Rangers congress meets to strategize wilderness protection

World Today

Rangers congress meets to strategize wilderness protection

Outside Rocky Mountain National Park, the first World Ranger Congress was held in the U.S. More than 300 park rangers from more than 60 countries attended.

CCTV’s Hendrik Sybrandy gave us more on detail.

No matter what the rangers’ languages, poaching is one their biggest battles.

“We all labor under different circumstances, but when we get together we recognize that we’re really fighting the same battles,” Bob Krumenaker, a superintendent from Apostle Islands National Lakeshore said. “Wildlife poaching is a huge problem.”

The World Wildlife Fund’s Crispian Barlow said, those poachers trap animals indiscriminately. “They’re setting up an electric wire. They take a car battery, an inverter, put an electric wire knee-height and they kill every single thing that comes to a water hole,” Barlow added.

According to Krumenaker, there are over 1,000 rangers around the world in the last 10 years that have been killed, probably the majority of which are killed by wildlife poachers.

At the Congress, items like bullet-proof vests were distributed to poorer countries, but others have said more manpower and weapons are needed.

Nevertheless, the ultimate answer to this situation is stopping the demand for wildlife products from people and governments.