Mankind sometime is so heartless, I doubt if it was a woman who perpetrated these cruel acts and I can't say humankind because it was such an inhumane act! Have you followed up on the outcome of these acts? Have more slaughters taken place? I pray for protection of the gorillas and orphans and all who cannot protect themselves from the evil of some men!
For an update on the situation, click on this link to go directly to the blog that the rangers and Administrators of the Park maintain. There is a message that's been posted today (Sept. 24), but please, even before reading that, scroll down and read and view the Sept. 21 posting. The photos are awesome, and really bring home, how important it is that we do anything we can to protect and preserve the habitat of these wonderful creatures.
http://www.wildlifedirect.org/blogAdmin/gorilla
Another important development was the U.S. State Department's announcement last week that we will be sending new funds to support the park rangers, and the endangered wildlife.
Office of the Spokesman Washington, DC September 18, 2007
U.S. Support to Virunga National Park and Mountain Gorillas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
The U.S. Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development are making available $496,000 of new funds to support the park rangers and endangered wildlife of the Virunga National Park in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. This area is home to scores of unique species, including the mountain gorilla, which have declined due to the region’s ongoing armed conflict, poaching, demographic pressures and habitat disturbance. This support directly addresses threats to biodiversity and illegal poaching in and around the Virunga National Park through cross-border wildlife monitoring, rehabilitation of ranger posts, the provision of equipment and training for rangers. This support to park wardens will improve their capacity to carry out effective wildlife conservation activities and further law enforcement, information exchange and cooperation with regional authorities. “Our efforts are focused on conserving and protecting the habitat of these magnificent animals. The survival of the mountain gorillas of Virunga is severely threatened by the tragic events in the region, and we will continue to devote whatever resources we can to protect the gorillas and other threatened species there,” said Oceans, Environment, and Science Assistant Secretary of State Claudia A. McMurray. We have supported conservation in the Virunga National Park since 2003 through the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Central African Regional Program for the Environment and the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP). For further information on CBFP please visit http://www.sdp.gov/sdp/initiative/congo/2007/772 2007/772 Released on September 18, 2007
Here's the link to the actual notice.:http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2007/sep/92236.htm
Finally.....doing something with my tax dollar that I approve of and endorse. Just wish it were more.
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For anyone not fully informed, here are the emails I circulated in July, that told of the unwarranted slaughter of 4 of the Gorillas, along with plenty of background information.
Dear Friends~
You know I'm an over-the-top animal lover. And I don't limit that love and respect to domesticated animals. You got my email about the Bonobos, so you know primates fascinate me.
Here is an article I saw 2 days ago, about the slaughter of 4 Mountain Gorillas. The situation was more horrible than usual, because they were simply murdered and left. One of my life dreams, is to visit the parks and see some of these majestic creatures in their habitat.
Included in this post is the response from the organization working in the game park. The email following this includes the letter I wrote with suggestions, and their request for support by spreading awareness of these horrible occurrences. Sadly, there seems to be a pattern to this wanton ---I don't even have a word for it----
Sometimes,..... actually more and more, humans simply suck.
This is a 2 part email with a second one to follow. Click on the link for WildlifeDirect.org to follow the blogs of their park stewards and rangers.
Kentke
Jul-27-2007
Four rare mountain gorillas slain in Congo park (topic overview)
CONTENTS:
Conservationists have expressed concern over the "senseless and tragic" killing of four mountain gorillas in the Democratic Republic of Congo. (More...)
"The gorillas were all quite close together. (More...)
Last month a female gorilla from the Kabirizi family was found shot to death in the park. (More...)
The gorillas were shot Sunday night. (More...)
The four dead animals were found on Sunday by park rangers 75km north of the regional capital, Goma, the Congolese institute for nature conservation said. (More...)
"Seven gorillas killed in seven months is a horrifying statistic and a trend that cannot continue,'' WWF regional representative Dr. Kwame Koranteng said. (More...)
The situation in Virunga has become worse recently because Rwanda has banned the production of charcoal, which is used for cooking fires. (More...)
Today the area is home to a vast array of rebel militias, government soldiers, foreign troops, and villagers who are unsympathetic to the rangers protecting the park. (More...)
Virunga 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. (More...)
