Countryside Management Association News

Cameroon
On 27 September 2011 a forest ranger was killed and another seriously injured in a violent clash with gorilla poachers outside a Lobéké National Park in Cameroon. The two rangers were on patrol when they discovered the carcasses of two critically endangered Western lowland gorillas in a forest camp. Intending to take the perpetrators into custody, the rangers concealed themselves nearby while waiting for the poachers to return to the camp. But they were spotted and a group of six or more men opened fire on the unarmed forest guards who both sustained multiple gunshot wounds. Ranger Jean Fils Mamendji, who was hit in the arm and shoulder, was able to escape. His partner Zomedel Pierre Achille, was hit in the chest and back. His body, stripped naked, was located the following day having been tied to a tree by the assailants. Evidence suggests that the victim was also severely beaten about his head and body, possibly with a rifle, before his death. He may also have sustained stab wounds.
He leaves a wife and five children.
(via WWF report)

Colombia
Antonio Varela Jairo Arboleda (age 49 and father of three), a park ranger at the Natural National Park Paramillo in Colombia was assassinated on 5th October 2011 by a group of men dressed in military uniform. Details are still sketchy but the perpetrators are thought to be members of FARC, a anti-government revolutionary “people’s army”. This is the second case of death in 2011 of a Colombian ranger. In April, Jaime Oscar Girón Porthole, of the Park National Natural mountain Range Churumbelos, died from injuries caused after stepping on an anti-personnel mine.
(via IRF Latin America colleagues).