Poaching in the Old Part of the Kahuzi-Biega National Park

Between April and July 1999, poaching in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park increased considerably. During the war that started in October 1996, many animals were killed, but the more recent data that we collected during this investigation are very alarming too. The armed poachers were mainly targeting large mammals - elephants and gorillas in particular. Moreover, the considerable number of snares that the rangers are always collecting during their patrols are evidence that poaching with wire snares is also still common.
To find out more about the poaching, we collected evidence ourselves or sent informants to those villages where we expected persons that were involved in the poaching or knew details about the poachers, especially elephant and gorilla hunters. The arrested poachers and the respective local chiefs were interrogated in the park. We collected further information in the villages. Besides that, we had talks in the park station, reports from the group "human-elephant conflict" and more informants. Our investigation conducted at the beginning of June yielded the following results.

Elephant Hunters

They work in a complex and wide network. Two poachers were arrested and interrogated. They said that large trees are often felled for the smoking of elephant meat. This means that elephant poaching also destroys the park's vegetation. Sometimes the poachers spend a week in the forest.
Chomère Bugondo has been active for more than 20 years and has already been arrested in the park three times. He said that he does not master any other occupation besides hunting. Originally he had set snares until he and his group received a gun from Rwandan refugees of the Kashusha camp. Then he started elephant poaching for ivory, by order of a Mr. Tshimbombo in Bukavu. The poacher told us that he has killed 7 animals.
Georges Maperu Chamoka from Kavumu leads a large group of poachers who have regularly been very active in the park - on behalf of persons who live in Bukavu and across the border. This poacher told us that he has shot 10 elephants.
Ivory and meat are often transported to different recipients. For Georges Chamoka's team, the buyers or their representatives often visit the villages to pick up the tusks. The ivory is exported and the meat is taken to Bukavu in vans. Sometimes tusks are also transported with the meat. On the other hand, Chomère supplies local markets. The meat is usually bought by the women of Inera, Kavumu and Lwiro, and they supply the merchants in Bukavu.
Apart from these 2 big elephant poacher teams, 4 more groups are known to be involved. However, it is not known how many animals they have killed. All these groups know and occasionally visit each other. Eventually, they also cooperate.

Gorilla Hunters

Mr. Mulinga, the chief of the village Kakenge, is a renowned hunter with dogs, spears and wire snares. His group killed a young gorilla on July 3, probably a member of the Mugoli group. When they were arrested, the meat of this animal was just being cooked. The hands and feet of the gorilla were the proof of the poaching and consequently, the poacher confessed. Mr. Misarhi, a pygmy, is working for the chief poacher.
Mr. Kalyagizi and his team killed 6 gorillas on June 19. These animals probably also belonged to the Mugoli group. In April Corporal Tip shot a gorilla. This man is working for the team of Georges Chamoka which killed 12 gorillas in June.
In total, 3 teams of gorilla poachers are well-known; they killed 20 gorillas altogether. They hunt with dogs and guns. In the case of the Mulinga team, the gorilla meat is mainly consumed by the poachers themselves.
We were especially interested in one question: Do the hunters kill gorillas just for meat or is there another reason why they are hunting these apes in particular? We have to investigate deeper to find the answer.

Summary and Conclusions

Within a few months, 2 groups of hunters killed 17 elephants. Since April, 20 gorillas have been shot, and according to the poachers 12 belonged to the same family, Mugoli. Poaching in the old part of the Kahuzi-Biega National Park has increased, especially regarding elephants for ivory trade in the Great Lake region. Meat from gorillas that have been killed is consumed by the poachers' families and only a small quantity is sold to neighbours. We found out that pygmies are employed by the poachers as pisteurs.

We have the following recommendations:

• conduct frequent mixed patrols, also into the park's interior,
• carry out thorough investigations in order to arrest all responsible persons, to improve park surveillance and to reduce large mammal poaching,
• further include the group "human-elephant conflict" in the investigation,
• increased engagement of the park management in order to destroy the poacher network by depriving the respective persons in the villages of their power. To achieve this, cooperation with the local chiefs and other responsible authorities is necessary,
• start activities for the pygmies living close to the park as soon as possible because they have been playing an important role in elephant and gorilla poaching,
• collect elephant skulls in the park with a team of selected pygmies in order to find out how many individuals have been killed in which areas,
• register the respective places with GPS and mark these areas in the park map.

Chantal Shalukoma

Kahuzi-Biega overview

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