Zakouma National Park Facilitates US Marine Training of Anti-Poaching Rangers in Chad
Zakouma National Park, in the south-east of Chad, recently hosted a team of 15 US Marines assigned to instruct 100, newly-recruited, Chadian Government rangers during a four-week infantry training exercise.
The rangers are members of Chad’s Anti-Poaching and Environmental Protection Mobile Brigade, tasked by the country’s President, Idriss Déby Itno, to protect all elephant herds and wildlife outside Zakouma National Park. Their training was conducted by members from the Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force Africa Security Co-operation Team 6, usually based in Italy. The exercise was co-ordinated by the US Embassy in Chad and funded by the US National Strategy for Combatting Wildlife Trafficking in conjunction with the Chadian Ministry of Agriculture and Environment and was designed to support Chadian initiatives in combatting the illicit trade in ivory and other wildlife products.
As a result of an intensive African Parks anti-poaching strategy implemented at Zakouma, not one elephant has been poached inside the park in more than two years and at the end of last year 21 elephant calves were sighted. The birth rate had been very low for five years and this boost to the population is a testimony to the effectiveness of scaled up anti-poaching measures. The poaching onslaught that occurred prior to 2010 when African Parks took over the management of the park had not only decimated the herds in the park, but left surviving elephants too stressed to breed.
With Zakouma’s elephants secure, focused attention has extended to the remaining 500 to 600 elephants located in the rest of the country. This included the recruitment of the 100 rangers trained by the US Marines. Zakouma was selected as the training site because it provided a more relevant training ground than a military base and African Parks was contracted by the US Government to provide the Marines and rangers with accommodation, food and logistical support.
On 7 May the 100 rangers received their certificates at a passing out parade and graduation attended by the Chadian Minister of Agriculture and Environment, Mrs Baiwong Djibergui Rosine and the US Ambassador James Knight. The rangers will be posted to Mobile Brigade units in various parts of the country.
"The more extensive and integrated our initiatives are, the more effective we will be in eliminating poaching and restoring elephant populations throughout Chad,” said Zakouma park manager, Rian Labuschagne. "At Zakouma specifically, we are encouraged by the birth of elephant calves but we face increased poaching threats from well-organised groups both within Chad and from across the border in Sudan and the Central African Republic (CAR).