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Fact Sheet: Rhinos



New Congo In Great Need Of Help To Save Endangered Species

fishing boat July 25th, 1997

GLAND, Switzerland -- The international community must act swiftly to help the Democratic Republic of Congo restore conservation measures urgently needed to save a number of protected areas harbouring some of the world's most critically endangered wild animals, such as the northern white rhino and the mountain gorilla, WWF-World Wide Fund For Nature said today.

According to WWF Director-General Claude Martin, the civil war in the former Zaire played havoc in several of Africa's most venerable protected areas, including Garamba, Virunga and Kahuzi-Biega National Parks and the Okapi Faunal Reserve, all of which are listed by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites.

"WWF is committed to helping the Democratic Republic of Congo rebuild and maintain the shattered infrastructure of its protected area network," he said. "Major interventions are needed immediately or else the world will lose species that exist only in this war-torn country. WWF will continue to collaborate closely with aid agencies as humanitarian needs must be of utmost concern and integral to any action taken".

The conflict not only reduced drastically the human and material resources needed for the conservation of these areas, but also increased dramatically the threat posed by poaching to the survival of the world's most endangered large mammal, the northern white rhino, and to one of the two relatively small mountain gorilla populations still remaining.

"We are absolutely dismayed by the current situation," said Elizabeth Kemf, Species Information Officer at WWF International. "Recent aerial and ground surveys carried out in Garamba by WWF scientists Kes and Fraser Smith showed that only 24 northern white rhinos may survive, down from an estimate of 27 to 31 in 1996. There are practically no resources in place with which to fight back at the present; about 90 percent of the park's equipment was either looted or destroyed during the civil war." The park is home to all of the world's northern white rhinos remaining in the wild.

While one rhino death has been confirmed so far, only 18 different rhinos were seen by Kes and Fraser Smith during their aerial survey in June 1997. That same survey also revealed the presence of more than 49 recently occupied poaching camps along the Garamba river which are believed to have been set up by Sudanese refugees. In addition, 29 elephants, 24 buffalos and over 16 hippos were found dead, all freshly killed.

In January 1997, Garamba was occupied by a strike force loyal to deposed president Mobutu Sese Seko. During and after the takeover of the park headquarters by troops of the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of the Congo (ADFL) in mid February, most of the park's functional equipment was looted or destroyed, including vehicles, radios, fuel and patrol equipment. As a consequence of these losses, park staff cannot conduct now more than 15 percent of the anti-poaching activities they carried out in Garamba before the war.

A similarly grim situation also exists in Africa's oldest National Park, the Parc National des Virunga, on Congo's border with Rwanda and Uganda, where militia groups are still active and heavy poaching continues to decimate wildlife. In the last two years, 44 park guards have died while in service at Virunga as well as 12 of the highly endangered mountain gorillas.

The Rwandan refugee crisis put severe pressure on the park. According to a satellite photo study commissioned by the European Union and UNHCR, between July 1994 and September 1996 more than 500 sq km (more than a third) of the park was found to be affected by either wood collecting or poaching activities. Of these, 78 sq. km. of forests were severely degraded and 18 sq. km. were completely denuded of vegetation. Also, the local hippopotamus population has been almost wiped out, plumetting from over 30,000 in 1986 to about 3,000 in 1996.

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For more information, please contact Javier Arreaza, WWF International, Gland, Switzerland, tel. +41 22 364 9550, fax: +41 22 364 8307, e-mail: jarreaza@wwfnet.org