gorilla.cd

We have been sent some great photos from a reader of our blog who visited the mountain gorillas here back in 1994:

The pictures show the silverback Rugabo (above) with his family (below) only months before Rugabo was killed in an attack by poachers.

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As Pierre wrote in Monday’s blog, I have had the unfortunate task of recovering the body of the female gorilla Kidole from the Lulengo Family.

The Rangers at Bikenge Patrol Post had reported that a couple days before she had been separated from the rest of the group again. So I drove up to Jomba Patrol Post with our ICCN veterinarian Dr Arthur Kalonji and we entered the forest in the direction of where Kidole had last been spotted.

Kidole pictured in December 2008

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I am the bearer of bad news: Innocent has just called me from the field to tell me that Kidole in the Lulengo family has died from what appears to be natural causes. He was calling from Jomba patrol post and said that Rangers found her dead in her nest. I do not know any more details, but Innocent and the MGVP team are on their way back to Goma and will update us (in tomorrow’s blog post) with more details.

RIP KIDOLE

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I have just spoken to Dr Jacques from MGVP who visited Kidole the other day, the adult female from the Lulengo Group who went missing in late February and had a miscarriage. Dr Jacques was pleased to report that Kidole appears to have made a full recovery. She is eating normally, and her coat is shining and healthy. He even saw her climbing a tree to get at some tasty looking epiphytes.

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I just got good news from Ranger Touriste who called me from the Bikenge Patrol Post. You may remember that the Rangers there were concerned for the female Kidole, who for the past 2 weeks had been living on her own in the forest following a miscarriage. Read the full story »

Kidole is still not reunited with the Lulengo family - and continues to roam the Gorilla Sector alone.

She is however recovering well from what we presume was a miscarriage 2 weeks ago and eating normally. She does not cover a lot of ground during the day which is fairly normal when a gorilla is alone. This is much like the case of Buhanga for example, the solitary Silverback who is usually found not far from the Gatovu patrol post.

Buhanga - never strays far from Gatovu patrol post Read the full story »

After two days of searching in the forest, we today found the missing female from the Lulengo group. We found Kidole on her own in a patch of bamboo. She seems to be doing better than last time we saw her and was moving around much better, but she is still not 100%. We saw her eating a little, which is a good sign.

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In the beginning of the week there was an interaction between the Lulengo group and the Mapuwa group. On the next day, Rangers noticed that Kidole, one of the females from the Lulengo group, was bleeding heavily, apparently resulting from an abortion. The MGVP vets were called, but by the time they arrived Kidole had disappeared. Read the full story »

Another great piece of news for you all! We have just seen and identified Lulengo and his family. You may remember that Lulengo, the Silverback, was last seen in August 2007 during the census and that at that time the family had 4 individuals, including Lulengo himself. He had managed to obtain a family after fighting with Pili-Pili, who of course is now in the Rugendo Family. Before August 2007 Lulengo had been missing since January 2007… Read the full story »

This is Pierre. We have received news from our sources that tourists are once again crossing the border into the Congo to visit the gorillas in the Mikeno sector. Nkunda’s rebels are charging tourists to take them to see the Mapuwa and Lulengo groups of habituated gorillas.

Kanepo, Dunia, and Sebagabo from the Mapuwa Family

We are worried that the rebel “rangers” are not following the proper guidelines, such as observing a minimum distance of 7 meters to avoid disease transmission. We hear that last Friday a group of 20 tourists came, and the week before it was 22. Again, that is above the maximum limits allowed in legal tourism.

Bikenke

We assume that the people choosing to visit the gorillas this way either could not reserve a place to visit the gorillas in Rwanda, or decided they would prefer to pay less. We urge tourists to think twice before visiting the Congo gorillas at the moment, as their dollars will be going straight into the pocket of the rebels. Remember that these are the very same rebels who killed and ate two silverbacks last year.

Mambo and Dunia

As several of our regular readers have pointed out, the July edition of National Geographic magazine features a front cover story about the gorilla killings last year. You may remember that Mark Jenkins and Brent Stirton came to visit us in February. The article is also on their website, along with an interview with Diddy and Innocent that I recorded with them last month. There will also be a documentary called “Gorilla Murders” on the National Geographic Channel on the 1st July.

Everyone here hopes that all this coverage will renew international concern and interest in the preservation of Virunga National Park.