Wildlife of the Central African Republic
The forest area of 22.755 million, considered one of the richest storehouses of wildlife spread over national parks, hunting reserves and community hunting areas, experienced an alarming loss of wildlife because of greed for ivory and bushmeat exploitation by hunters – mostly Arab slavers from across the borders of the Central African Republic with Chad and Sudan.
[1][2][3] Realizing the serious threat to the wildlife, the colonists – French administration – in 1935 and later the government of the CAR, enacted laws and created national parks and preserves, which covered 16.6% of the country.
[3] The Manovo-Gounda-Saint-Floris National Park, in particular was inscribed to the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites in 1988 in recognition of the diversity of life present within it in respect of its wealth of flora and fauna.
[4] In 2014, the Chinko Nature Reserve in eastern CAR was granted management through a public-private partnership with the Central African Republic Ministry of Wildlife, Water and Forestry and African Parks, a conservation NGO that takes on the direct, long-term management of national parks and protected areas in partnership with governments to save wildlife, restore landscapes and ensure sustainable livelihoods for local communities.
[2] Situated in the east of the CAR, Chinko is one of the region's only remaining strongholds for numerous species including the highly threatened Lord Derby eland, bongo and chimpanzees.
Depending on climatic conditions, it is distributed with thick forests in the south, woody savanna in the center and grasslands in the north.
Subsequently, logging roads were built not only to sustain subsistence agriculture but mostly for poaching for bush meat and ivory hunting, which has caused severe depletion of the abundant and diverse wildlife of CAR.
However, due to poaching activity within the park and severe loss of wildlife, it was added to the List of World Heritage in Danger in 1997.
[12] Situated in east CAR, the Chinko Project provides a rare sanctuary for wildlife in a volatile region plagued by militarised ivory poachers and excessive cattle farming.
This landscape, comprising both tropical rainforest and savannah plains, is home to ten species of primate, two distinct types of elephant and the iconic Lord Derby eland.
The threatened species listed in the 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals are: endangered species namely, chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), gorilla (Gorilla gorilla), giant African water shrew (Potamogale velox), red colobus (Procolobus badius) and wild dog (Lycaon pictus); and the vulnerable species are African elephant (Loxodonta africana), African golden cat (Profelis aurata), cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus), Gounda mouse (Mus goundae); endemic species are Hun shrew (Crocidura attila), lion (Panthera leo), and Oubangui mouse (Mus oubanguii), red-fronted gazelle (Gazella rufifrons) and spotted-necked otter (Lutra maculicollis]).
[25] Mammals are African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis), chimpanzees, forest buffalo or dwarf buffalo, forest antelopes (bongo), moustached monkey, (Cercopithecus cephus), Hyperolius viridiflavus, blue duiker (Philantomba monticola), black-cheeked white-nosed monkey (Cercopithecus ascanius), guereza (Colobus guereza), oribi (Ourebia ourebi), Angolan colobus (Colobus angolensis), Pennant's red colobus (Piliocolobus pennantii), puku (Kobus vardonii), western gorilla (Gorilla gorilla), white buffalo (Syncerus caffer), roan antelope (Hippotragus equinus), giant Lord's Derby eland (Taurotragus derbianus).
[22][23][24] Western lowland gorillas are tracked in the Dzanga-Sangha Reserve in the south of the Central African Republic, apart from witnessing elephants in groups of 30 to 100 bathing in mud pools and feeding.
Males are said to be in rut or musth when it is noted that secretions appear near their head as dark stains combined with continuous dribbling of urine.
[14] Also found are giant otter shrew (Potamogale velox), Gambian rat (Cricetomys gambianus), Pousargues's mongoose (Dologale dybowskii), checkered elephant-shrew (Rhynchocyon cirnei), Delany's swamp mice (Delanymyinae), and Bioko Allen's bushbaby (Sciurocheirus alleni).
[22][23][24][26] Reptiles of the Central African Republic as listed in the laws of the land are: Geochelone sulcata, giant tortoise, Varanus species, python, and crocodile.
[13] The CAR forests includes lesser woolly bat (Kerivoula lanosa), Veldkamp's bat (Nanonycteris veldkampii), grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus), African fish eagle (Haliaeetus vocifer), grey-cheeked hornbill (Bycanistes subcylindricus), shoebill (Balaeniceps rex), yellow-fronted canary (Serinus mozambicus), Dzanga robin (Stiphrornis sanghensis), Hartlaub's duck (Pteronetta hartlaubii), ostrich (Struthio camelus), little grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis), pelican, cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis), hamerkop (Scopus umbretta), saddle-billed stork (Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis), yellow-billed stork (Mycteria ibis) and raptors and water birds.
[28] To conserve the rich wildlife resources of the Central African Republic has become a major concern, in spite of establishing, with legal ordinances, national parks and game reserves.
However, the effectiveness of wildlife crime law enforcement appears to be working now with the Central African Ministry of Water and Forests and the Central Police, with technical support from international environmental organizations such as WWF playing an effective role, to punish high-level traffickers with penal servitude and fines; a case cited is of a trafficker sentenced to a jail term of six months and a fine.
In a wildlife reserve exclusively devoted to preserve the rights of the pygmies and prevent deforestation, bushmeat hunting and human migration, the Baka community has extended full cooperation and effective participation.
By honoring the traditional rights of the community to fish, hunt and gather food, and also providing alternate employment as trackers and park rangers with health care, and with income generated from ecotourism, there is an encouraging sign of elephant poaching figures showing drastic downward trend.
