Illegal wildlife trade | WCS Congo Blog

Rare giant pangolin rescue in Congo

Posted on February 15, 2020

A giant pangolin, the world’s most trafficked scaled mammal, was rescued and later cared for by our teams. Thanks to the collaboration between experienced pangolins carers from our Wildlife Health program teams in Congo, the Tikki Hywood Foundation to the Sangha Pangolin Project in Central African Republic, this species highly sensitive to stress, and generally dying a few hours or days from capture, was for once...

Meet Marcel Ngangoue, winner of the African Ranger Award

Posted on December 12, 2019

by Flore Monteau

Marcel Ngangoue won the African Ranger Award 2019, which recognizes and supports the achievements and efforts of rangers working to combat the precipitous decline of Africa's wildlife species due to poaching, habitat loss, and the illegal wildlife trade....

PROFESSIONALIZED ANTI-POACHING OPERATIONS LEAD TO ARREST AND CONVICTION OF FOUR ELEPHANT POACHERS

Posted on November 29, 2018

by Zanne Labuschagne

Four poachers responsible for killing elephants in the periphery of the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park were sentenced to five years’ imprisonment by the local district court on Thursday the 22nd of November. Leonard Beckou, the gang leader, is a repeat wildlife crime offender, having been arrested twice before in 2015 and 2016. His latest poaching raids were conducted close to local villages, sparking fear within...

Congo Adopts Recommendations of First National Judicial Review of Wildlife Crime

Posted on August 3, 2018

by Zanne Labuschagne

Over the past decade central Africa’s forest elephants have been hit by an unprecedented wave of ivory poaching. Elephant populations have declined drastically in the region. The Republic of Congo, harbouring a quarter of Africa’s remaining forest elephants, has not escaped this poaching crisis. Poaching gangs have become more organised, often traveling from neighbouring countries to exploit Congo’s wildlife. ...

Kabo airstrip back in action

Posted on July 12, 2018

by Zanne Labuschagne

The Nouabale-Ndoki National Park is a unique place – not a single road enters into the Park, and the tract of forest within its boundaries is some of the most intact in the Congo Basin. Despite good roads in the Park periphery, surveying remote zones of the Park, and moving between the Park’s two headquarters – one in the north-eastern periphery and the other on...

Anti-poaching operation leads to five-year conviction for three poachers

Posted on February 23, 2018

by Zanne Labuschagne

OUESSO, Republic of Congo (February 23, 2018) – Three poachers responsible for slaughtering eleven elephants in and around Nouabale-Ndoki National Park in January were convicted to five years’ imprisonment by the local district court last week, according to WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society). The poachers, who had ventured deep into the remote Ndoki forest and spent three weeks killing elephants for their ivory, walked into an...

Elusive Congolese Poacher Sentenced to Five Years in Jail

Posted on December 18, 2017

by Zanne Labuschagne

OUESSO, Republic of Congo (December 15, 2017) – A local court sentenced a notorious elephant poacher and ivory trafficker to five years in prison and a fine of 1,200,000 XAF (~2100 US$). The sentencing, which took place yesterday, is an indication that Congolese government is becoming increasingly serious about dealing with criminals that threaten the country’s natural heritage. Over the last 12 years, Benjamin Mbondo,...

HONEY PRODUCTION STRENGTHENS LIVELIHOODS IN NORTHERN CONGO

Posted on December 7, 2017

by Germain Mavah

The harvest and sale of honey produced by wild bees generates income, and reduces pressures on families living near the Nouabale-Ndoki National Park in northern Congo to turn to killing wildlife as a source of cash income. Finding ways to increase incomes and improve the living standards of families living in isolated areas is a challenge throughout the world. However, it is especially important in...

Parrots in Peril

Posted on June 23, 2017

by Zanne Labuschagne

The parrots arrive in a tiny bamboo cage. As the ranger lifts them out of the poacher’s dugout canoe their angry shrieks are deafening, a far cry from the ‘music of the forest’ that African grey parrots are known for. Many individual’s wing feathers are a mangled mess from the trapping glue, and they are so closely packed that a layer of parrots are being...

Major Ivory trafficker jailed

Posted on May 30, 2017

by Zanne Labuschagne

Northern Congo’s notorious elephant poacher and ivory trafficker Daring Dissaka, 39, has been convicted with a five-year sentence. Connected to international ivory networks, Dissaka’s imprisonment represents another significant step forwards for the Republic of Congo’s justice system and forest elephant conservation in Central Africa. ...