Call to save rare DRC gorillas
2007-08-16 21:37
London - Wildlife conservation experts appealed on Friday for funds to help protect rare mountain gorillas in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo after four adults were found shot dead last month (July).
The Zoological Society of London said a special protection
zone with extra patrols had been set up in the area where the
one dead silverback male and three females were found, but funds
were desperately needed to help pay for it.
"The massacre of four mountain gorillas was a devastating
tragedy and it is now essential that we provide constant protection to the remaining families," said Noelle Kumpel, ZSL's
Bushmeats and Forests Conservation Programme Manager.
"Shockingly, this is not the first time that gorillas in the
park have been slaughtered in this way and we are calling on the
public to support our appeal for funds to help us ensure that it
does not happen again," she added.
Unesco World Heritage Site
The four were found dead in the southern sector of the
Virunga National Park which contains more than a fifth of the
world's population of 700 mountain gorillas.
ZSL said another female and her infant were still missing and the killing had orphaned one gorilla.
Earlier this year another two silverbacks and a female were
shot in Virunga, apparently by Congolese rebels for bush meat.
Virunga is the oldest national park in Africa and a Unesco
World Heritage Site.
It was a significant tourist attraction before Congo's
1998-2003 war which devastated the east of the vast Central
African country, triggering a humanitarian disaster that has
killed more than 4 million people.