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Protecting the Mountain Gorillas of Virunga
The struggle to protect Congo’s Mountain Gorillas
If you are a frequent reader of this blog, take a look at the most recent post
I have been thinking about these images, because we have all found them so upsetting, but as in the past, it is better that people see what is really happening. I will try to recount the events as best I can and I am sorry that the images are so disturbing.
I was in Goma on the night of 22 July. Emmanuel de Merode was in Bukima with members of my team, and Scott and Brent of Newsweek. They heard shots at around 8pm. The next day, a patrol went in from the Bikenge patrol post and quickly found the bodies of three females. It was crushing to hear the news. It is the worst thing that can happen, when a whole group is attacked, and when so many are killed. The females were Neza, Safari and Mburanumwe. Safari became famous in the newspapers when she had her baby, Ndeze, back in February. Mburanumwe was a young subadult female, who was pregnant. It is a massive blow to our efforts to protect the gorillas.
It was pouring down with rain when the Bukima team arrived. Mburanumwe had, for some reason that we couldn’t understand, been badly burned. I think it must have been done to offend us, but I don’t know. It’s difficult to get into the minds of people who can do a crime as terrible as this. It was still late and pouring with rain so the search was called off and the team returned to Bukima.
The following day, people poured in from the surrounding villages. It was moving to see that our sorrow was shared by so many. They had come to help.
The team split into two groups, with one team of Rangers going into the forest with trackers to try to find the remaining gorillas, and the other to carry the dead gorillas back to Bukima and then on to Rumangabo for burial. They searched for other bodies, and within half an hour found the lifeless body of Senkwekwe, the Silverback of the group. This was a moment of great pain for all of us.
Senkwekwe, the Silverback, is brought out of the forest to be transported to Bukima. Emmanuel is next to Senkwekwe. We were all in shock.
Our 4 gorillas were tied to stretchers, and then the long march began. A large number of people had to carry Senkwekwe, because of his enormous size. It was a long long walk that lasted for over three hours.
Eventually the procession arrived in Bukima, and the Senkwekwe and his group were take by vehicle to be laid to rest at the graveyard in Rumangabo.
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News from Congo- DR Congo mine collapse 'kills at least 20' - BBC News
- Congo Does Not Have The World's Largest Deposits Of Tin and Coltan - Forbes
- Indian Police unit in Congo gets UN medal - NDTV
- Business in the Democratic Republic of Congo Murky minerals - The Economist
- Conditions of Congo captures Clarke - Otago Daily Times
- Congo: Many Dead After Attack - New York Times
- 40 confirmed dead in DR Congo clashesPublish Date: May 17, 2013 - New Vision
- South African Army Prepares for Congo - ABC News
- Fears of Rebel Infiltration of DR Congo Army - Inter Press Service
- DR Congo to build town in honour of Patrice Lumumba - BBC News
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90 Responses to “The struggle to protect Congo’s Mountain Gorillas”
My heart breaks when I see this. I have been to Bwindi to see the Gorillas and have contributed to their plight. I will support the Bukima team and pray this never happens again.
Nothing brings tears more quickly to my heart and eyes than cruelty to children and animals. The horror of this meaningless slaughter to these beautiful gorillas is a true heartache.
I have always loved gorillas and it breaks my heart that I am not financially able to help. I will link your site to my web site as that is all I can do. I there is anything else I can do, other than spreading your cause and the plight of the gorillas by word-of-mouth, then please email me back and tell me how I can help.
God bless you for your work!
[...] Emmanuel is currently at Rumangabo with Pierre, Eddy and Brent Stirton, the photographer who took the pictures of the July 2007 massacre. [...]
How bad is the people in this world ,that they should go out and hunt and kill these beautiful gorillas,maybe they should stop and take a close look at them,they love ,they feel pain and sorrow, they feel love and have familys,all i can say is if it happened to their family ,how would they feel,live and let live,we are all here for a reason ,love and care for these creatures ,they are just like us ,pray that they survive,capital punishment to those that harm them
[...] We have some excellent news. We have finally seen the Rugendo Family, our most habituated group of gorillas in Congo, but also the most traumatized after the July 2007 massacre. [...]
[...] was an Adult Female in the Rugendo Family - and one of the 5 victims of the massacre in July [...]
[...] was one of the victims of the Rugendo Family massacre in July 2007. At the time of the massacre we did not find her body, but we found her remains 4 [...]
