At least 50 hippos and other large animals have succumbed to anthrax poisoning in Virunga National Park, located in eastern Congo. The park’s director reported on Tuesday that these animals have been seen floating in a significant river that feeds into one of Africa’s major lakes.
Emmanuel De Merode, the director of Virunga Park, confirmed that tests have verified the presence of anthrax poisoning, noting that buffalo have also been affected. The precise cause of the outbreak remains unclear.
Photographs released by the park depict the hippos lying motionless on their sides and backs in the Ishasha River, or trapped among vegetation along the river’s muddy banks.
This incident marks a significant setback for the park, which has been striving to boost the hippo population in recent decades after poaching and conflict drastically reduced their numbers from over 20,000 to just a few hundred by 2006. Currently, the park is home to approximately 1,200 hippos.
Park rangers became aware of the situation when they began to find dead animals along the river about five days ago. This river delineates the border between Congo and Uganda and flows through an area controlled by rebel groups.
Anthrax is a severe disease typically caused by bacteria that naturally occur in soil. Wild animals can contract the disease by inhaling spores present in contaminated soil, plants, or water.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation advised local residents to steer clear of wildlife in the vicinity and to boil water from nearby sources before consumption.
De Merode mentioned that a team is on-site attempting to retrieve the hippos from the water and bury them, although they are facing challenges due to a lack of excavators.
“It’s challenging because of access issues and logistical constraints,” De Merode told Reuters. “We have the capability to contain the spread of the disease by burying the animals with caustic soda.”
The river flows northward to Lake Edward, where locals have reported seeing additional carcasses.
“There are over 25 hippo bodies floating in the lake’s waters, from Kagezi to Nyakakoma,” stated Thomas Kambale, a civil society leader in Nyakakoma, in an interview with Reuters.
Virunga encompasses a large area filled with dense forests, glaciers, and volcanoes, hosting a greater diversity of birds, reptiles, and mammals than any other protected region globally. Since the civil wars that erupted around the turn of the century, the area has been affected by militia activities.
