Rory Young (21 May 1972 – 26 April 2021) was a Zambian-born Irish wildlife conservationist and anti-poaching strategist. His company, Chengeta Wildlife, operates across Africa. Young was killed by jihadists in Burkina Faso, West Africa, along with the Spanish journalist David Beriáin and the documentary filmmaker Roberto Fraile while working on a documentary about his work in Africa.

Personal life

Young was married to Marjet Wessels. They have two children together, a son and a daughter. The Youngs resided in the Netherlands. Young was active on the question-and-answer site

Quora Quora () is a social question-and-answer website based in Mountain View, California. It was founded on June 25, 2009, and made available to the public on June 21, 2010. Users can collaborate by editing questions and commenting on answers that ...

. He was a Top Writer on the site, and his contributions galvanized people all over the world to protect wildlife.

Death

On 26 April 2021, Young was killed along with Spanish journalists and documentary filmmakers David Beriáin and Roberto Fraile, after their convoy was attacked by

Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin Nusrat al-Islam, officially known as Jama'a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin' (, JNIM; , GSIM English language, English: ''Support Group for Islam and Muslims'') is a militant Jihadism, jihadist organisation in the Maghreb and West Africa formed b ...

militants in

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the ...

, while working on a documentary about wildlife poaching. After initially successfully repelling the attack, the convoy was overrun and the three Europeans tried to escape in their vehicle. At first they managed to hide, but after a few hours they were found and murdered by the terrorists.

References

External links

Rory Young: The 'Mad Max' of wildlife
- Obituary,

Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

1972 births 2021 deaths Assassinated Irish people Deaths by firearm in Burkina Faso Irish conservationists Irish people murdered abroad People murdered in Burkina Faso People assassinated in the 21st century {{Ireland-activist-stub