An elephant poacher identified as Mobanza Mobembo, who killed more than 500 of the animals has been sentenced to 30 years of hard labour in the Congo Republic.
Mobembo was sentenced for ivory trafficking and attempted murder of park rangers.
According to the Wildlife Conservation Society(WCS), the notorious poacher led hunts into the Nouabale-Ndoki National Park which killed more than 500 elephants since around 2008.
WCS stated that the attempted murder charges against Mobembo were connected to a 2019 incident when his poacher group allegedly fired at and wounded members of a ranger patrol in Nouabale-Ndoki National Park
Mobembo’s sentencing marked the first criminal conviction of a wildlife trafficker in the Congo Republic.
WCS regional director Emma Stokes in a statement this week noted that the sentence sends an extremely strong message that wildlife crime will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted at the highest levels.
Earlier this year, the management of Imo Zoological Garden and Wildlife Park confirmed that a hyena escaped from its facility.
Francis Abioye, the General manager of the park confirmed the development which sent residents of Nekede into panic and said the hyena was recaptured 6 hours after its escape in an operation carried out by operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) attached to the facility.
Abioye disclosed that the Hyena escaped from a big underground hole it dug in its cage inside the zoo.
