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UN envoy says Congo fighting could escalate
* http://gorilla.wildlifedirect.org/:
Secretary-General’s Special Representative Alan Doss has asked for additional peacekeepers beyond the nearly 19,000 uniformed personnel already there to prevent the vast country from slipping back into “horrendous” conflict.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The top U.N. envoy to Congo warned Friday that renewed fighting in eastern Congo has heightened ethnic tensions and could lead to the renewal of a wider conflict in central Africa.
Alan Doss urged all militias in the country's hilly eastern border area — the scene of the worst fighting and a humanitarian crisis in Congo — to support a U.N. disengagement plan to bring peace to the conflict-wracked region.
He expressed dismay at reports this week that a key rebel leader, Laurent Nkunda, who initially said he would discuss the plan, was now reported to be backtracking and "walking out of any effort to move the peace process forward."
Nkunda launched a low-level rebellion several years ago claiming Congo's transition to democracy had excluded the country's minority Tutsi ethnic group, which is being targeted by ethnic Hutus from Congo as well as Rwanda.
The U.N. estimates there are about 20,000 militia fighters in the east, belonging to a number of different groups.
Among them are members of an extremist ethnic Hutu militia accused of orchestrating the 1994 genocide of 500,000 ethnic Tutsis in Rwanda. The group and others are accused of razing villages, terrorizing the local population and perpetrating rapes.
Doss told reporters after briefing the U.N. Security Council he was deeply concerned about renewed fighting that began at the end of August in eastern Congo, especially in North Kivu, and has continued intermittently since then.
"We believe we need to go ahead as quickly as possible with the disengagement plan to reduce the risk of those hostilities spreading and spilling over," Doss said. "Ethnic tensions have risen in North Kivu and that is very dangerous — no doubt about it."
He warned that "tensions are rising and we do not want to see the Congo plunged back in to the conflict which spilled over and involved neighbors. That conflict lasted for many years with horrendous consequences."
Back-to-back wars in Congo spilled into half a dozen neighboring countries and destroyed much of Congo itself by 2002.
Doss said the 17,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo, whose main role is protecting civilians caught in fighting, is trying to bring the situation under control through a proposed comprehensive disengagement plan.
He said a "modest" increase in the force is sought to help implement the disengagement plan, which includes a cease-fire, separation of forces, demobilization, disarmament and the reintegration of militia fighters.
"The disengagement plan was presented to the government and it has accepted it," Doss said, "and it was presented to some of the armed groups. They have accepted it."
The U.N., is looking for support for the plan from the Security Council, countries that contribute troops to the force, and all militias, he said. * http://gorilla.wildlifedirect.org/: ... more -
Uganda’s new family of mountain gorillas
KAMPALA: A new family of mountain gorillas, one of the world’s most endangered species, is ready for interaction with tourists, the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) said on Friday.
“There is a new group of 13 members that has been habituated,” UWA spokeswoman Lillian Nsubuga said.
Wildlife experts began habituating the family, headed by a silverback named Nduhura, in October 2006 when one of the already habituated families in Uganda showed signs of moving into the bordering Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Nduhura’s family completed its two-year habituation process, designed to gradually allow them to become used to a limited human presence, the day the other group crossed the border. “The timing was really perfect,” Nsubuga said.
The endangered primates draw foreign visitors to Uganda’s Impenetrable Forest at a cost of $500 per visit and are a cornerstone of Uganda’s renascent tourism industry.
There are around 350 mountain gorillas currently living in Uganda, half of the world’s population. The remaining half is found in the Virunga park which straddles the DRC and Rwanda.
“The population in Uganda is stable and can even increase,” Nsubuga added.—AFP KAMPALA: A new family of mountain gorillas, one of the world’s most endangered species, is ready for interaction with tourists, the Ug... more -
Gorillas Caught in an Increase of Snares
Another Wire Snare (Part 1) | GorillaDoctors.wildlifedirect.org / Dr Lucy
"When I first read Benard’s e-mail, I didn’t want to believe it. A blackback in Nkuringo Group had a wire snare around his leg. The gorilla had continued to eat, but he’d begun to fall behind the group. One of us needed to cross the border to Uganda before closing time, stay in Kisoro for the evening, and leave for the forest early the next morning to deal with the snare. The drive would take two hours, followed by another hour’s trekking. I wondered why Bernard hadn’t called until I remembered the poor cellphone reception around the parks in Uganda. He must have gotten the message from the park warden and decided the best way to relay it quickly was via the nearest Internet Café. I wrote back asking him to call me as soon as possible to confirm the bad news. This case sounded a lot like the last three snares in Uganda: no chance that it would resolve on its own.
