UN team probes gorilla deaths

2007-08-18 21:01

Kinshasa - A joint mission of several UN agencies is conducting an emergency investigation into the shooting of endangered mountain gorillas in a Democratic Republic of Congo national park, Unesco said on Saturday.

In the past two months, seven of the primates have been killed in separate incidents in the Virunga park in northeastern DRC, a World Heritage site and tourist attraction, the UN cultural agency said.

The mission is being mounted by Unesco, the World Conservation Union (IUCN), the UN Environmental Programme and the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN).

"Working with local authorities and partners in the field, the members of the mission will investigate the reasons for the targeting of the mountain gorillas whose population in the park is estimated at 370 (out of a total of 700 mountain gorillas worldwide)," Unesco said.

It called the "apparently senseless slaughter" of gorillas in Virunga "a blow for the preservation of mountain gorillas and a setback for conservation efforts at the World Heritage site."

- SAPA