Dozens of students in Mano River Kongo, Grand Cape Mount County on April 8, 2022 joined the Society for the Conservation of Nature (SCNL) in observance of National Pygmy Hippo Day.
The program hosted by SCNL in the Gola Forest National Park landscape was to build awareness and educate indigenous communities on the need to protect the Pygmy Hippo and its habitat.
The celebration was marked with the street parade, the distribution of flyers containing the portrait of Liberia’s Pygmy Hippo and the inscription “Tell someone to tell someone to protect pygmy Hippo”.
At the colorful event, a staff of SCNL who presented on behalf of Science and Conservation Coordinator, Johnson Qui-Qui emphasized the immediate need to protect the species because it’s fast declining in the Mano River basin.
Pygmy Hippo, according to research by the Zoological Society of London, is only found in Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Lone and Ivory. The research shows that an estimate 2,000 of the species could be found in the four Countries.
Mr. Johnson said largest number of the 2,000 is found in Liberia and articulates SCNL position for Liberia’s indigenous population to join the ongoing campaign in protecting the mammal.
“The species could disappear from Liberia if Liberians especially people in our indigenous communities fail to listen to SCNL message for people to stop killing and destroying the habitat of the Pygmy Hippo”, Qui-Qui told inhabitants of the Gola Forest National Park landscape.
“Research shows that the Pygmy Hippo species was in Nigeria, but animal can no longer be found there so we must ensure that we protect ours “, he said.
“The Pygmy Hippo is very much important to our ecosystem, the animal is one of the transporters of tree species, it eats the seeds of important trees and defecates with those seeds that later grow into the forest”Mr. Qui-Qui said.
The statistics released by SCNL on National Pygmy Hippo Day celebration stimulated the General Town Chief of Mano River Kongo, an indigenous leader in the Gola Forest National Park Landscape, Mr. Mustafa Tango to express serious interest in ensuring that the mammal is sufficiently protect against any form of threats that would further decline their population.
Mr. Tango expressed his commitment to carry out massive awareness and education in the landscape to ensure that people desist from hunting and killing Pygmy Hippo.
He argued that the statistics shown by SCNL that the species population has declined to an estimated 2,000 is seriously alarming.
Mr. Tango said the statistics released by SCNL has given him, as indigenous person a clear idea to now stop killing the Pygmy Hippo species which is at the verged of extinction.
He assured that he will serve as volunteer to spread the message through community engagements and community radio broadcast
The National Pygmy Hippo Day celebration was financed by the IUCN.
About Hippo
The hippopotamus, also called the hippo, common hippopotamus, or river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal and ungulate which is mostly herbivorous and native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae, the other being the pygmy hippopotamus
The pygmy hippopotamus (Choeropsis liberiensis) is a small hippopotamid which is native to the forests and swamps of West Africa, primarily in Liberia, with small populations in Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Ivory Coast.
