Two Mountain Gorillas Killed in Rwanda

The unthinkable happened in Rwanda late in the afternoon of May 9th. Two highly endangered female mountain gorillas were slaughtered in the Parc National des Volcans.

With a mere 660 mountain gorillas in the world, their conservation status has afforded them considerable protection. Nonetheless, poachers killed two mothers, Impanga (11 years old) and Muraha (25 years old), ostensibly for their babies. One of the babies is missing, and the other was found huddled next to her dead mother.

"All the evidence seems to indicate that the gorillas were killed in order to obtain gorillas for sale on the illegal market," says Annette Lanjouw, the Director of the International Gorilla Conservation Program (IGCP) which is supported by African Wildlife Foundation, the World Wide Fund for Nature and Fauna and Flora International.

Lanjouw is concerned that this incident will compound threats already facing the mountain gorilla population among them, civil unrest and war in the region as well as the loss of habitat to human settlements and agriculture.

The dead gorillas were part of the Susa group, one of the most popular for tourists, due to its large size and the calm and trust of the individuals in the family. It has been monitored daily and visited by tourists for almost 20 years. The bodies of the adult females were found on the morning of May 10th by trackers. They also discovered that one of the group's young males had been wounded.

The 13-month-old baby that survived the attack, Ubuzima, has been taken back into the group by two males: Kampande, a sub-adult male who is her brother and Kurira, the group's leading silverback. Lanjouw says the baby's condition will be carefully monitored, in the hopes that she will be cared for by members of the group. There is particular concern about her health, since she will need to be nursed until she is about three years old.

Local authorities and the military have suspects in custody. These individuals are being questioned about their knowledge of the buyer who wanted the baby, as well as the location of the missing infant gorilla. It is important that not only the poachers, but the buyers, are dealt with by Rwanda's legal system. It is unlikely that the baby will survive for more than a few days without proper care.

Katie Frohardt, African Wildlife Foundation's Program Technical Director and former Rwanda Director for IGCP from 1995-1997, says that if the baby was sold, it has probably already left Rwanda to a destination abroad. "We are appealing to anyone who has knowledge of Ubuzima's whereabouts to go to the authorities immediately," she pleads. Lanjouw reiterated that there are no mountain gorillas held in captivity in any legal zoo, private collection, or captive breeding center in the world. Whoever is holding this gorilla is breaking the law and will be prosecuted.