incef

The best way to provide justice in wildlife conservation is through the full application of the laws aimed at animal protection.

Poachers of elephants, gorillas, chimpanzees, buffalo and other protected species are warned that the laws will be fully enforced against anyone who has killed one of these.

In the case of Leopold Bome, the Ouesso court convicted him of killing an elephant. He was sentenced to serve five years in the Brazzaville jail. The prisons in Congo, with the exception of the Brazzaville and Pointe Noire jails, are kept in very poor condition. They are so full that there isn’t enough food for the prisoners and they’re not looked after very well. When they are allowed to buy their own food, they often take advantage of the opportunity to escape. Only 10% of the prisoners serve out their sentences.

Therefore, even with aggressive enforcement of the laws and the involvement of wildlife protection agencies such as the ecoguards of PROGEPP  and USLAB, poachers aren’t afraid. They feel that even if they are arrested, they can easily escape from jail.

What is shocking is the ability of poachers to get military arms (PM-AKs) to kill wildlife. We suspect that they have made judicial agents complicit in their activities because civilians are not permitted to own these arms. Unfortunately, we don’t have the proof.

Mr. Bome used this kind of gun on the elephant he killed. Like many other poachers, he escaped from prison when he was first incarcerated. He was recaptured in Pokala, where his home is, by the police with the help of PROGEPP ecoguards.

Now, after reminding Mr. Bome of his former service as an ecoguard, the state prosecutor for the Sangha region sentenced him to two years in the Brazzaville prison.

Answering questions put to him by INCEF, he expressed regret for his actions because, he said, “I’ve lost my freedom; I can’t see my wife, children or other relatives; I don’t eat well; I’m alone and nobody is here to help me if I become ill.”

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS-Congo), which manages PROGEPP, has taken responsibility for all the expenses related to the arrest of Mr. Bome in Ouesso and his transfer to the Brazzaville prison.

The value to WCS is in demonstrating to other poachers the danger for them if they continue their illegal activities. The ecoguards are pleased to see their efforts rewarded and they hope that all poachers are treated as seriously as Mr. Bome was.

If so, law enforcement might be the thing that brings poaching to an end.