About the Wildlife Ranger Challenge: 

COVID-19 has brought tourism revenue to a halt across Africa, threatening the important work and livelihoods of the rangers who protect iconic African wildlife such as elephants, pangolins, rhinos, lions, and more. Ranger teams are now uniting around the Wildlife Ranger Challenge, a running race with one goal: to raise money to support thousands of their fellow rangers. Now is the time to go the extra mile—it’s time to race to support our rangers. Every dollar donated will be matched by the Scheinberg Relief Fund, doubling your generous contribution.

Your contribution will help support 675 rangers and an estimated 6750 livelihoods in and around Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Role of rangers:

Virunga National Park is situated in Eastern DRC in North Kivu. The area has been hit by war and instability for over 20 years. The rangers work to conserve endangered mountain gorillas and protect the park from illegal extraction of natural resources and militia. They work throughout the very diverse biodiversity park and trying to ensure the protection of the local communities.

How a donation would help:

Having received online donations, rangers are able to carry out an exercise to remove snares from areas that are heavily populated with gorillas. Any additional funding would allow rangers to maintain snare reduction efforts throughout the year and also invest in local community desnaring teams.

Effects of the pandemic:

Although patrols have continued in the park’s gorilla sector, there is far less activity in the area due to the closure of tourism, which has allowed poachers more opportunities to set up snares.  With tight resources and funding, it has been difficult to keep the gorilla’s habitat clear of snares.

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Tusk is registered with JustGiving in the UK (or GoFundMe.com in the USA). Our online fundraising sites allow you to create a sponsorship form with easy access for your supporters, knowing their money is going directly to Tusk. UK tax-paying donors can enhance their contribution by agreeing to Gift Aid their sponsorship (for every £10 you raise, Tusk will receive another £2.50 from the Government provided you are a UK taxpayer). US supporters wishing to make a tax deductible donation can do so via GoFundMe.com.