An elephant that escaped from Virunga National Park in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has been eaten by the residents of a nearby village.
“It’s like manna falling from heaven for us,” Conservationist group Conserv Congo quoted “jubilant” people from Katwiguru village as saying.
The non-profit group, which works with the country’s wildlife authority, the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN), tweeted that it was not clear whether it was rebels or villagers who had killed the animal.
An electric barrier surrounding the park several weeks ago was damaged by “youths” allowing two elephants to stray on Monday, the AFP news agency reports ICCN as saying.
The fate of the second elephant is unclear.
Virunga is a famed wildlife park in the middle of a conflict zone where many militia groups operate near the border with Rwanda and Uganda
Conservation efforts have driven rebel forces from the park – which stretches across 7,800 sq km (3,000 sq miles) – and created a safe area for elephants.
According to the park’s website, 580 elephants migrated into the park in 2020 to form a herd of about 700.