From the bit of information I had, I suspected that this was not a new snare. It takes a few days for lameness to occur, and that could explain why the gorilla was lagging behind his family. Much depends on how tight the snare is and on whether it is indeed made of wire. I think it’s been years since we had a case of a rope snare in Uganda. What was going on? This would be the fourth wire snare in Uganda in six months, the sixth in the past 13 months
Various questions collided in my mind. The most obvious and important one was: Where are the snares coming from? As I’ve explained before, the snares are set to catch game for food, especially small antelope, or duiker. Are more being set, or are the gorillas moving through snare-laden areas more often? If there are more snares in the parks in Rwanda and Uganda—we have no idea what’s going on in DR Congo—is it because there are more hungry people these days? Whatever the answer, many illegal hunters are still getting into the park. Is this because of the leaky and insecure border with Congo? Maybe the poaching patrols have simply not been doing their jobs, or maybe they lack the equipment to do them effectively.
I’d raised these questions during a recent community conservation meeting held by the chief park warden of the Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda. I asked them again after little Icyerecyezo’s snare injury. A month earlier, I’d also spoken with the chief park warden in Uganda’s Bwindi and Mgahinga parks and directed Benard to check with the patrols there. Each time the reply has been the same: the wardens have more rangers patrolling more of the parks than ever, and believe they’ve become more proficient at finding snares. That may be so, but given how many snared gorillas we’ve seen recently, there may also be an increased number of snares in the park." Another Wire Snare (Part 1) | GorillaDoctors.wildlifedirect.org / Dr Lucy ... more -
Bushmeat trade "most significant" threat to Africa's wildlife says ...
Maverick conservationist, Richard Leakey, writes that "commercial bushmeat hunting has become the most significant immediate threat to the future of wildlife in Africa and around the world" in an article on Wildlife Direct. Founded by Leakey, Wildlife Direct is a nonprofit allowing researchers and wildlife organizations in Africa and Asia to connect directly with supporters through blogs.
A paper recently released by the Centre of International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biodiversity (CDB) argued that legalizing bushmeat trade is the only way to ensure species survival and provide protein needs to impoverished people. Leakey disagrees: "legalizing this multi-billion trade will not help the wildlife. It will instead exterminate what remains, species that we are working so hard to preserve." Leakey has spent two decades working to conserve wildlife in his native Kenya.
"CIFOR argues that since up to 80 percent of the rural households in central and western Africa already depend on bushmeat for their daily protein requirements, a blanket ban on the trade would endanger both humans and wildlife " Leakey writes. "They call for regulated but legal uptake of wildlife protein. Maybe, but just how can this be done? There are no mechanisms to regulate this even with the best legislation."
Leakey says that CIFOR and CDB's idea of legalizing the bushmeat trade "shows remarkable naïveté and totally fails to understand the realities on the ground. A hungry population is never going to practice conservation of food, especially where it can be had free from the forest."
Comparing legalizing the bushmeat trade to legalizing drugs, Leakey writes that there are other ways in which to provide poor communities with protein. "Why don't people encourage the rearing of chickens, fish or cane rats to alleviate their protein deficiency? This will bring development and a better and healthier existence."
According to Leakey a number of species that have experienced local extinctions or drastic declines due to the bushmeat trade in Africa, including elephants, chimpanzees, gorillas, pangolins, bush pigs, duikers, and monitor lizards. Numerous primate species are especially susceptible. The bushmeat trade is also a threat to many species in Asia.
Richard Leakey, son of famed anthropologist Louis Leakey, is known for his bold conservation views and his long career in politics, anthropology, and conservation in Kenya. Maverick conservationist, Richard Leakey, writes that "commercial bushmeat hunting has become the most significant immediate thre... more -
Snares & Scares | GorillaDoctors.wildlifedirect.org
Dr. Lucy Spelman, the regional veterinary field manager for MGVP, a team of eight vets and support staff who work throughout the range of the Mountain Gorilla in UG, DR Congo, and RW.
