On the morning of December 11, 2014, a Russian-built cargo plane touched down unannounced at Cabo Ledo, the military air base south of Angola’s coast-hugging Kissama National Park. Trucks were waiting on the runway.

Packed in the plane’s spacious hold were wooden crates containing wild game from South Africa—one of several shipments of ten species, totaling 215 animals, arranged by Angola’s Ministry of Environment.

As the containers were unloaded, one broke open, freeing a terrified eland that sprinted out across the airfield into the park.

The rest of the animals were trucked to enclosed sections of the park’s Special Conservation Area, apparently to be held there temporarily before being released in other reserves.

The 25,000-acre fenced area was originally set aside for animals