As part of its ongoing contribution to combat wildlife poaching, Johannesburg-based societal upliftment organisation the Ichikowitz Family Foundation donated an Aérospatiale Gazelle helicopter as part of a package to assist Gabon in fighting a poaching epidemic destroying the country’s forest elephants.

The Ichikowitz Family Foundation was founded by defence platforms company Paramount Group chairperson Ivor Ichikowitz.

The Gabon National Parks Agency announced in September the establishment of an antipoaching rapid response task force during the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species Conference of the Parties seventeenth session, in Johannesburg. The task force is established in line with Gabon President Ali Bongo Ondimba’s commitment to address poaching in the Central African nation.

The Gabon National Parks Agency, Parcs Gabon, announced that it would work with the Ichikowitz Family Foundation to capacitate the new antipoaching rapid reaction task force.

The Ichikowitz Family Foundation participates in conservation leadership in Africa, having financed antipoaching initiatives for over six years. Its support for Parcs Gabon includes the donation of the helicopter and pilot training, specialist ranger training and equipment for antipoaching officers, as well as the establishment of a K9 training facility in Gabon, addressing the issue of rampant poaching of the country’s forest elephant population.

In support of Ondimba’s zero-tolerance policy towards poaching, Parcs Gabon will establish a special rapid reaction task force to ensure rapid response to poaching and trafficking situations throughout Gabon and reaction to incidents in remote forest areas, addressing transnational poaching through effectively tracking and arresting poachers and combating poaching activities.

Parcs Gabon director Professor Lee White says Gabon’s natural heritage and wildlife comprise one of Gabon’s greatest national assets, with its park rangers doing their utmost to protect them. “Poaching by organised criminal networks has become increasingly violent in the past two years and this has forced us to refine our antipoaching strategy and how we equip our eco-guards,” he says, adding that Parcs Gabon’s partnership with the Ichikowitz Family Foundation enables it to access valuable equipment and training. “Our new rapid response capabilities will ensure we are even better equipped to preserve our natural heritage.”

The development will build on the existing philanthropic partnership between the Ichikowitz Family Foundation and Parcs Gabon to train Gabon’s national park rangers to combat the poaching of endangered forest elephants.

“I want to commend the efforts by the President of Gabon and Parcs Gabon to intensify the fight against the menace of poaching,” says Ichikowitz, adding that the foundation is privileged to be partnered with these giants of African conservation. “This special conservation force will enhance the tremendous efforts already made by the Gabon government, which is doing everything practically possible to protect the most important populations of forest elephants on the planet.”

According to Ichikowitz, experience obtained through the Ichikowitz Family Foundation in recent years indicates that there is no better solution than “well-trained boots on the ground”, operating closely with a rapid reaction force from the air.

Nongovernment organisation Stop Ivory CEO John Stephenson explains that about 90% of Gabon comprises a rain forest, which shelters 60% of Africa’s remaining forest elephants. “This means that Gabon has been a poaching hot spot for several years, so every effort made to protect this shrinking population is worth it.”