Category: Monitoring Visits | Date: Sep 22 2008 | By: Dr. Lucy for gorilladoctors
Guhonda, the silverback in Sabinyo Group, has removed snares more than a few times from the arms and legs of his family members.
"I’d nearly finished my routine health check in Pablo Group when my cell phone buzzed in my pocket, making me jump. It was Jean Felix. We usually text each other in order not to disturb the gorillas, so I knew right away there must be a problem. We did indeed have an emergency. One of the infant gorillas in Sabinyo Group was caught in a snare, and the silverback, Guhonda, had bitten one of the trackers. We made a quick plan: Jean Felix and Elisabeth would try to check on the infant, knowing they might not be able to get very close; I would rush back to the office to grab my kit, and then check on the injured tracker.
I thought through possible next steps and outcomes as we hiked down out of the forest. Either Guhonda was already in a rage, or the tracker tried to take the snare off and the silverback saw him. There was a good chance no one would even see the Sabinyo gorillas for the rest of the day. Often our first opportunity to remove a snare is not until the next morning, once the group has calmed down. Even then we may decide not to intervene if we think the gorilla or one of its family members can get the snare off."
See photos & the rest of this post by Dr Lucy along with more information on how you can help these gentle giants, please visit: http://gorilladoctors.wildlifedirect.org/2008/09/22/sna... Dr. Lucy Spelman, the regional veterinary field manager for MGVP, a team of eight vets and support staff who work throughout the range... more -
Runners go ape in Great Gorilla Run for charity
Hundreds of Gorilla suit-clad runners were out raising money for charity in London today.
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Rescued baby gorilla fuels campaign to save a species
LOS ANGELES, Sept 24 (Reuters Life!) - The cold-blooded murder of about 10 of Congo's endangered mountain gorillas last year horrified author Craig Hatkoff until one glimmer of hope emerged -- the rescue of an orphaned baby gorilla.
The baby, named Miza, was feared dead as her mother was among the gorillas killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Virunga National Park, home to 380 of the world's 720 mountain gorillas.
But after several days lost in the jungle, Miza was rescued by her father, silverback gorilla Kabirizi, and brought back to live with her family to be raised by her sister and half-brother.
The story inspired New York-based Hatkoff to write "Looking for Miza: The True Story of the Mountain Gorilla Family Who Rescued One of Their Own", along with his daughters Isabella, 9, and Juliana, 13, as the centrepiece of a campaign to help save the gentle giants that range across the borders of Uganda, Rwanda and of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
It is not the first animal story by Hatkoff. He has previously written books about the polar bear Knut who became an icon for global warming and about the friendship of a tortoise and hippo, Owen and Mzee, after the southeast Asian tsunami.
"Miza's true story is a life-affirming tale of hope and courage. I think the appeal of this story is that gorillas are about 98 percent human from a genetic standpoint and it is like we are looking into a mirror at ourselves," Hatkoff told Reuters.
"My guess is you could put a name, face and nose print to every mountain gorilla left on the planet and it becomes a powerful metaphor because if we can't save the mountain gorillas what does it say about the other species we have to save."
CAMPAIGNING FOR GORILLAS
Hatkoff wants to use the book, released this week by Scholastic, as a centerpiece of a campaign to raise awareness about the endangered mountain gorillas and help the people living in the Great Lakes area of Africa.
"This is a war-torn area of the world and the loss of habitat and economic problems like the charcoal mafia have created a crisis," said Hatkoff.
"This is not longer just about saving the gorillas but we have to save the people there too who need clean water, food security, education and health care. These are complicated problems but they are solveable."
His company Turtle Pond Publications has joined forces with Scholatic, Wildlife Direct, the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative founded by Bill Clinton to raise awareness about Africa's endangered mountain gorillas.
The book will be at the core of the campaign with a children's summit on gorillas with U.S.-wide webcast planned and websites to get people involved and show how they can help.
"These true stories can create an emotional connection to real animals and the idea here is to say what you can do about it and you can become part of the story," said Hatkoff.
