Offbeat | Group says British pilot killed by poachers in Tanzania

Elephant poachers in Tanzania fired on a helicopter on an anti-poaching mission, killing the British pilot, a conservation group said. Roger Gower was shot on Friday while flying on a joint operation with Tanzanian wildlife authorities who were trying to track and arrest the poachers, the Friedkin Conservation Fund said in statement on its website.
“This tragic event again highlights the appalling risk and cost of protecting Tanzania’s wildlife,” said the Texas-based group, which oversees a number of wildlife areas in Tanzania.
Lazaro Nyalandu, a former Tanzanian minister of tourism and natural resources, wrote on Twitter that the shooting happened in Maswa wildlife reserve, near Serengeti park. Gower managed to land the helicopter despite his fatal wound from AK-47 assault rifle fire, according to Nyalandu.
“You loved our country and I knew you on many flights we took together” on wildlife missions, the former minister wrote.
In a statement, Britain’s Foreign Office confirmed the death of a Briton in Tanzania and said it was “providing assistance to the family at this difficult time.”
Tanzania has been identified as a key hotspot for elephant poachers. The elephant population declined by 60 percent to about 40,000 since 2009, according to a census announced last year.