Congo Hippos

A recent story I read in the Greensboro News & Record would indicate that the worldwide problem of "bush meat" is also severely affecting hippos in Congo.

"Bush meat" refers to the practice of some people to value rare and endangered, wild animals as food. Some kill and eat these animals for reasons of survival, some for convience and some pay high prices to have these rare animals brought to them in London, Paris and other places for reasons of status and "taste".

The article claims only 887 hippos remain in Congo, down from 1,307 in 2003 and 29,000 in 1974! It reports that the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) says they are being killed by "government soldiers, local militia and poachers".

The hippo meat is being consumed or sold as food, "while teeth end up as part of the illegal ivory trade." Hippos are selling for about $50, a large sum in Congo.

WWF claims that soldiers and militia are plentiful in Congo's Virunga National Park (near where the mountain gorillas are also found...and threatened). The military are not being paid or fed, making the large hippo very vulnerable in the presence of underpaid, hungry men with guns.

WWF is projecting the extinction of hippos in Congo, as a result.