"Mountain gorillas must be the most magnificent species on the planet and if this campaign works, it will work for tigers, for people as well." LOS ANGELES, Sept 24 (Reuters Life!) - The cold-blooded murder of about 10 of Congo's endangered mountain gorillas last year horr... more -
Do other animals feel emotions?
Moving images of a female gorilla holding the lifeless body of her baby has left many asking whether animals feel similar emotions to humans. Ian Redmond, from UN's Great Ape Survival Project, and Miranda Stevenson, director of BIAZA, discuss Gorilla Gana, who appeared to mourn the sudden death of her three-month-old baby.
VIDEO: http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7571000/757... Moving images of a female gorilla holding the lifeless body of her baby has left many asking whether animals feel similar emotions to ... more -
Young orphan gorilla finds home
Zoo keeper Emily Pugh welcomes Bristol Zoo's latest arrival, a young orphan gorilla called Kera.
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Mountain Gorilla Expedition | Morris Animal Foundation
Morris Animal Foundation (MAF) withalong with the Mountain Gorillas Veterinary Project (MVGP) .
Up close & personal with the highly endangered mountain gorilla made famous by the late Dian Fossey. There are less than 700 of these incredible, gentle giants.
This video is a web exclusive. Morris Animal Foundation (MAF) withalong with the Mountain Gorillas Veterinary Project (MVGP) . ... more -
Eaten into Extinction?
Elephants, gorillas and other large forest mammals may become extinct in central Africa within 50 years if hunting meat to feed starving populations continues at the current pace. Each year, rural peoples consume some 2.2 billion pounds (one million metric tons) of so-called bushmeat from wildlife, the equivalent of four million cattle; the flesh accounts for 80 percent of the protein and fat in their diet.
"If current levels of hunting persist in central Africa, the most vulnerable species will become extinct in the near future," cautions Nathalie Van Vliet, a researcher at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) based in Indonesia. The problem is, she adds, that "if the people that currently rely on bushmeat as a source of protein in central Africa had to rely on livestock, we would see the same catastrophe that is destroying the Amazon Basin: deforestation for pasture land and livestock raising."
In fact, there is no simple solution to this problem. CIFOR, in a report released today, argues that a hunting ban would not work, as evidenced by the failure of antipoaching programs, among other things. But it also says that forest species such as elephants, buffalo and apes that are slow to reproduce need to be protected or they will disappear entirely. Already, roughly 40 percent of jungle species are killed in greater numbers than can be regained through reproduction, according to the report "The Bushmeat Crisis."
The report calls for local agreements that allow hunting of species that can rebound quickly (such as various species of duikers, a type of forest antelope) while nixing kills of species with long gestation periods (such as elephants who give birth after 22 months). This is "hunting that can satisfy the demand from the poorest in future generations as well as ensure the stability in the long-term of hunted animal populations," Van Vliet says. But she notes the "success" of such pacts will depend on local communities' willingness to abide by them.
The only examples of such sustainable hunting, however, are either among people who have almost no contact with other human beings, such as the indigenous Aché people in the forests of eastern Paraguay, or those who have already killed off local populations of slow-breeding animals as is evidenced in the bushmeat market in Takoradi, Ghana.
Further exacerbating the problem: illegal and even legal activities in central African forests, such as logging and mining, that carve out new access as well as attract new people who also crave meat. And laws against the wildlife trade have failed to prevent supplies of everything from rhinoceros horns to tiger bones from reaching the estimated $3.9-billion global market.
That suggests that even granting ownership of the common resource represented by a duikers herd might not solve the problem, as some experts suggest. But it also shows that blanket bans are not working either. "In the tropics, they have genuine needs," says entomologist Paul Ehrlich of Stanford University's Center for Conservation Biology, who was not involved with this study but has been assessing the problems presented by expanding human population since the 1960s. "There are desperately poor people surrounding reserves. If I was there, I would shoot the hippo and eat it, too." Elephants, gorillas and other large forest mammals may become extinct in central Africa within 50 years if hunting meat to feed starvi... more -
Endangered Mountain Gorillas Featured on Morris Animal Foundation
Endangered Mountain Gorillas Featured on Morris Animal Foundation Web Exclusive, MAF Responded to Dian Fossey's Request for Veterinary Care--
DENVER, Sept 15, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Morris Animal Foundation (MAF) has posted a Web exclusive, http://www.morrisanimalfoundation.org/gorilla/index.htm..., featuring an up close and personal visit with the magnificent, though highly endangered, mountain gorillas of Rwanda. In the exclusive video, MAF visits the site of the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project (MGVP), an innovative gorilla health initiative first established in 1985 when Dian Fossey asked MAF for help in response to a crisis situation for these gorillas. Their very survival was at stake. MAF accepted the daunting challenge and established veterinary care and health resources in the Rwanda jungles. Thousands of loyal MAF donors and friends also stepped up to answer the call for help. The MGVP is a testament to the kindness, generosity and commitment of people to saving a species.