[...] The Trust launched an appeal over a year ago for Virunga’s mountain gorillas following the July 2007 massacre - and surprised us at the beginning of January with this generous [...]
[...] have just completed the profiles of the mountain gorillas we lost back in July 2007, with Diddy and Samantha. I also wrote the profile for Nsekuye, the adult female [...]
I’m crying at my desk reading this. It is absolutely awful and I’m afraid something that I will never understand- the killing of animals like this and the burning of them. I really hope that the people who have done this are brought to justice.
[...] is a juvenile (5 yr old) Grauer’s gorilla. The mountain gorillas were rescued in 2007 after their mothers were both shot in the Mikeno Sector of Virunga Park. The Grauer’s was confiscated from poachers in January 2008 [...]
this is so sad. ):
this is sooooooooooo sad every time i look at these pic i just want to find the people responsible for this and bashing them with a big stick
how could anyone be so cruel.
[...] The events of that day were described in detail on our blog at the time (click here to read) [...]
[...] was the gorilla massacre that nearly destroyed our park two years [...]
[...] was working in Mutsora, the northern station of Virunga National Park. I remember hearing about the massacre of the Rugendo family of gorillas from Emmanuel. But it wasn’t until I opened an e-mail from [...]
[...] Rugendo Family, the most habituated group of gorillas in Congo and the most traumatized after the July 2007 massacre. They were even happier when they found that the number of gorillas in the family had increased [...]
[...] was soon joined by baby Ndeze, who had been orphaned in the Rugendo Massacre, and the two gorillas quickly became inseparable. But living in a house in Goma was no good for [...]
[...] The events of that day were described in detail on our blog at the time (click here to read) [...]
poor gorilla
que mala onda que pase esto alrededor de mexico es una especie que esta en peligro de extincion total ya que no la dejamos desarollarse es una manera absurda de estar matando alos animales la vida es un ciclo pero no para matar a nuestra fauna
devemos hacer algo para cuidar a esta especia de monos mas sercanos a nosotros i deverias estudiar lo que ellos hacen para saber mas de el hombre
[...] Source : Gorilla.cd [...]
thats horrible that people could even think about doing that, sick in the head.
VERY CRUEL TO ME THAT WE ARE ALL AWARE OF DAMAGE WE DO OUR OWN ANIMAL CREATED BY GOD AND PRACTICALLY THE CARE GIVEN LIFE BUT THIS IS ONE THAT IS SOMETIMES WE ACT clear justifications ignorant but OUR ANIMALS ARE THE MAIN
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that was horrible thing to those gorillas when they did nothing to herm anybody. It’s amazing that people carried the gorillas for 3 hours. i hope whoever did that are feeling very guilty about what they have done x
people are merciless this are our heritage but they destroy like they are dogs
shame on them
[...] history includes the death of her mother, Macibiri, murdered in the July 2007 massacre that tragically took the lives of seven critically endangered mountain gorillas, including [...]
GORILLAS NOOOOOOOOOOOO
viiejos pendejos grasias a utedes todos los animales estan en via de extiinciion
nO Le aGaN ESo a LoS PoBrEs aNiMaLeS
nnnnnnnnnoooooooo lo agan
cambien
nonononononononononononononononononononono
putamare como mierda van hacer eso a esos indefensos gorilas k mierda tiene la gente para hacer eso …xikos debemos quemarlos vivos a esos pendejos que maltratan aunos animalitos que no nos hacen nada ..
van aver k va estar mas jodidos k judas ,………. deben castrarlos a ustedes pendejosssssssssssssssssssssss su muerte va ser mas dolorosa delok que creen ptm y nadie puede hacer nada o que!”!”!” x gusto estan esos protegedore de animales …………………vamossssssssssss nosea pendejos para hacer eso .maten asus hijos menos alos animales cabros de mierda
putamare like shit they do that to these defenseless gorilla k shit people have to do that … we should burn them alive xikos those assholes who mistreat animals Aunós we do not do anything ..
aver they will be more screwed k k judas … … …. you assholes should castrate his death will be more painful ptm Delok who believe and nobody can do anything or are these !”!”!” x protegedore like animals … … … … … … … we NOSEA idiots to do that. kill children less alos asus goats fucking animals
Como es posible hacerle eso a los animales!! malditos!! los unicos animales son ustedes!!
