Two buffalo – a female and a male – have been speared and macheted to death near Jomba on the edge of the Gorilla Sector by villagers angry at the animals for eating and destroying their crops.

We have often blogged about the conflict between humans and wildlife around Virunga, and specifically around the Gorilla Sector, where gorillas, elephants and buffalo stray from the boundaries of the park and ravage the crops upon which the villagers depend to survive. We also blogged in March about a villager who was killed by an elephant that was stealing crops. So the problem is very real and one that we are constantly trying to deal with.

In this case I personally went to calm the villagers, who are rightfully furious at having their crops destroyed. This is their livelihood. Other members of the community were also injured, as they tried to kill this buffalo. This time of year is particularly challenging, as new shoots – a favourite for our animals – start to come out of the ground.

The long-term solution is to put an electric fence around this sector of the park, and this is something that we are working on getting financed. In the interim we continue to utilize the HUGOs – the Human Gorilla Protectors  – to create awareness in the communities and also entice animals – of all kinds – that have strayed back into the forest.