MAF Chief Operating Officer John Taylor takes viewers to the MGVP headquarters and into the mountains where these gorillas live, explains how the project came about and allows the audience to enjoy these inspiring creatures at very close range. In fact, in one segment Taylor explains how one of the gorillas harmlessly reached out and grabbed one of the human members of the group.
In recent years the program was transitioned from MAF to MGVP, Inc., but MAF remains the primary funding source. Today, ecotourism plays a crucial role in the gorillas' survival and protection, inasmuch as they represent an important economic asset to the nation's economy. Information on how to visit the gorillas is provided as well as some good tips on making the trip.
About Morris Animal Foundation:
Morris Animal Foundation, established in 1948, is dedicated to funding animal health research that protects, treats and cures companion animals and wildlife. MAF has been at the forefront of funding breakthrough research studies benefiting animals in some 100 countries, spanning all seven continents. MAF has its headquarters in Denver. The Foundation has funded more than 1,500 humane animal health studies. Charity Navigator ranks MAF as a four-star charity, the highest rating.
For more information, call 800.243.2345, or visit http://www.MorrisAnimalFoundation.org.
SOURCE Morris Animal Foundation
http://www.morrisanimalfoundation.org Endangered Mountain Gorillas Featured on Morris Animal Foundation Web Exclusive, MAF Responded to Dian Fossey's Request for Veter... more -
Humans Suffer from 1,415 EID's, Over 60 Percent Zoonotic; Bushmeat
The average man living in forest-prone areas and who depends on meat from endangered apes and other wildlife for his proteins plays the role of a carrying agent for the hundreds of infectious diseases that humanity is suffering from.
Now experts are warning of the danger to humanity this lifestyle may be posing. Most of these diseases, identified in medical terms as zoonotic because of their ability to jump from animal to man, have been labeled as “emerging infectious diseases” or EIDs.
Over 60 percent of the 1,415 infectious diseases currently known to modern medicine are capable of infecting both humans and animals. Most of these diseases originated in animals and now infect people and include viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa and helminths, with 175 pathogenic species associated with diseases considered to be ‘emerging’.
Between 1972 and 1999, 35 new agents of disease were discovered and since then many more have re-emerged with renewed vengeance after long periods of inactivity, or are expanding into areas where they have not previously been reported, according to World Health Organization (WHO). These include tuberculosis, malaria, and cholera.
Public health professionals from across the globe met in Atlanta in March for the sixth International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases, to discuss these and other emerging pathogens and current work on surveillance, epidemiology, research, bioterrorism and more.
Wildlife Conservation Society reports that as humans progress ever further into the forest, the risk of disease transmission between humans and wildlife becomes greater. Many diseases can move back and forth between species, mutating into more virulent, resistant forms.
Myths aside, it has been claimed that the HIV/ AIDS virus may be such a case, as it is thought that it entered human populations through the consumption of non-human primates. The origin of HIV has been found in wild chimpanzees living in southern Cameroon.
Dr William Karesh, a WCS veterinary expert, believes the threat of potential pandemics such as Ebola, SARS, and avian influenza demands a more holistic approach to disease control, one that prevents diseases from crossing the divide between humans, their livestock, and wildlife.
But this may not be good news to a good number of Africans necessitated by poverty and high food prices to rely on bush meat, including gorilla and other great apes meat, and who may be courting, among others, various new encephalitis and hemorrhagic viruses, Lassa fever, and Ebola virus.
