Rory Young, co-founder and CEO of Chengeta Wildlife, David Beriáin and Roberto Fraile, Spanish reporters, were murdered on 26 April 2021 in Arly National Park in Burkina Faso while participating in an anti-poaching patrol with soldiers and rangers. One Burkinabé is still missing. The Arly park is home to elephants, lions and leopards. In 2015, Robin des Bois praised the work of Rory Young in its bulletin “On the Trail” dedicated to poaching and smuggling.
Extract from “On the Trail” n°9 p.75 :
Arrest of 81 suspected poachers. Malawi. May 2015.
Rory Young is a specialist of the anti-poaching battle. He joined the French Foreign Legion when still very young and later becomes a forest ranger in Zimbabwe after 5 years of training. Yet he’s no warmonger. On mission in Malawi, he helps the wildlife agents use to their furthest extent the meager logistical resources at their disposal. 33 poachers have been arrested in 15 days during the month of April around Livonde by 30 rangers who have nothing more than a car and a half and an old boat. A true success compared to the 28 arrests made in all of April in Kruger Park watched over by thousands of guards, drones, helicopters and to some extent by thousands of tourists.
“Shoot on sight is stupid. If we had been shooting on sight during this latest sting operation we would have shot a handful of poachers and that would have been the end of it. Every single poacher is an opportunity for information to get more poachers and work your way up the chain to the ringleaders.“ “ Malawi is in the middle of redoing all its legislation, they know they need to introduce much harsher sentences so that the law actually acts as a deterrent, however in the meantime a committee has been formed made up of judiciary, police, army, parks and wildlife, and intelligence services to make sure they get more convictions.“ “We teach a complete doctrine, right through to the courts, making sure the dossiers are correctly put together so that the prosecutors have all the information they need. “ “In anti poaching you do not have a military structure“ “You have to be in the right place at the right time.“ “ Each park needs its own plan.“
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Two rangers died in Burkina Faso in 2018 and 2019.
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Extract from “On the Trail” n°20 p. 114 :
March 15, 2018. Matiacoali, Gourma Province, Burkina Faso
Death of a wildlife warden. He was with six colleagues stationed in Nassougou north of the WAP park (W-Arly-Pendjari) which federates Burkina Faso, Benin, Niger. The post was attacked at night by a dozen unidentified men. 400 AK47 casings were recovered at the scene. Jules Sombouaya Yameogo, 29, was buried in Ouagadougou in the presence of the Minister of Environment and Green Economy.“ May the Free Earth of Burkina Faso be light for you,“ said the minister in his funeral oration.
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Extract from “On the Trail” n°23 p. 4 :
January 12, 2019. National Park W, Tapoa Province, Eastern Region, Burkina Faso
During a patrol, a water and forest officer and a tracker were killed and seriously injured. The forests of eastern Burkina Faso are over-whelmed with insecurity. Rebels are seeking refuge and poaching there.
“On the Trail” is available on: https://robindesbois.org/en/a-la-trace-bulletin-dinformation-et-danalyses-sur-le-braconnage-et-la-contrebande/
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