REFERENCES
Conservationists have expressed concern over the "senseless and tragic" killing of four mountain gorillas in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The bodies of three females and one male were discovered by rangers earlier this week in the Virunga National Park. Officials said the "executions" were not the work of poachers because they would have taken the bodies. [1] Residents heard gunshots Sunday night and alerted park rangers, who discovered the dead gorillas the following morning. "For such a small population, the unnecessary and indiscriminate killing of four mountain gorillas is a huge loss," the IGCP said. The others are endangered by the death of the alpha male, who leads them to food and protect them from danger.[2] The bodies were discovered in the southern sector of the park by rangers from the Institute for the Conservation of Nature, the DRC's wildlife and protected areas authority. All four mountain gorillas were shot, but it is unclear who killed them and why.[3] The IWC said the protected area was coming under increasing pressure from "outside exploitation", including the charcoal trade. "Whatever the motive underlying this tragedy, the gorillas are helpless pawns in a feud between individuals," said Mark Rose, chief executive of Fauna and Flora International. "We are deeply concerned about this incident, which follows more than 20 years of successful collaboration for mountain gorilla conservation."[1] Virunga has come under increasing pressure from outside exploitation, including the charcoal trade. Human-generated pressures, such as rapid deforestation in the region, imperil the gorillas. "This is a senseless and tragic loss of some of the world's most endangered and beloved wildlife," said Deo Kujirakwinja, of the WCS's Congo Program. "This area must be immediately secured or we stand to lose an entire population of these endangered animals."[4] The shooting takes the number of gorillas killed in the Mikeno sector of the Virunga park to seven since the start of the year. Local and foreign militias as well as Congolese soldiers regularly cross this area of the Virunga park, Africa's biggest national park and a Unesco world heritage site, and sometimes occupy parts of it.[5] VIRUNGA NATIONAL PARK, Congo They heard the gunshots around 3 p.m., at least two pops that echoed across the green mountains of this vast park tangled up in vines, fallen trees and years of war. The park rangers knew immediately what it was, they said, and in their frayed uniforms and rubber boots, they began hacking their way with machetes into the junglelike forest. This time, it was Rubiga.[6] Paulin Ngobobo, the head ranger of the southern sector of Virunga National Park, called the baby's rescue "an amazing piece of news." "We had given up hope on Ndeze," he said.[7] Apparently the killers had tried to burn one of the bodies. Virtually all the charcoal supplied to nearby Goma'worth an estimated U.S. $30 million a year'is made from wood harvested illegally inside Virunga National Park, he said.[7] "The gorillas were all quite close together. They had all been shot," National Geographic News quoted Emmanuel de Merode, director of WildlifeDirect, as saying. Senkekwe, the silverback which headed the so-called Rugendo family of 12 gorillas, was found dead this morning. The killings follow a similar shooting of two silverback gorillas from the same family group earlier this year. [8] Until recently, the region was touted as one of Africa's wildlife success stories, with a rise in gorilla numbers attributed to conservation efforts by wardens. The gorillas were part of a group regularly visited by tourists and researchers, who dubbed them the Rugendo family.[4] The females, Safari, Neeza and Mburanumwe and the male Rugendo belonged to a group that was regularly visited by tourists. The death of these gorillas is not only grave for the conservation of the species but also represents a significant loss of a source of revenue for the local community.[9] Last month a female gorilla from the Kabirizi family was found shot to death in the park. Another female from that family has been missing ever since and is presumed to have been killed too. [7] Guard posts were being built to provide 24-hour surveillance. Earlier this year, two silverback males were shot to death in the same area of the park. They were believed to have been killed by supporters of dissident warlord Laurent Nkunda.[10] Poaching remains a major problem. Early this year two silverback gorillas were killed within the span of two days in the same area as where the latest killings occurred.[7] For years, the park rangers themselves have been targeted. More than 150 have been killed in the line of duty during a decade of fighting among armed groups that want to use the park as their base, or by poachers who sell baby gorillas and hippo meat.[6] The rare mountain gorilla had been shot execution-style once in the back of the head and a second time in the hand. When the rangers found her hulking, lifeless body, her 2-month-old baby, barely alive, was still clinging to her chest.[6] Residents heard gunshots Sunday night and alerted park rangers, who discovered the dead gorillas the following morning. It is estimated that just over 700 mountain gorillas remain in the wild today.[11] The attacks are devastating for the gorilla population in Virunga, where some 100 of the world's 700 mountain gorillas live. At least three others have been killed in Virunga so far this year.[12] With support from the army, Congolese wildlife authorities were stepping up patrols to protect mountain gorillas within Virunga, the WWF said.[13] A recent survey found that gorilla numbers in the Virunga Mountains have increased by 17 percent over the past 14 years to 380, so the latest killings highlight the need for increased resources and protection.