A poacher who has reportedly killed over five hundred elephants has been charged with ivory trafficking and attempted murder and sentenced to thirty years of hard labor.
Guyvanho, a.k.a. Mobanza Mobembo Gerard, is a notorious elephant poacher from the Congo Republic who has been linked to the deaths of at least 500 elephants.
According to the Wildlife Conservation Society, Gerard was organizing and leading illegal hunts into Nouabale-Ndoki National Park for over a decade. As a part of his ivory trafficking schemes, the poacher also attempted to kill park rangers in charge of protecting the national park.
While crimes against the environment previously held lenient sentences – up to five years in prison – in the country, Gerard has been sentenced to 30 years of hard labor. He also became the first wildlife trafficker in the country to be criminally convicted.
As Emma Stokes, the regional director of Wildlife Conservation Society, expressed, the poacher’s sentence “sends an extremely strong message that wildlife crime will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted at the highest levels.”
According to the organization, Gerard was responsible not only for killing hundreds of rare forest elephants but also for shooting at and wounding park rangers at Congo’s Nouabale-Ndoki National Park.
The park, which reportedly covers just over 1,500 square miles, is home to a variety of animal species including western lowland gorillas, the eastern chimpanzees, bongos, and forest elephants.
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Replaced!