komo ez pozible q le agan ezo a esoz indefendos gorilaz
son unos inveciles estos … no saben valorar a los gorilitas son unos idiotas kisiera k eso le agan a ustedes …dejen en paz a los gorilas aggggggggggg k asco me dan ustdes cazando a los pobres gorilas idiotas…i hate you……………………………
MUY BIEN AMIAS ASI SE HABLA YA VIERON IDIOTAS PENDEJOS……MUERANSE SI LOS TUVIERA AL FRENTE LOS MATO
Oola
la verdad me indicna ver estas fotos y creer k
la vida animal es pisotiada de esa forma
todo lo k se hace se paga pero la verdad esto no tiene nombre waoO
k mal ……
K pendeJos ezos WueBones Como van hacer ezo ah Ezos animales… ezos Animales Son Una representacion de Nuestra Naturaleza…. hAy k kemarlos Vivos a los k hacen Eza WEbda…
no hay derecho todos tienen una vida especial somos Seres humanos deberian de hacerle razonar a sas personas Pfff… OMg?
puxa me indigna q estos wadas puedan hacer esto a esos pobres gorilitas q m….. tienen en la cabeza debemos quemarlos vivos a esta clase de idiotas q cazan a los animales q mal eso no tiene nombre
puxa q jente tan mala q asesinos de mierda deven matarse entre ellos mismos y no qitar la veda a los seres vivientes son como nosotros esos asesinos q ignorante de mierda son carajo les deseo la mala suerte y ojala q se muern uno x uno o q le coma uno de sus victimas q les dejin sin bolas si es psible asesinos de mierda sus hijos moriran igual q ellos se los aseguro cagadas
asv mare q fea webada oe csm como van a matar p alos gorillaz xvxa les hacen ellos ¿? hdp
very good!”!” cholo frank asi se habla asi k ya saben pendejos!”!” si siguen asip no van a tener bolaas perros de mierda basuras negros
ptm hijos de perras como xuxa van hacer eso ha esos pobres gorilitas …. ustedes son unos hdezorras !! me llegan al wevo mierda ustedes van a morir x mi RKSM .. les voi a decuartizar mierda y me los voi a comer !! y les voi a meter un palo en el culo hasta k salga x la boca … y me voi a cagar de risa …!!putos de mierdas
malheureusement,ça ne me surprend pas du tout. Je connais le Congo,j’y suis né et j’y ai grandi: 3me gènération,ma famille y était depuis 1890. Allées et retours,on a vaicu tous les évènements. Il n’y a rien à faire,ç’est pas pour maintenant un changement. Nous,on a quitté.
la verdad que pena q los animales paguen la ignorancia de los humanos pero al q no sabe se le tiene q enseñar por que nadie nace sabiendo es necesario concienciar a todos empezando por nuestra casa, comunidad, pais, etc y pedirle a Dios nuestro Señor que nos ayude a la conciencia verde
Makes me sick even to this day looking at these photos. I couldn’t feel more angered by the people who are to blame for this.
Humans are so destructive! Stop poaching! Stop clearing forests! Greed is such a poison.
I hope the people responsible for this are torn apart! They aren’t even people, they’re animals! Dirt!
very sorry ,
pobres animales como le van a hacer esooo………..
pobre los animales ke los tiene ke soportar………¡¡¡¡¡¡¡
dejen de lastimar alos animales ke se creen heeeeeeee
claro komo utedes no sienten el mismo dolor ke los animales …….
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This is so sad. TEARS. Does anyone know the name of the hardwood trees that were used to make charcoals?
x la ptm dejen de hacerles esop alos animalitos ellos no tienen la culpa de nada perros de bicht de mierda si los bieres ami frante haciendop eso alos animalitos los juro k los mato cmo sea no me importa ir ala carcel ksm perroos y ustedes x la ptm los policias o defensa de los animales no hacen nada x la weba stan k mierda k funcion cumplem ustedes ksm perros de mierda los odios maldiiitossssss .(
son unos que no tienen corazon para arer eso pero unstedes que saben osea no agan eso los amimales tenbien tiemen derecho
[...] off on our hike. We were told we would be seeing the Rugendo Group, and given that family’s tragic history (7 of them were murdered in 2007 by rebels, to undermine the rangers efforts against anti-poaching [...]
