Happy Kasonde, a Wildlife Police Officer (a Zambian ranger) was escorting a school group in Kafue National Park when they came across a herd of elephants. When he thought the herd had gone past, he allowed the children out of the bus to have a closer look at the herd walking off into the distance. He hadn't seen that there was a baby calf among the herd, not far from the bus. Elephant poaching is rife in Kafue, so the elephants can be more hostile than they are in many other parks. The mother thought her calf was in danger and became very aggressive towards the group of children. He realized the danger, made sure that the children were all safely back on the bus, and then drew the elephant mother away. Despite firing warning shots to try and scare the elephant away, she attacked him and he died of his injuries.

On average three rangers are killed each week, part of the “thin green line”. The story above is just one illustration of the dangers they face; it is not just heavily armed gangs of poachers that threaten their lives, but the game, many of it dangerous, in the Parks in which they operate. Wildlife cannot always tell the difference between poacher and protector. Beyond rangers, there is also the wider threat to environmentalists, often overlooked. The corruption and illicit economies associated with IWT have led to the murder of many activists, particularly in South America, as well as ambushes of key personnel, such as the killing of Chingeta Wildlife NGO's CEO Rory Young in Burkina Faso and the ambush of Emmanuel de Merode in the Virunga region of the DRC to name two well-known examples.

We ask rangers to endure these dangers in order to protect wildlife and habitats, yet their compensation is often poor. Low salaries, poor equipment, a lack of specialized training, for example, “combat medic” skills needed to deal with gunshot or puncture wounds, a lack of weapons and ammunition to protect themselves, and a lack of suitable transport to get in and out of where they need to be, all make their job very challenging.