gorilla.cd

At the end of last year we received a donation to buy a piece of land strategically located in Munigi, which is on the outskirts of Goma en route to Rumangabo and the Gorilla Sector, and a stone’s throw from the airport.

This month we started building a Briquette Warehouse on this land. The warehouse will be home to all of our marketing activities, in addition to facilitating the storage of sacks and the drying and quality control of fuel briquettes before they go out onto the open market.

In short, this is a massive step in our bid to eradicate charcoal.

The plot of land where our warehouse is being built.

Read the full story »

Finally some good news! The only 2 orphan baby mountain gorillas in the world are going to get the home they deserve, a stone’s throw from their natural habitat in Virunga National Park, eastern DR Congo.

Ndakasi and Ndeze, the females orphaned in mid 2007 when their mothers were massacred, will be able to fully enjoy life in a custom-built forest home with their 4 carers, Andre, Patrick, Alfred and Richard.

Ndeze & Ndakasi have been living in a new forest home since December 2009 after moving there from the dusty and noisy city of Goma. But it is only partially complete - in actual fact it is a 40 by 40 meter holding facility - and now with the additional funding we will be able to finish it off.

Read the full story »

Silvestre Mburanumwe has been a Ranger for 32 years. At 63 years old he has been struck by an illness that the doctors cannot seem to identify. He has been ill for 5 weeks now and has lost a lot of weight. He has pain in his abdomen and in his liver - which leads the doctors to believe it is liver disease, but they are not actually sure.

In the meantime Silvestre is at home, being nursed by Antoinette, his wife and Innocent’s mother.

Due to feeling weak he fell over last week and broke his arm.

Silvestre at home in Goma

Read the full story »

This video was shot by our Rangers out on patrol de-snaring the Gorilla Sector. It is the 2 Silverbacks of the Mapuwa family - Mapuwa himself and Nvuyekure. We always recognize Mapuwa because he is missing 2 fingers on his right hand.

And Nvuyekure - well he is a survivor. In 1995 his father Rugabo was killed and he was taken in by Rangers. Norbert Mushenzi was able to successfully return him, just a few days later, to his family where he has stayed ever since…

Watch for the chest thumping at 1 minute 30 seconds!

Upload this to Facebook

We need your grant to publish this video to your Facebook profile.

Video Published

An error occurs - Try later...

This video is too long to be uploaded to Facebook.

This may take some time...

One thing we’ve learned in Virunga, is that when you have a major setback, you double your effort. Nsekanabo’s killing was a catastrophic setback for us.

We were in Bukima yesterday, working to strengthen the de-snaring effort. Our main problem is that we don’t have the manpower to deploy enough patrols in the sector. We have 36 Rangers across the sector, and at the moment we can carry out 8 patrols a day, every day.   Although these patrols removed several thousand snares from the area in 2009,  Nsekanabo’s killing has shown that this isn’t enough to keep the Mountain Gorillas safe. Read the full story »

Thank you all for your outpouring of concern. The loss of Nsekanabo was a big blow to all of us working to save Virunga’s mountain gorillas. With only 720 mountain gorillas now left in existence, every unnatural death is both tragic and a setback.

At a time like this, the best thing we all can do is channel despair and outrage into action. Nsekanabo’s death illustrates the need for increased frequency of Ranger patrols to remove deadly snares and arrest poachers. With the park already running on limited resources, however, we need your help.

Read the full story »

Nsekanabo has been buried in Virunga’s Gorilla Cemetery by Innocent, Diddy, Sekibibi and other Rangers alongside the other victims of man’s brutailty: Senkwekwe, Mburanumwe, Safari, Neza, Nsekuye, and Mufabure.

Nsekanabo lies just behind Senkwekwe, the Silverback killed in July 2007. Read the full story »

The baby gorilla injured after being caught in a snare laid by poachers has died. He was Nsekanabo, son of Tumaini and Kabirizi.

I thought I was going to be giving you good news. The Gorilla Doctors Magda and Eddy and the Rangers finally found Nsekanabo yesterday afternoon and performed an urgent intervention. They sedated Tumaini and her baby, and succeeded in removing the rest of the snare from Nsekanabo’s left ankle, in addition to sewing up his face that was so badly damaged.

Drs Magda and Eddy perform the intervention in the forest, in the pouring rain. Read the full story »

There is good news and bad news. The good news is that the juvenile male gorilla from the Kabirizi family caught in a snare has been released by Innocent and Sekibibi. The bad news is that the injuries sustained to the face of the gorilla were so bad that Innocent was unable to recognize him. You can see for yourself.

These are not pleasant pictures, but this is the reality of what happens when gorillas get caught in snares. The animals are injured, separated from their family, and very very frightened. In this particular case Innocent thinks some of the injuries were sustained when the juvenile tried to free himself from the snare, in a panic.

Innocent says that the damage to the upper jaw and the tears in the flesh make it impossible to recognize this juvenile from the Kabirizi family. And Innocent, as you know, knows all 86 gorillas off by heart, by their noseprint.

This is Innocent releasing the juvenile from the snare late on Friday. It is an extremely delicate task as you can imagine, and not many Rangers or even vets would have the experience or the sensitivity to do this without frightening the gorilla even more.

Unfortunately there is more bad news. The Gorilla Doctors, Magda and Eddy, are now in the field with Rangers and cannot find the juvenile. This is the latest news I have - but I hope to be able to give a more positive update by the end of the day or tomorrow.

I, for one, am keeping my fingers tightly crossed.

I have just heard from Eddy that a baby gorilla in the Kabirizi family is caught in a snare. Innocent and Sekibibi have gone into the forest as I write to see what is happening. I have no idea which baby it is, and I don’t think Innocent does either.

We will keep you posted as soon as we know more.

As you know snares are one of the major threats to gorillas in the Mikeno Sector. They are laid by poachers who often seek to entrap antelope and other smaller rodents. But often gorillas get caught in them - and can often lose a hand as a result, or worse. One of the main jobs of Rangers in the forest during the gorilla patrols is to remove the snares that are found.

This is how a Ranger removes a snare in the forest - snares can be made of rope or wire.

We have documented snares in the Kabirizi family before - take a look at Pierre’s post last September.