Young man prosecuted for killing a critically endangered bird
The Intermediate-Level Prosecution Office in Huye has submitted a case to the Intermediate Court of Huye involving a 20-year-old man accused of capturing and killing a grey crowned crane (Balearica regulorum), a species classified as critically endangered.
The alleged offense occurred on July 9, 2025, around 2:00 PM, in the Gitega wetland located in Gitega Village, Gitovu Cell, Busoro Sector, in Nyanza District.
It is reported that the young man went into the wetland, set a trap, caught the crane alive, killed it, plucked its feathers, and took it home.
During the investigation, the suspect admitted that he regularly traps birds and confessed to having hunted this particular crane.
He was apprehended by wildlife protection officers who were monitoring bird populations in the area when they noticed that one of the cranes previously observed had gone missing. Locals later tipped them off, indicating that the young man was responsible for its death.
The suspect is being prosecuted under Article 56 of Law No. 064/2021 of October 14, 2021, governing biodiversity.
This law stipulates a prison sentence ranging from one to ten years and a fine between 500,000 and 10,000,000 Rwandan Francs, depending on the severity of the offense.