drc: Poachers will wipe out hippos, WWF warns

One of the world's biggest hippo populations in the Democratic Republic of Congo faces extinction as poachers and armed factions kill them for their meat and teeth, nature body WWF International said Friday. The Swiss-based body said it was "deeply concerned" about a new census showing the hippo population in the Virunga National Park had dropped 95 percent to around 1,300 from 29,000 less than 30 years ago.