Gorillas Under Fire

©WCS/John Gwynne

Four mountain gorillas were found shot dead in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Virunga National Park. The gorillas belonged to a group regularly visited by tourists, and known to researchers as the Rugendo family. Since January, seven of these critically endangered primates have been executed, according to researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society.

Though commercial hunters sometimes kill gorillas to sell for food or trophies, poachers could not have been responsible for the latest deaths as the bodies were left behind. At the scene of the crime, a gorilla infant still clung to its mother.

Some conservationists speculate that the killers wanted to send a message to wardens to leave the park. Such conflicts point to the increasing pressure the park faces from outside exploitation, including the charcoal trade.

“This is a senseless and tragic loss of some of the world’s most endangered and beloved wildlife,” said Deo Kujirakwinja, of the WCS Congo Program. 
 
Until the recent spate of killings, conservationists considered the Virunga Volcanoes mountain gorilla population one of Africa’s great wildlife success stories. In spite of incursions by farmers and rebels into the park, the animals have persisted, thanks largely to park guards who patrol the landscape, as well as sustained conservation efforts. A census conducted in the protected area in 2004 estimated that 380 gorillas lived there, up from 324 individuals counted in 1989. An additional 340 mountain gorillas live in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park—bringing the worldwide total to just over 700.

“This area must be immediately secured or we stand to lose an entire population of these animals,” added Kujirakwinja.

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