or Congressmen and ask them to seek MONUC support for the courageous ICCN rangers.
R
Carla Miranda Puerto Rico, on 10 Dec 2006
Today was published information about the hippos and its very sad I wonder what can the goverment do?
Helen Jordan, on 10 Dec 2006
Thanks Rob for directions to those of us would like to help. I have just emailed WLS of MONUC and will do the same for our MP in Australia.
Best wishes, and I will keep myself updated on the situation with crossed fingers.
Atamato » Blog Archive » Rebel Update and Thank You, on 02 May 2007
[…] is the Mai Mai who are back in the area. This is the same rebel group who were responsible for the mass slaughter of hippos in Lake Edward at the end of last year. For the moment they are in Muramba again, which is about 12 […]
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