Illegal hunters kill 2 Liberia forestry staff after arrests

MONROVIA, Liberia – A mob of people killed two forestry staffers who had arrested about 20 people for hunting illegally in Liberia’s Sarpo National Park, authorities said Monday.

The two forestry rangers on Thursday found a new base set up by illegal hunters and arrested 20 of them in the protected rainforest park which covers more than 100 hectares (247 acres) in Liberia’s southeast, said Forestry Development Authority managing director Darlington Tuagben.

A mob of community members who support illegal hunting then attacked, killing the two forestry staffers, said Tuagben.

“They ambushed them, using single-barrel shot guns,” machetes and sticks, he said.

Tuagben said that rangers monitoring and protecting the park do not even carry pistols. The poachers mainly target deer and monkeys, which are eaten. Animals in the national park though are protected, including elephants, hippos and chimpanzees.

The two rangers’ bodies had been retrieved by Monday morning and taken to Greenville, he said.

Police spokesman Sam Collins told state radio Monday they were investigating the incident.