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 David Beriáin Amatriáin (1977 – 26 April 2021) was a Spanish journalist, producer, and documentary anchor, who specialized in armed conflicts, violence, and immersion journalism. Biography David Beriáin was born in Pamplona in a red cros ...

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 an American social question-and-answer website and online knowledge market headquartered in Mountain View, California. It was founded on June 25, 2009, and made available to the public on June 21, 2010. Users can post questions, answ ...

. 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 Jama'at Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (, JNIM; , GSIM; ) is a Salafi jihadism, Salafi Jihadist organisation in the Maghreb and West Africa formed by the merger of Ansar Dine, Al-Mourabitoun (militant group), al-Mourabitoun and the Saharan branc ...

militants in

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. It covers an area of 274,223 km2 (105,87 ...

, 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 was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

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