A recent WCS survey in a remote village on the border between Gabon and Congo revealed that about 18 tons of bush meat were sold and consumed in a particular period of time. As wildlife conservationists and medical experts bite their teeth, an average 17 species are killed per day, corresponding to a biomass of 65kg per day. The average man living in forest-prone areas and who depends on meat from endangered apes and other wildlife for his proteins plays th... more -
125,000 Gorillas Find Haven in Mud Swamp But Still Face Extinction : EcoWorldly
Conservationists were thrilled last month that thousands of African Western Lowland gorillas - 125,000 by head count estimates - may have found a safe haven in a mud swamp and probably escaped predators.
This could have doubled the number of the endangered primates thought to survive worldwide.
But it never dimmed the fact that the great apes are still heading toward extinction if the activities of mad rebel groups operating with abandon in the forests and mountainous regions of Africa continue unchecked.
Mountain gorillas (Gorilla gorilla beringei) are the worst hit among the three subspecies according to their habitant in different parts of Africa. Others are the Western Lowland Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) and the Eastern
The Congolese government has consented to remove its forces from the Virunga National Park, an enclave of about 72 mountain gorillas out of a total of 700 worldwide, in spite of an ongoing conflict to help protect the park’s valuable natural resources.
Yet gorillas still have more enemies. They are food to many communities within Equatorial Africa despite the inherent heath risks.
The Ebola virus, among other diseases, is also bearing its toll on them. Conservationists think the disease that causes massive hemorrhaging and organ failure resulting in death in a number of species, including humans, has killed up to 95% of the gorillas in some areas.
Human commercial activity that endanger these animals are the timber trade and the bush meat trade, both of which feed markets in Europe and other parts of the world. But habitat loss due to land clearance for subsistence farming that drives the gorillas further to areas where they are susceptible to numerous physical risks is also to blame.
Ironically, researchers who found the gorillas in their swamp haven were tipped off to their sight by hunters and trekked through mud for three days to reach them.
This does not, however, change the bad news that almost 50% of the world’s primates, including colobus and bonobo monkeys, chimpanzees and orangutans, are in danger of extinction. Conservationists were thrilled last month that thousands of African Western Lowland gorillas - 125,000 by head count estimates - may h... more -
55-year-old gorilla dies at Dallas Zoo
The oldest gorilla in captivity, a 55-year-old female named Jenny, has died at the Dallas Zoo — her home for more than half a century, a spokesman said Friday.
Zoo officials decided to euthanize Jenny on Thursday night because of an inoperable tumor in her stomach. Jenny had stopped eating and drinking recently, and tests showed she was unlikely to recover, spokesman Sean Greene said.
Jenny's keepers described her as very sweet though a little bossy.
"If she doesn't want to go out on a certain day, she doesn't," Todd Bowsher, curator of the zoo's Wilds of Africa exhibit, said in May, when the zoo held a birthday bash to celebrate Jenny's longevity. "But she really likes people."
The International Species Information System, which maintains records on animals at 700 institutions around the world, confirmed earlier this year that Jenny was the oldest gorilla in its database.
Jenny was born in the wild and was acquired by the zoo in 1957. She gave birth in 1965 to a female named Vicki, and officials aren't sure why she didn't conceive again. Vicki was sent to a Canadian zoo at age 5.
At the time of Jenny's death she was one of five gorillas at the Dallas Zoo.
Story continued at link... The oldest gorilla in captivity, a 55-year-old female named Jenny, has died at the Dallas Zoo — her home for more than half a century,... more -
Do Gorillas mourn for their dead more than humans
Gana, an 11-year old gorilla from Münster Zoo in Germany refused to surrender her dead baby boy (Claudio) to zoo keepers.
An excerpt from the article says:
"Claudio died at the age of 3 months of an apparent heart defect, and for days Gana refused to surrender his corpse to zookeepers, a saga that provoked among her throngs of human onlookers admiration and compassion and murmurings that, you see? Gorillas, and probably a lot of other animals as well, have a grasp of their mortality and will grieve for the dead and are really just like us after all. " Gana, an 11-year old gorilla from Münster Zoo in Germany refused to surrender her dead baby boy (Claudio) to zoo keepers. ... more -
Race against time to save Congo's apes
Given the genocidal record of Belgium's King Leopold II in the Congo towards the end of the 19th century, the choice of Emmanuel de Merode - a descendant of Belgian royalty - as director of Africa's oldest national park might raise some eyebrows. But as crisis threatens to overwhelm Virunga National Park, which lies at the epicentre of a war zone, it is Merode's credentials that count rather than past colonial misdeeds.