[14] Sunday's "execution-style" killing of the gorillas was identical to the killing last month, de Merode said. He believes the slaughter was meant to send a chilling message to the rangers to get out of the park. "We don't think it was the villagers who did it," he said. "This was deliberate ' an act of sabotage."[7] The hippo population in the park has declined from 28,000 to fewer than 350, according to conservation groups. "These killings are part of a worrying trend," said Emmanuel de Merode, who co-founded WildlifeDirect with the paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey.[6] Despite the persistent insecurity, WildlifeDirect, a swashbuckling conservation group, and the Frankfurt Zoological Society managed in January to become the first conservation organizations to set foot in the park since fighting began in 1994.[6] In Uganda's Bwindi, well-trained guides lead small and carefully supervised groups of tourists who pay more than $300 each for a permit to see the gorillas. The efforts have provided some compensation for communities around the park who have had to give up their right to cut timber and harvest game from the protected forest.[8] The gorillas belonged to the Rugendo group living in an area popular with tourists, providing valuable financial support to locals.[10] A rather eccentric kind of tourism flourished for a while during the 1980s, as backpackers and other adventurers trekked in to see the gorillas, recalled Serundori, who has worked in the park for more than 25 years. "Sometimes tourists would spend a month here," he said.[6] The gorillas were shot Sunday night. One was pregnant and another was a female named Safari, who received widespread international attention when she gave birth in February. Her five-month-old baby was still breast feeding and was initially feared to have died of dehydration. Rangers reported finding the baby, Ndeze, on Thursday, and took him for medical treatment. [12] Conservationists from the DRC wild life authority confirmed that six were safe, but two gorillas - a female and an infant, are still missing.[14] Six others were confirmed safe, but a female and an infant are missing, the organization said. The others are endangered by the death of the alpha male, who leads them to food and protects them from danger.[6] The four dead animals were found on Sunday by park rangers 75km north of the regional capital, Goma, the Congolese institute for nature conservation said. [5] The wildlife scientists found no evidence of poaching on the four dead gorillas. For one, the bodies were left behind, and the infant was found clinging to its mother.[4] "Seven gorillas killed in seven months is a horrifying statistic and a trend that cannot continue,'' WWF regional representative Dr. Kwame Koranteng said. [15] Mr. Carroll also added: "Strict measures will be taken to ensure the safety of the other gorillas in the area. WWF will continue to work with partners to strengthen protection measures and seek permanent solutions to ensure the safety of these rare animals."[14] The situation in Virunga has become worse recently because Rwanda has banned the production of charcoal, which is used for cooking fires. That has sent even more traders across the border and into Virunga for wood. The gorillas have also come under pressure from armed militias that hunt the animals for their meat. [12] The rangers keep working with the hope that if the fighting ever stops, the park might again attract tourists; in neighboring Rwanda, gorilla-viewing is a multimillion-dollar-a-year business. "It's like being an apostle," Ngobobo said.[6] The nearly 8,000 square-kilometer park is home to a handful of militias and more than 100 rangers have been killed in recent years trying to protect the wildlife.[12] WildlifeDirect estimates that since the beginning of the conflict in eastern Congo nearly a decade ago, some 150 park rangers have been killed on active duty.[8] Because poachers would have sold the bodies as food or trophies, conservationists think the apes were killed by a group that was trying to scare wardens out of the park.[1] In the past year, various militia groups have been essentially living off the park establishing ragtag bases there, eating or selling the animals or harvesting trees for charcoal.[6] Today the area is home to a vast array of rebel militias, government soldiers, foreign troops, and villagers who are unsympathetic to the rangers protecting the park. [7] Some conservationists suggest the killings were meant to send a message to wardens to leave the park.[4] Virunga 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. [13] REFERENCES1. BBC NEWS Science/Nature Concern over gorilla 'executions'2. Meadow_Free_Press3. Surfbirds News: Four gorillas killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo4. Gorilla Executions Puzzle Conservationists LiveScience5. IOL: Mountain gorillas shot dead in DRC6. Nation & World Gorillas' protectors besieged in Congo Seattle Times Newspaper7. inform.kz 1538988. Rare gorillas slaughtered in mass killing9. UNESCO World Heritage Centre - Virunga National Park: 4 more gorillas slaughtered10. Las Cruces Sun-News - 4 mountain gorillas killed in Congo park11. 4 mountain gorillas shot dead in Congo national park12. VOA News - Four Rare Gorillas Killed in Congo, Another Feared Dead13. Four mountain gorillas shot dead in Congo park Science Reuters14. allAfrica.com: Rwanda: Conservationists Promise "Strict Measures" to Protect Gorillas (Page 1 of 1)15. 4 Mountain Gorillas Killed in Congo Park World Latest Guardian Unlimited
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----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, August 05, 2007 9:51 PM
Subject: A suggestion to present to world bodies for International Law
Dear Friends~
I am so saddened by the story that I read today. One thing in particular caught my attention. It was your requests for ideas from other 'humane animals', I would like to put this forward.
