iStock/Christine Eichin

A silverback gorilla browsing through leaves.

In late July, the world was shocked by the execution-style murders of four rare mountain gorillas in Virunga National Park, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Responding to the sound of gunshots, park rangers used machetes to hack their way through the dense jungle and made the gruesome discovery. Three female and one male gorilla had been killed, while two baby gorillas were left orphaned in the attack, one found clinging to its mother’s lifeless body. This massacre is possibly the worst slaughter of mountain gorillas seen in the last 25 years.

Loss of Animal and Human Life

The gorillas were part of a well-loved family troop known to researchers as the Rugendo family, often visited by tourists from around the world. The dead male gorilla, Senkekwe, was the troop’s leader, an alpha silverback male. Silverback males are critically important to the family group dynamics, directing their movements by deciding where to forage and sleep, and protecting the group from rival silverbacks and human threats. The loss of Senkekwe is a serious blow to remaining family members.

Unfortunately, this tragedy was an all-too-familiar story. Since the start of 2007, nine gorillas have been murdered in Virunga National Park in the DRC, more killings than occurred during the height of the bloody civil conflict of the 1990s. This park is home to more than half of the world’s 700 remaining mountain gorillas, under the guard of poorly equipped park rangers, 150 of whom have lost their lives defending the gorillas.

Ongoing Conflict Leaves Gorillas Vulnerable

The civil conflict in the DRC has since worsened again, with the Congolese Army, Rwandan refugees, Nkunda forces and various Mai Mai rebel groups occupying Virunga National Park, pushing more than 35,000 people from their homes and threatening the forest habitat and lives of the mountain gorillas and other wildlife. Attacks by rebel forces compelled the rangers to flee, leaving the gorillas unprotected. It has been reported that the rangers are still unable to access large areas of the park to check on the gorillas’ health and location, and at this moment, their status is still unknown. Talks are currently taking place to negotiate access to these areas and officials are optimistic that this will be possible soon.

Various Initiatives Attempt Protection

Responding to an urgent call for assistance from the DRC Environment Minister, a team from the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) travelled to the DRC to investigate how this war-torn country can protect its ecosystems from being caught in the crossfire of this ten-year-long civil war. This visit consequently resulted in a new UNEP initiative for the protection of gorillas and sustainable livelihoods in the Virungas.

Meanwhile, on-the-ground efforts in the park were boosted by the deployment of the Congolese Government’s Force Avancee, comprising 33 armed anti-poaching rangers who have been trained specifically to protect gorillas and the park. HSI is helping to maintain and resource these patrols by partnering in a three year $65,000 initiative with the International Gorilla Conservation Program (IGCP),which has been working for many years in the Congo to protect mountain gorillas.