Virunga National ParkDemocratic Republic of the Congo

The world’s oldest, most

beautiful, intensely diverse, and

extremely endangered National

Park in Africa.

The History of Virunga

- Established in 1925

- Unesco World Heritage Site since 1979

- Africa’s most biologically diverse protected area

- The only park in the world to host three taxa of Great Apes: Mountain

gorillas, Eastern Lowland Grauer’s gorillas and Chimpanzees

- The only country to host the Okapi-a zebra like animal related to the

giraffe

- At this moment, there are 500 Park Rangers to protect the Virunga Park

Wildlife

Nature

Elephant Crisis

Due to a constant poacher threat, the elephant population has

gone from 3000 to only 200 (90% decrease).

Illegal ivory trade remains a problem and a constant threat to

humans, as well..

The need of a strong ranger presence and improvement of field

communications is crucial.

Elephant Project

- There are only 12 elephant families

- $10,000 / radio-tracking collar; this includes:

1. Cost of the collar

2. Collar operation:

- A small plane flies over the area, tracks

down an elephant family and locates the

leader.

- Ground team is on stand-by.

- A helicopter with a veterinarian on board

tranquilizes the elephant leader.

- Ground team puts on the collar while the

helicopter keeps the rest of the elephant

family at a distance.

- Start of project: June 23rd, 2015

The Elephant Project

NeedsOverall Needs

~ Uniform and equipment

~ Tactical ranger training

~ Emergency first-aid training

~ Individual first-aid trauma kit

~ Deployment costs (vehicles, fuel, and maintenance)

~ Rations

~ Health care

~ Communications equipment

Elefante Trunk is working alongside Virunga Alliance to help save the Park and its wildlife. We would love your support!http://virunga.org

Help us save Virunga National Park !