Two rangers from the Gorongosa National Park (GNP) in Sofala were shot dead by a group of four poachers in the reserve in central Mozambique, Lusse police said on Tuesday.
The crime happened last Friday morning in the Muanza area when poachers “opened fire” on inspectors while they were being questioned during an inspection of the park, said Dersio Chakate, a spokesman for the Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM) in Sofala.
The two inspectors, ages 24 and 28, died at the scene, the spokesman said.
Police said at least one of the perpetrators of the shooting has been identified but is still at large, as are the rest of the poaching group.
Gorongosa National Park is today one of Mozambique’s main game reserves with a wide variety of wildlife.
Located in Sofala province, at the southern tip of the East African Rift Valley, the park, covering an area of about 4,000 square kilometers, was torn apart between 1977 and 1992 by the civil war that followed Mozambique’s independence.
In 2008, the foundation of American millionaire and philanthropist Greg Carr signed a 20-year agreement with the Mozambican government to manage the park, renewed for another 25 years in 2018, which led to its renewal on several fronts, including social projects related to conservation, and the number animals grew from 10 thousand to more than 102 thousand.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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