A company was mentioned that has adopted a policy that although they are logging and destroying habitat, the animals are not being decimated in the area. In actuality, I find this somewhat questionable, but the main point is that they think they have achieved this by limiting the amount of meat that their employees may kill, as just for themselves and their families. The link from the article is presented here:
"In one collaboration, the government of Congo and the WCS work with a Swiss company, Congolaise Industrielle des Bois—which has a logging concession near Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park—to ensure that employees and their families hunt only for their own food needs; the company also makes sure that bushmeat does not get stowed away on logging trucks as illegal hunters try to take their haul to market. Despite the logging, gorillas, chimps, forest elephants and bongos are thriving in the park."
How very gracious of them.
I would propose that when these multinational companies, come into other nations to exploit and remove the nation's resources, that International Law require that they provide the food for their employees, families and the surrounding immediate communities that their intrusion is effecting.
Just as UNESCO is sending a team to investigate your slaughters, we need one of these already established world bodies to expand their charter to include the animals of the planet which belong to all of us, so that animals can not be nationalized, sold or slaughtered, without severe penalties, such as life imprisonment. Nations must understand, that their role is simply as a caretaker for the wellbeing and habitate of the animals whose presence preceded that of the nation and the human inhabitants.
We must work to dispel the myths of society, and reestablish a wholistic understanding that human beings come out of this wonderful continuum of plant and animal life. Although there are aberrations within the human species, most humans would not shoot their parents, destroy their breakfast, lunch and dinner meals, and wantonly disrupt their homes and lives.
Our humanity is null and void, if we are not good members of the animal kingdom first.
Kentke
Sent: Tuesday, August 07, 2007 10:43 AM
Subject: DR Congo: Mountain Gorilla Massacre
Dear Kentke,
Many thanks for your e-mail and your offer to help stop the slaughter of Virunga's Mountain Gorillas. We have had two very serious attacks on the mountain gorillas in the past two months, and we are very concerned that there may be more to come. We believe that public awareness is a very powerful way of getting desperately needed support to the rangers on the ground. We badly need the message to reach as many people as possible, so we are enormously grateful for your offer of support in this effort.
Kentke, if you are keen in helping the mountain gorilla's cause:
1. Please help us in raising awareness by forwarding this email to all your friends. Replace my text with with a short message from you. Ask them to send it to all of their friends .
2. You can also start a campaign if you are already a Facebook user. Go to Facebook.com, and add the ‘causes’ application (click on applications, and then Browse applications, and find ‘Causes’). Once you have added this application, you can browse applications to look for ‘Gorilla Protection’. (If this seems too complicated just type ‘William Deed’ -who works for WildlifeDirect- into the search box on Facebook and then ‘add as a friend’, once you are friends you can just join the Gorilla Protection campaign which is on his profile.)Once you have this application running on your profile, you can recruit members to support this cause as well as directly raise donations which will all go to protecting the gorillas.
Kentke, from all of us, thank you for you concern and your support. Please let me know if there is any futher information I can help you with.Looking forward to hearing from you.Very best,
Virginia EchavarriaMutsora, DR Congo+243 (0) 994 265 873http://www.wildlifedirect.org/
Critically endangered, the world population of Mountain Gorillas stands at just around 700, with half these individuals living in DR Congo . In just seven months, the systematic killings in Congo have wiped out a significant proportion of this global population.
If we do not stop this massacre, these magnificent creatures will become yet another species lost.
Please, your help is needed now.
How to Help
To stop further killings, continuous surveillance of the park perimeters as well as armed rangers, around the clock, for each gorilla family will be implemented. Your help is needed to both support these rangers in their work, as well as the setting up of an elite Gorilla Protection Unit. Only with global support can we put an end to these senseless killings.
WildlifeDirect is a program of the Africa Conservation Fund, a charitable organization registered in Kenya , in the US and the UK aimed at helping Endangered Animals in Eastern Africa . WildlifeDirect takes no administration fee for the funds that are transferred through us so that the financial support can go to where it was intended in its entirely. Our core costs are provided separately through grants, primarily from the European Union.
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