Anthrax Kills 50 Hippos at Africa’s Virunga National Park

Africa’s oldest nature reserve, Virunga National Park, is surrounded by the beauty and serenity of the natural world. But that tranquility was tarnished when at least 50 hippos were found dead, floating in a river near Lake Edward, after a lethal anthrax outbreak.

Most of us probably more closely associate anthrax with bioterrorism, but it’s actually a naturally occurring bacterial disease that typically affects livestock and wild game. A human can die from anthrax exposure in a matter of days or weeks. In the wild, it can kill hundreds of animals in roughly the same amount of time — and it does, if rarely.

Back in 2004, an anthrax outbreak in Uganda killed 300 hippos. In 2017, over 100 hippos were killed in Namibia’s Bwabwata National Park.

This is exactly what African hippo populations did not need. After decades of poaching and war, their numbers in the park dropped from 20,000 to just 1,200. Whittling that number by 50 is a huge blow to conservation efforts.

Health officials aren’t sure what caused the outbreak. While the word “anthrax” conjures images of envelopes filled with white powder, anthrax occurs naturally in many parts of the world, with the anthrax bacteria lying in wait in soil until domestic livestock like cattle or sheep happen upon it, or, in this case, wild hippos.

Sprawling an enormous 3,000 square miles, Virunga is among the most biologically diverse national parks in Africa. Sadly, however, it’s also one of the most dangerous. Park rangers give their lives to protect the wildlife under their care.

The park’s director, Emmanuel de Merode, described the situation as “difficult due to lack of access and logistics,” making it hard to recover and bury the bodies, potentially allowing the bacteria to spread further.

The Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation is advising people to avoid wildlife and boil any local water.