London-born Merode, a former head of the conservation group Wildlife Direct, is now responsible for the Democratic Republic of Congo's endangered mountain gorilla population, whose plight came to the world's attention last year when photographs of four bullet-ridden carcasses were published. The appointment follows a year which has seen rebel general Laurent Nkunda's army take over the park, swamping it with an estimated 16,000 armed militia.
Last week saw the heaviest fighting between the rebels and government forces for a year, and at the centre of the fighting was the Virunga. A growing demand for bushmeat and other illegal products has led to massive and sustained attacks on the park's wildlife. The hippo population of Lake Edward, once the greatest in the world, has been nearly wiped out. The greatest reserve in Africa, with more mammal, bird and reptile species than any other ecosystem, is in grave peril.*continues* Given the genocidal record of Belgium's King Leopold II in the Congo towards the end of the 19th century, the choice of Emmanuel ... more -
Gorilla undergoes professional dentist treatment
Pertinax, a silverback Western gorilla weighing 28 st, had to be sedated for two hours while a specialist vet dentist successfully operated on him to remove a painful three inch root.
The primate is recovering well, but was said to be "understandably groggy" after the operation at Paignton Zoo in Devon.
He was treated by Dr Peter Kertesz, one of only a few specialist zoo dentists in the world, who has worked on exotic species including whales, pandas and elephants. He said: "Animals or people, it's all the same - they need treatment, they get treatment. The scale is what varies - and the location. It is all about teamwork. It is a very serious business. The health and sometimes the life of a rare creature is in your hands."
Pertinax is the 25-year-old leader of the zoo's bachelor group of gorillas. Pertinax, a silverback Western gorilla weighing 28 st, had to be sedated for two hours while a specialist vet dentist successfully ope... more -
Gorilla Protection » War erupts around the Gorilla Sector
"Heavy fighting broke out at 3.30am today between rebels and the army around the Gorilla Sector, specifically near the patrol post of Bukima and going down toward Rumangabo park station. The situation had been calm for some months but all this has just changed.
This is Samantha. I was at Rumangabo this morning with Diddy, Innocent, Balemba, Pierre and others and you could hear the mortars being fired not so far away and reverberating through the hills.
It is not clear who attacked who first - ie the rebels attacked the army first or vice versa. But one thing is for sure, the army is sending in major reinforcements.
When we left Rumangabo heading toward Goma we came across a convoy of military vehicles carrying all kinds of heavy weaponry and soldiers. Weapons are not my area of expertise, but there was definitely a wide array on display of all shapes and sizes - and also something called Stalin’s organ, a weapon with multiple tubes that looks like an organ and presumably fires a rocket from each hole.
I just spoke to Diddy and the bombing continues as I write.
There is one thing for certain though. If we can hear the bombing and mortars, so can the gorillas. If human populations around this area feel threatened, so do the gorillas.
I will keep you up to date." "Heavy fighting broke out at 3.30am today between rebels and the army around the Gorilla Sector, specifically near the patrol pos... more -
Gorilla Protection
Gorilla Silverback Filmed at Gatovu!
"This is Innocent. Yesterday I got a call from our rangers at the Gatovu Patrol Post. They told me that they had seen a solitary gorilla in the forest nearby. I immediately went over there to identify which individual it was.
We found the gorilla at about 10 minutes from the patrol post. I was amazed to see that it was Buhanga, the solitary silverback that had once belonged to the group now led by Kabirizi.
It was fantastic to once again see a gorilla in the wild- it was the first time since last year when the rebels took over the Mikeno Sector of the park. As you can see from the video, Buhanga has grown a lot bigger since last time I saw him!"
*Innocent & Diddy are Congolese rangers that protect the Mountain Gorillas. They monitor and carry out protection activities on the ground. Congolese rangers risk their lives to save mountain gorillas of the Virunga National Park in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
To see how you can help, please visit: http://gorilla.wildlifedirect.org/2008/08/21/gorilla-si...
GorillaProtection.org Gorilla Silverback Filmed at Gatovu! ... more
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