2 men held with dead gorilla
2007-09-26 07:24
Nairobi - Rangers in Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday arrested two men with a dead mountain gorilla near Virunga National Park amid fears over the fate of the endangered species, said an official.
The suspected traffickers were seized with the female infant gorilla about 10km from the edge of the park, where renewed fighting had blocked rangers from tracking 72 gorillas, said Samantha Newport, spokesperson for Wildlife Direct.
Newport said: "The suspects said the gorilla was taken from DRC's gorilla sector ... and they were aiming to get $8 000 for the infant. The cause of death is unknown and the infant died about one week ago.
"It is thought that another gorilla is being held by the same group." This brought to 10 the number of gorillas killed in the park in 2007. Two others were still missing.
Mountain gorillas remain in wild
Local and foreign militias as well as Congolese soldiers, poachers and illegal miners regularly crossed the same area of the Virunga Park, one of Africa's largest and a Unesco world heritage site. Sometimes parts of it were occupied.
The mountain gorillas were a major tourist attraction in the Virunga park, where poaching was widespread.
Only about 700 endangered mountain gorillas remained in the wild, all of them living in the mountains of Rwanda, Uganda and the eastern DRC.
According to Newport, since fighting erupted last month between the DRC army and forces loyal to cashiered general Laurent Nkunda, rangers' efforts to track the rare species had been paralysed.
She expressed concern that fresh clashes on Monday, which ruptured an 18-day truce in the volatile region, could further endanger the gorillas.