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The effects of the Rwandan civil war on poaching of ungulates in the Parc National des Volcans

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 April 2009

Andrew J. Plumptre ,
Jean-Bosco Bizumuremyi ,
Fidele Uwimana  and
Jean-Damascene Ndaruhebeye
Andrew J. Plumptre
Affiliation:
Institute of Biological Anthropology, University of Oxford, 58 Banbury Road, Oxford, UK.
Jean-Bosco Bizumuremyi
Affiliation:
Karisoke Research Centre, BP 105, Ruhengeri, Rwanda.
Fidele Uwimana
Affiliation:
Karisoke Research Centre, BP 105, Ruhengeri, Rwanda.
Jean-Damascene Ndaruhebeye
Affiliation:
Karisoke Research Centre, BP 105, Ruhengeri, Rwanda.
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Abstract

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One of the greatest threats that the mountain gorilla Gorilla gorilla beringei faces is the repeated setting of snares for ungulates by people living adjacent to the Parc National des Volcans in Rwanda. Two vets (one expatriate and one Rwandan) are permanently employed to monitor the health of habituated groups of mountain gorillas and to remove snares if an animal becomes caught in one. This study examined how snaring has changed as a result of the Rwandan civil war and how ungulates in the park have been affected. In the region around the Karisoke Research Station ungulate numbers have remained stable and in the case of the black-fronted duiker Cephalophus nigrifrons they have increased at higher altitudes. However, a questionnaire survey among local people showed that there has been a perceived decrease in crop raiding by all ungulates in the west of the park, suggesting a decline in numbers. In the east of the park there appears to have been a decrease in the numbers of black-fronted duikers but an increase in the number of buffaloes Syncerus caffer. The price of bushmeat in real terms has decreased since the war, despite the increase in the price of domestic meat, and poachers interviewed were selling bushmeat more frequently than they did before the war. The level of poaching, therefore, appears to have increased since the war.

Type
Research Article
Information
Oryx , Volume 31 , Issue 4 , October 1997 , pp. 265 - 273
Copyright
Copyright © Fauna and Flora International 1997

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