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Fears of top Australian veteran kidnapped by mysterious kidnapping gang in Africa while working in remote wildlife park
- dr. Jerome Hugonot was kidnapped Friday in a natural park in Chad
- Australian-French vet helped manage a park where oryx was reintroduced
- Chad’s government said it did not know the identity of the kidnappers yet
- It worked to find him and contacted DFAT and the French authorities
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A Franco-Australian vet has been kidnapped in Africa while working in a remote nature reserve.
dr. Jerome Hugonot was kidnapped Friday while working for the Sahara Conservation Fund (SCF) in Chad’s Wadi Fara province, which borders Sudan.
Chadian government spokesman Aziz Mahamat Saleh announced the incident in a statement, describing Dr. Hugonot as an environmentalist who managed a wildlife park for oryx, a type of desert antelope, on behalf of the SCF.
Saleh said the government had mobilized all its resources to find the dual-national, adding that the kidnappers were “unidentified individuals.”
dr. Jerome Hugonot has been kidnapped in Chad, where he worked for the Sahara Conservation Fund
Chad’s authorities say they have not yet identified the kidnappers, but they are mobilizing resources to help Dr. Hugonot to be found. Pictured: A map showing the location of Wadi Fara . Province
A number of armed groups operate along the Chad-Sudan border.
dr. Hugonot, who is said to have a wife and daughter, moved to Australia from France in 2002.
He graduated from Murdoch University in 2010 and then began working as a flying veterinarian in Katherine, in the Northern Territory, before spending the following years in equine practices in South Australia, NSW’s Hunter Valley and Western Australia.
He then did a three-year stint in Central Africa where he worked as a veterinarian for horses and wildlife, and he also used his commercial air surveillance license against poaching before returning to WA in 2019.
In his most recent role, he helped the SCF reintroduce the scimitar-horned oryx to the north-central African country.
Australian and French authorities are working with the Chadian government to locate him.
“We are aware of the kidnapping of one of our compatriots in Chad and are in contact with his family and with the Chadian authorities to get his release soon,” the French foreign ministry said in a statement.
dr. Hugonot has had an illustrious career as a veterinarian, working in an equine practice in Australia and in the care and conservation of wildlife in Africa
The double subject worked on the reintroduction of desert antelope (pictured) scimitar-horned oryx in Chad
A spokeswoman for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said she was aware of the reports and that the federal government was in contact with Chadian and French authorities.
“Due to our privacy obligations, we cannot provide further details,” she said.
Chad is a landlocked, semi-desert state grappling with internal insecurity and security issues related to conflict in neighboring countries.
The country has been governed by a military junta led by Mahamat Idriss Deby since his father, the former president, died in April last year during an operation against rebels.
Prior to his death, President Idriss Deby ruled Chad for three decades, with the nation now rocked by protests as citizens advocate for a faster transition to democracy.
Last week, at least 50 people were killed and nearly 300 injured in demonstrations.
Protesters in Moundou, Chad, on October 20 as citizens call for democracy
Anti-government protesters set fire to a burning barricade during fighting in N’Djamena, Chad, on Thursday, October 20.