Gorilla poachers kill park ranger

摘要

A man and two gorillas have been shot and killed by poachers near Lobeke National Park, Cameroon. 0n.£7 September forest ranger Zomedel Pierre Achille was shot in the back when he confronted a gang returning to collect the carcasses of gorillas shot for bushmeat. He leaves a wife and five children; his funeral was due on 15 October. If they had been sold, the two critically endangered western lowland gorillas would have fetched a maximum of $200 as bushmeat. David Hoyle, conservation director for WWF Cameroon, says poaching is on the increase. One reason, he says, is that the average jail sentence for trafficking class-A species such as gorillas has been going down. 'The maximum term in Cameroon is one to three years, but in reality poachers get two to three months, due to leniency at the ministry of justice." Lobeke National Park's 217,000 hectares are patrolled by 22 guards.