In May 2007, militia forces attacked the park's headquarters for its stockpile of 1.5 tons of ivory seized from poachers over the years, and killed three rangers.

[9] Elephant protection efforts expanded outside the park's boundaries in 2012, and an airstrip was constructed in Heban to make monitoring of the migrating animals easier.

[1][2][8][10] Following the attack, additional bases were built, a second aircraft was purchased, and a rapid response team called the "Mambas" (after the snake of the same name) was formed to enhance security.

[4] Zakouma National Park is part of the Sudano-Sahelian vegetation zone,[11] and has shrubland, high grasses and Acacia forests.

[8][14] The park has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports significant populations of black crowned cranes, red-throated bee-eaters, black-breasted barbets, Niam-Niam parrots, sun larks, red-pate cisticolas, purple starlings, Gambaga flycatchers, Heuglin's masked weavers and black-rumped waxbills.

[10] Following the nonprofit conservation organization African Parks' assumption of management in 2010, and its extensive law enforcement and community engagement efforts, poaching dramatically declined and the herd has since stabilized, and has started to breed again.

[17] Seven elephants were reportedly killed in 2007, marking a massive decrease compared to previous years due to improved efforts to protect Zakouma National Park's wildlife.

[8] Sixty elephants were reportedly killed by Sudanese poachers in early 2010, prior to African Parks' involvement.

[20] In 2015, CNN reported that there were no elephants poached in the park since late 2011, and no ivory removed from Zakouma in the previous five years.

[1][23][24] Following the signature of a memorandum of understanding between the governments of Chad and South Africa in 2017, six black rhinos were provided by the latter nation's Department of Environmental Affairs to Zakouma under a custodianship agreement.