A British Pilot Helping Elephants Was Fatally Shot By Poachers In Tanzania

Roger Gower was helping rangers track the killer of an elephant Friday when a poacher fired into his helicopter, fatally wounding the British pilot.

Elephants near Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. Ben Curtis / AP

A British pilot tracking poachers in Tanzania was killed when a poacher shot at his helicopter Friday, a conservation charity in the country announced.

Roger Gower was tracking elephant poachers when he was fatally wounded, said Dan Friedkin, chairman of the Friedkin Conservation Fund, in a statement posted on the group’s website.

Roger Gower. Facebook

“We are committed to honoring Roger and his work,” Friedkin said. “We are also committed to ensuring that those responsible for this attack are found and brought to justice.”

In a series of tweets, Lazaro Nyalandu, a member of the Tanzanian parliament, said that Gower was helping rangers look for the killers of an elephant in the Maswa Game Reserve, near Lake Victoria.

During that mission, one of the poachers fired at his helicopter with an AK47. Wounded, Gower was able to land his helicopter, but died before he could be rescued.

The poachers who shot at Gower are still at large, Nyalandu said.

“Those poachers who killed Capt Roger are coward, evil, and sad people,” he tweeted. “A fine individual gone too soon, and our hearts are broken.”

The BBC reported Gower was a former accountant before qualifying as a pilot in 2004.

Elephant poaching is a prevalent problem in Africa, particularly in Maswa, according to the Friedkin Fund.

“This tragic event again highlights the appalling risk and cost of protecting Tanzania’s wildlife,” Friedkin said in the statement. “We believe Roger can best be honored by redoubling our commitment to protect elephants and our priceless wildlife heritage.”

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