Thursday, June 14, 2007

What is wrong with people?

Rare mountain gorilla shot dead in DR Congo reserve

Sun Jun 10, 12:14 PM

KINSHASA (AFP) - A rare protected mountain gorilla has been found shot dead in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Virunga nature reserve, fuelling fears that rebels are targeting endangered species, conservationists said Sunday.


"The body of Rubiga, an adult female, was found yesterday by guards. A two-month old baby was clinging to the mother and was tranferred for treatment to Goma," said Paulin Ngobobo of the Institute for Nature Conservation (ICCN).

"We think she was killed Friday, after residents reported hearing gunfire. We set up patrols and the guards found her Saturday," Ngobobo told AFP.

The central African country is home to three of the world's four great ape species: gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos -- pygmy chimps whose population has been decimated over the past 15 years.

Conservationists say endangered gorillas are increasingly under threat from Tutsi and Hutu rebels who have taken refuge in the huge eastern nature reserve. Two silverback gorillas were killed and eaten by rebels in January, they said.

Park rangers have also been targeted. Mai Mai rebels last month killed a park ranger and critically injured three in an attack on the reserve.

"Rubiga was part of a group of 32 individuals, the biggest of the five groups in the sector which over the years have grown accustomed to humans," Ngobobo told AFP.

He added that the sector of the park where she was found is home to 84 of the some 700 gorillas living in the reserve, near the mountainous border with Rwanda and Uganda.

"It was an act of sabotage, against tourism, against research," he added, dismissing the involvement of poachers who would not have left the body in the forest with an infant, given their value on the black market.

"The guards have found traces of blood in the forest and we hope no other gorillas have been wounded or killed. We are looking for the group which has completely dispersed after the attack," he said.

Virunga, Africa's biggest national park and classed as a World Heritage Site by UNSECO, is sometimes used as a refuge by rebel groups to evade patrols by the regular army.

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