Patrick Muhayirwa was trapped in an ambush while patrolling to protect gorillas in Africa’s oldest national park

A 26-year-old wildlife ranger has been gunned down by militia operating in the Virunga national park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

According to park authorities, Patrick Prince Muhayirwa was part of a group of rangers and DRC army personnel patrolling the huge park to prevent poaching.

Virunga is home to about a quarter of the world’s critically endangered mountain gorillas, which poachers target for bushmeat. The elephant population in the park has plummeted to less than 400.

On Wednesday, when the group reached the shores of Lake Edward, near the Ugandan border, they were ambushed from the front and the back by what witnesses described as members of the Mai Mai militia. Muhayirwa was killed in the ensuing gunfight. He had only recently joined the rangers service, which is tasked with protecting the the park.

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“Ranger Muhayirwa was a young and highly-dedicated ranger and the park is in deep mourning for his loss,” said park director Emmanuel de Merode in a statement. “We wish to extend our sincerest condolences to his family. His death is a tragic loss for Virunga national park, and we are ever grateful for his service to his country.”



Another ranger, Fikos Kavedo, who survived the ambush with a bullet wound to the leg killed two rebels before escaping the scene. He is currently receiving treatment.

Muhayirwa’s death continues a pattern of ambushes of rangers within the park. In March, two rangers were killed in the line of duty while a third was reported missing during an attack also credited to the Mai Mai militia. To date, more than 150 rangers have died in service to Virunga national park.

Worldwide, more than 100 rangers die every year, according to Sean Willmore, the president of the International Ranger Federation and the Thin Green Line Foundation, in an opinion piece for the Guardian this week. “Surely if a country lost 100 of their soldiers, each and every year, we would call it a war,” he said.

In further violence this week, a journalist who had reported on illegal logging in Myanmar was found, apparently beaten to death, on the side of a highway on Tuesday.

To support rangers and their families, visit the Thin Green Line Foundation website.

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