11 10 11 Virunga : Congolese Authorities Concerned Over the Significant Increase in Baby Gorilla Trafficking

 "We
are very concerned about a growing market for baby gorillas that is feeding a
dangerous trafficking activity in rebel controlled areas of eastern DRC,” said
Virunga National Park Warden Emmanuel de Merode at park headquarters in
Rumangabo, north of Goma. “We are powerless to control the international trade
in baby gorillas, but our rangers are doing everything they can to stamp it out
on the ground."

 

 The
most recent rescue of a poached infant gorilla took place on Thursday, October
6, when a team of park rangers went undercover posing as potential buyers. The
sting operation was executed in the town of Kirumba in Lubero territory near the
western border of the park. Dressed in civilian clothes, contact was made and a
price agreed upon for the one and a half year old male Grauer’s gorilla that
poachers were hiding in a small backpack. Rangers arrested the three poachers
once they had possession of the gorilla.

 “It’s
very likely that the mother and other gorillas were killed because it’s very
difficult to take a baby gorilla from its family,” ranger Christian Shamavu
said, the leader of the undercover operation. “The poachers will never admit to
this, though.”

 In
April and again in June, baby Grauer’s gorillas were confiscated from poachers
in eastern DRC, and in August Rwandan police recovered a baby mountain gorilla
as poachers attempted to smuggle the infant into Rwanda. The selling price for
infant gorillas varies from about $15,000 to $40,000, de Merode said. In last
week’s incident, poachers demanded $40,000.

 “Many
of these infants are injured from ropes around their hands/feet or waist, and
some are quite ill, which is not surprising, as they are generally in close
contact with their human captors, extremely stressed, and with very poor
nutrition,” said Dr. Jan Ramer, a veterinarian with Mountain Gorilla
Veterinarian Project (MGVP), partners with Virunga National
Park.

 Rescued
baby gorillas are quarantined for a period of 30 days while veterinarians from
MGVP run a series of health checks on the infants. Grauer’s gorillas (eastern
lowland gorillas) are usually sent to the GRACE Center, an orphan gorilla
sanctuary west of Butembo in eastern DRC. Orphan mountain gorillas live at the
Senkwekwe Center at Virunga National Park headquarters in
Rumangabo.

 The
newest orphan gorilla, named Shamavu after the ranger who rescued him, appears
to be in good condition, according to Dr. Ramer. “Like all the infant gorillas
we see immediately after confiscation, he was extremely tense and stressed,
holding his legs and arms tight up against his body, and turning his head away
when he got too frightened,” she said. “Shamavu is one of the lucky ones, thanks
to the efforts of Virunga National Park rangers who worked hard to follow-up on
the rumors of this poached infant. He appears to be quite healthy other than
some parasites and dry skin.”

 Hi-Resolution
photos are available at
https://www.dropbox.com/gallery/13278122/1/Rescued%20Baby%20Gorilla?h=17bccd

 

Additional
information, chart, and video available upon request.

 

Editor’s
Notes:

 

 

 

Virunga
National Park, Africa’s oldest national park (established in 1925) and a UNESCO
World Heritage Site since 1979, is home to 200 of the world’s mountain gorillas
and a small population of eastern lowland gorillas. Formerly known as Albert
National Park, Virunga lies in eastern DR Congo and covers 7,800 square
kilometers. The park is managed by the Congolese Institute for the Conservation
of Nature, the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature
(ICCN).

 

 

 

Mountain
Gorillas are critically endangered, with approximately 790 remaining in the
world, about 480 in the Virunga Volcanoes Conservation Area (shared by DRC,
Rwanda and Uganda) and just over 300 in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda.
The results of a recent census conducted in the spring of 2010 show that the
number of Mountain Gorillas living in the tri-national forested area of which
Virunga forms a part increased by 26.3% between 2003 and 2010 – an average
growth rate of 3.7% per annum.

 

 

 

Virunga
NP Rangers:  Some 360 park rangers protect Virunga National Park in eastern DR
Congo, a region affected by a 12-year civil war and political instability. The
park is home to mountain gorillas, lowland gorillas, chimpanzees, okapi, forest
elephants and buffalo, among other wildlife. The rangers have remained active in
protecting the park, classified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Poaching,
wildlife trafficking and habitat destruction remain the key threats to the
survival of the wildlife in the park.

 

 

 

The
Congolese Wildlife Authority (ICCN) and its rangers work throughout the country
to protect the National Parks of Congo and their wildlife from poachers, rebel
groups, illegal miners and land invasions. Rangers worked throughout the civil
war to protect the 5 parks of eastern DRC, rarely receiving a salary, with over
150 killed in the last 10 years.

 

 

 

 

 

For
additional information and/or photographs please contact:

 

 

 

Emmanuel
de Merode, Director of Virunga National Park:

 

edemerode@gorilla.cd
or +243 99 344 8133

 

 

 

LuAnne
Cadd, Communications Officer:

 

luanne@gorilla.cd
or +243 99 887 4292