Understanding ranger motivation and job satisfaction to improve wildlife protection in Kahuzi–Biega National Park, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo C HARLOTTE S PIRA ,A NDREW E. K IRKBY and A NDREW J. P LUMPTRE Abstract Rangers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are working to conserve some of the largest remaining blocks of tropical rainforest, along with iconic species that are being targeted by poachers for subsistence or com- mercial purposes. During – we surveyed % of Kahuzi–Biega National Park rangers to assess their level of job satisfaction, why they chose to become rangers, what they liked and disliked about their job, and what affected their motivation to conduct their work. We used a cumula- tive link model to assess how various factors affected their self-reported level of job satisfaction. The rangers surveyed had been working in the Park for  years on average and most chose this occupation to earn a salary, to conserve wildlife or to serve their country. Overall, ranger job satis- faction was low; however, our findings highlight numerous ways in which this could be improved. These include higher salaries, more promotion opportunities, better recognition from the Congolese wildlife authority and other state ser- vices, positive performance incentives, better security, im- proved living conditions in remote patrol posts, and more support from the judicial system. Ranger patrol assignment (i.e. type of patrol and Park sector to patrol), receiving free housing at the Park headquarters, age, and length of service were statistically significant predictors of job satis- faction. It is likely that increasing ranger job satisfaction would result in a higher commitment to protecting wildlife, improved performance, and positive outcomes for wildlife conservation. Keywords Cumulative link model, Democratic Republic of the Congo, front-line conservation, job satisfaction, Kahuzi–Biega, law enforcement, motivation, wildlife rangers Introduction W ildlife crime and poaching are of increasing concern, with populations of targeted species declining rapid- ly and an increasing number of species at risk of extinction (Butchart et al., ; Lawson & Vines, ; Plumptre et al., ). Significant resources have been allocated to law en- forcement efforts to counter ever more organized poaching networks that cause billions of dollars of economic losses to governments (Lawson & Vines, ; Biggs et al., ; The World Bank, ). Among the people working to counter these threats are wildlife law enforcement rangers, who ac- count for a significant portion of the global conservation workforce. Assessments of wildlife law enforcement effectiveness have used quantitative measures such as patrol effort, number of seizures, reduction in threats, or species numbers (Leader-Williams et al., ; Claridge et al., ; Hilborn et al., ; Jachmann, ; Stokes, ; Hötte et al., ), but few studies have taken into consideration the human dimension of the rangers themselves (Jachmann, ; Moreto et al., ; Moreto, ). Effective law enforcement requires that officers perform well in their job (Jachmann, ). Besides human and financial resources, leadership, management systems, equipment, training, logistics and se- curity, there are a myriad of other factors that may affect the performance of protected area rangers (Henson et al., ). In particular, occupational satisfaction and motivation have been found to be positively correlated with job performance (Judge et al., ). Numerous studies, most of which have been conducted in the USA, have investigated job satisfaction among police officers. Commonly studied aspects have included officers’ demographics (e.g. age, years of service, level of education), job tasks (e.g. variety, autonomy, stress) and organizational characteristics (e.g. supervisor feedback, organizational support; O’Leary-Kelly & Griffin, ). Age, length of service, contributing to the public good, conducting mind- expanding activities, performance, perceived work auton- omy, work engagement, burnout, and supervisor support and feedback have all been found to be related to, or key determinants of, occupational satisfaction among police officers (Hoath et al., ; Zhao et al., ; Toch ; Brough & Frame, ; Rothmann, ; Miller et al., ; Johnson, ; Lambert et al., ). CHARLOTTE SPIRA (Corresponding author) and ANDREW E. KIRKBY Wildlife Conservation Society, 61 avenue du Gouverneur, Bukavu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. E-mail cspira@wcs.org ANDREW J. PLUMPTRE*( orcid.org/0000-0002-9333-4047) Wildlife Conservation Society, New York, USA *Current address: BirdLife International, Cambridge, UK Received  April . Revision requested  May . Accepted  June . First published online  January . Oryx, 2019, 53(3), 460–468 © 2019 Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605318000856 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605318000856 Published online by Cambridge University Press