In brief
In early November, 28 hippopotamus carcasses have been confirmed as anthrax in Virunga National Park’s Semuliki River, a death toll that rivals that of a previous 2025 outbreak. Park officials and scientists warn that the disease threatens not only the ecosystem but also nearby human communities, urging vigilance and swift containment measures. The incident underscores how environmental stressors—drought, ongoing conflict, and disease—converge to undermine wildlife and public health in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
In the past month, 28 hippopotamus bodies have been found along the Semuliki River in Virunga National Park, the International Agency’s laboratory tests confirmed the animals died from anthrax. The outbreak reached its peak in mid‑September, when locals first noticed several dead hippos float in the water, a discovery that alarmed residents such as Michael Kambale, who lives in the Vitshumbi enclave about 100 kilometres north of Goma.
The deaths are an escalation of a virus that hit the park hard last year, when an outbreak killed 65 hippos in 2025, according to a February 2026 population update from the park’s staff. The timing is difficult; the area is still facing the world’s deadliest Ebola epidemic and a severe drought that has reduced river levels, conditions that experts say push wildlife into more crowded, stress‑laden habitats where pathogens spread faster.
Virunga National Park’s press release outlined the agency’s immediate response: teams are “monitoring the affected area, recording new cases of mortality and coordinating the safe handling and disposal of carcasses.” They also warned people living near the river not to touch, skin or consume carcasses, and to report any suspected deaths. Park officials highlighted that anthrax can be transmitted to humans through contact with a dead or sick animal or by eating its meat.
Ecologist and veterinarian Joel Mbusa Mapoli has described the loss as a “significant hit for the park” and called for urgent action. He explained that hippos act as ecosystem engineers: they modify nutrient flows and shape the ecological conditions of the river system, so the death of dozens can have cascading effects on biodiversity downstream. “The disappearance of hippos in the Semuliki River has the potential to destabilize the entire ecosystem,” said Mapoli in a statement to the press.
"The disease can be transmitted to humans through contact with a dead or sick animal or by consuming its meat," read the park’s warning.
The Tanzania Times reported that 30 hippos are now dead and added that the disease “may soon spread to humans.” The article stressed that communities along the river are under heightened risk, urging local health authorities to reinforce blood‑borne safety protocols and to educate the populace about anthrax symptoms. Both sources agree there is a real threat to human health, especially given the ongoing Ebola crisis, which already strains local medical infrastructure.
Conflict remains a backdrop for the wildlife crisis. Eritrea’s fragile security situation in eastern Congo has worsened over the last decade, and the inter‑ethnic fighting has disrupted conservation efforts, limiting ranger patrols and wildlife surveillance. Combined with a prolonged drought that has lowered the Semuliki’s water level, these factors create an environment in which animal populations become concentrated and stressed—ideal for disease spread.
In addition to field monitoring, park management has mobilized excavators to recover and bury carcasses quickly, a strategy used after the 2025 outbreak. The park calls for cooperation with local communities and neighboring health ministries, hoping to tighten surveillance in a region that serves as a watershed for multiple river systems that cross national borders.
Looking ahead, the park will continue to collect data on mortality patterns and correlated environmental changes. If the anthrax trend continues or expands to other species, the ecological consequences could be far‑reaching, altering nutrient cycles, plant growth in riparian forests, and the foraging patterns of large herbivores downstream.
For now, the thin line between a healthy floodplain ecosystem and a disease‑ridden one is being drawn in the Semuliki River, reminding conservationists that climate adaptability, conflict resolution, and rapid disease detection must go hand in hand to protect both wildlife and human communities in one of the world’s most biodiverse but vulnerable areas.
