Rwanda: Gorilla Killed, Infant Rescued

 
New Times (Kigali)
14 June 2007
Innocent Gahigana

Conservationists rescued an infant gorilla after its mother had been killed by unknown attackers on the Democratic Republic of Congo's side of the Virunga National Park. Information from the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International (DFGFI) indicates that the infant's mother was killed in an attack on June 8.

The slain primate called Rubiga belonged to the Kabirizi group, a mountain gorilla family.

 
On June 9, guards from the Institute Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN) discovered the dead mother with the two-month-old infant Ndakasi clinging to the corpse.

The attack reportedly dispersed other members of the Kabirizi family, and efforts to find the missing gorillas are going on.

Rwanda, which has most of the endangered gorilla species, condemned the attack, calling for investigations.

The Director General of Rwanda Office of Tourism and National Parks (ORTPN), Chantal Rugamba, said her office has already written to their colleagues in DRC over the matter.

"Through transboundary collaboration, we have written to our colleagues in (DR) Congo expressing our concern. We highly condemn the attack," she said.

She said every lost gorilla life deals a big blow to efforts to remove gorillas off the list of endangered species.

Meanwhile, the rescued infant is currently being looked after along with eight other young gorillas that were saved from poachers some time back at DFGF's facility in Goma, DRC.

In 2005, suspected Congolese soldiers killed four endangered Grauer's gorillas in the park which covers parts of Rwanda, DRC and Uganda.