Zomedel’s colleague, Jean Fils Mamendji, survived after sustaining bullet wounds in his right arm and shoulder. The rangers although on official patrol were not armed; whilst the poachers were said to be armed.

Gruesome murder

The two game rangers, accompanied by six workers of a safari hunting company team, were on an in-forest patrol, when they came under fire from poachers some 10km from Cameroon’s border with the Central African Republic.

The poachers peppered the rangers with bullets on their shoulders, chests and arms. Zomedel, who was shot on the chest, died later. Mamendji, shot on the right shoulder and arm, was rushed to a local hospital, before being taken to Bertoua, the capital town of the East Region of Cameroon, for intensive medical attention.

Informed of the incident, administrative authorities of the Boumba and Ngoko Division in the East Region dispatched a mixed security squad of the Cameroon Rapid Intervention Brigade (BIR) and game rangers to track down the poachers and look out for the remains of Zomedel. After searching all night, the corpse of the deceased was found naked and tied to a tree.

“From all indication, the poachers tortured the victim before he died,” said hospital authorities.

Time to arm game rangers

The murder of Zomedel has once more brought to the fore the argument for Cameroon government to reinforce her wildlife law enforcement capabilities.

The government of Cameroon has been hesitating over the issue of providing arms to game rangers, who need them to carry out their duties. “Game rangers carry out anti-poaching operations in areas considered sanctuary for dangerous poachers unarmed,” said Albert Mounga Abana, Conservator for the Lobéké National Park.

“In some cases, as many as 10 rangers are provided with one old rifle, dating from the Second World War; in fact the single arm available in Lobéké National Park is dysfunctional. This situation has left the rangers defenseless. We have cases of guards with amputated fingers, butchered ankles, damaged genital and now one dead game guard,” Mounga added.

International conservation organization, World Wide Fund for Nature, WWF, which has been providing critical technical and financial support to Cameroon’s Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, MINFOF to combat poaching, highlighted in a communiqué after the aforementioned incident that only well-armed game rangers can effectively face up to the challenge of potentially aggressive poachers, many of whom, armed with AK47 Kalashnikovs.

“WWF is calling on the government of Cameroon to do everything possible to reinforce game rangers across the country at the level of numbers, training, equipment and most important, adequate semi-automatic arms.

The current number of rangers are said to be inadequate and working under perilous conditions to protect Cameroon’s precious and unique wildlife,” said David Hoyle, Director of Conservation, WWF Cameroon.

“Several appeals have so far gone unheeded. We hope that with this current tragedy the government will take action, before we lose another colleague simply because they were inadequately equipped to defend themselves” Hoyle noted in the communiqué.

Zomedel’s remains have been kept in the morgue of the Yokadouma hospital, pending burial slated for October 15.

After twelve years of service as a Government ranger, Zomedel, is the first game ranger to have been killed at the battle front by poachers in the Southeast of Cameroon.