muchos dañados no tienen corazon , las personas que tienen corazon no son asi ellas dejan vivir alos animales
i think that this was a wrong thing to do and it should be stopped as soon as possible
man can be so destructive towards animals and there homes why shold we do this it is just wrong it mankes me feel sick that some people would do this and and that had the nasty mind to do something like this
it infuriates me beyond reason. Such wonderful animals, just happy living creatures, minding their own business, not harming anyone or anything and slaughtered like a pest. Not only are the criminals that did this murderers, they also lack any kind of intelligence, they do not understand the importance of these magnificent creatures, nor do most people understand the importance of all endangered species all over the world. We humans are capable of doing real good things, but the vast majority of us are a shame for human mankind. I sincerely hope these f******, brainless criminals will be brought to justice, and will burn in hell.
Keep up the good work at Virunga !
no
Se pasan! :c
EVERYTHING GOD MADE WAS GOOD AND VERY GOOD.
Do have to include theses people?
Sometimes I think we need ask what would the animal do if our tch position were witch, I don’t think we would like that.
so sad n i love minkeys im obssesed wit monkeys gorillas wat eva they calld
wat eva god create he can still remake
como van a hacer eso a unos pobres indefensos animales q no sabes lo q la vida humana les da y ellos tambien son humanos como nosotros respiran como nosotros pero son diferentes eso si es cierto pero tenemos q cuidar la naturaleza y la vida cotidiana de los animales
so sad. Really pity those gorillas. They should jail those stupied people who kill gorillas. they got no respect or dignity!
Idiotic people!!!!!!!!!! How can they treat those gorillas like that?
I’m 9-year-old boy in Korea. I studied about gorillas in English class and the teacher showed me this picture. Poor Gorillas. Please don’t kill any gorillas..Let’s protect the gorillas. I wasn’t interested in gorillas before but now I want to love gorillas. I want to help protect them.
hola como le hacen eso a los animales ellos siente y son casi q nosotros lo unico q no hacen es hablar y tener modales. q bromas q todavia hacen esa cosas. debieran de meterlo presos.
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[...]Mountain gorilla massacre | gorilla.cd[...]…
how sad is this i am basicly crying sad face
that is bad i can not feel have the people who have to see feel right now
i feel very sorry i wish i could do something but im only 12 well todays my bday i wish wish wish i coyuld help you instead of enjoy my bday but i cant im only 12 with no money
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Human are so atrocious, we shoud to protect the gorillas, they are so sadness
wow that is a lot of gorillas and human shouldn’t be doing this we should all be helping them!!
no puedo creer como pueden hacer eso a tantos animales indefensos
es lo peor k e visto esa clase de gente debe entender k los animales sienten piensan igual que la gente lo unico que les falta es consiencia para distinguir lo bueno de lo malo
This is so sad. Have they increased protection for the gorillas? Is anyone looking for an alternative of using charcoal. We can better protect the gorillas by removing the incentive.
this is sad to see gorillas dieing and has been eating by animals and humans. It is propostrus to see the gorilla being killed, there for you need to stop this
Just sad to see, what happend thouring the time i’ve been in the DRC. Not only the civillians need protection of some insane war lords, even the Gorillas do! But for sure, as soon as i graduate, i’m back in the Congo!! LOve this Country so much!!!!!!!!!!!
i love these creatures that God has made but i hope that one day that those who have shot these poor defensless creatures shall pay fo what they have done. amen
i love gorillas<3
way so sad
Just donated to the appeal. Let’s hope more people lend their support (in the hopes of stopping further atrocities) {:(])
Thank you for reminding us again that there’re lots of things we still need to do for these beautiful creatures, and really thank you for all the efforts you did to protect them, bless you all.
I’m just a boy of 14 years but I still can not understand the cruelty and folly of men who commit these horrendous actions are against poaching and all those violent and disrespectful actions towards nature, if I were one of the local authorities I would do everything to poachers that they do to animals
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Que terrible que esten amarrados,sin poder decir nada y nosotros saber que ellos son tambien de nuestro planeta estaria bueno ya que nos dejaramos de ser tan injusto ellos son animales y ademas pude que sean mas inteligentes que nosotros por que confian en que nunca le haremos daño que lastima saber que somos tan poco racionales.
Aw, this was an incredibly nice post. Spending some time and actual effort to generate a great article… but what can I say… I hesitate a lot
and don’t manage to get anything done.
It’s so disheartening, especially with the insecurity that continues to haunt the Congo side of the Virungas!