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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.

So we’ve made the decision to work very closely with the local community to try to resolve this problem. We have established a unit of 40 “Community Scouts” who will help with the de-snaring operations. Instead of a patrol being made up of 4 Rangers, a patrol will now be made up of 1 or 2 Rangers accompanied by 2 or 3 Community Scouts.  Their job will be surveillance and destroying snares.  This will double our patrolling effort from 8 to 17 patrols a day.  The Community Scouts are unarmed, but the security situation has improved enough to make this feasible.   These are all young men from the local community who are known to be supportive and who have volunteered their time to help us in the past.  We will pay the scouts $30 a month.   We held the meeting with the community leaders yesterday, and we’ve agreed to launch the new approach on 1 March.

30 Community Scouts with Rangers yesterday in Bukima

Over the next two weeks, we will be equipping them with new uniforms and giving them a basic training to work with the Rangers.   This is all being done with the support that you have given us.   So we are also working on a new feature on the Protect the Park page of the website, where every patrol is logged by GPS, and registered on the map. That way, you will be able to monitor their efforts. The sponsored areas will continue to be updated, but we are also trying to improve that feature as well.

As always, we really appreciate your feedback on this.

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.

Please honor Nsekanabo’s life by sponsoring an area of the gorilla sector. If you are already sponsoring an area of the park, I hope you will reach out to your community and family and encourage them to do so as well.

By protecting a 30-acre plot of Virunga’s Gorilla Sector for $25/month you will fund the Rangers to keep this area snare-free.

If we all take on the personal challenge of getting a 30-acre plot sponsored, by ourselves or through others, the chances of losing another critically-endangered mountain gorilla will be greatly diminished.

With gratitude,
Emmanuel de Merode
Director
Virunga National Park

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.

Nsekanabo’s face, that was so mangled, is sewn up by Magda. (Photo copyright Gorilla Doctors)

Tumaini and Nsekanabo were still close, as Tumaini was still breast feeding. Nsekanabo was Tumaini’s first known child. Tumaini is also the sister of Ndeze, one of the 2 orphans in the Senkwekwe Centre.

And then this afternoon we have just had reports from Rangers in the field that Nsekanabo is dead.

Tumaini is still carrying him around, so the Rangers will now follow the family closely (maybe for several days), until she leaves Nsekanabo behind. Then the Rangers will recover the body, and the Gorilla Doctors will be able to perform the autopsy.

This is terrible news. Nsekanabo seemed to be doing well after the intervention by the Gorilla Doctors. And now this. Innocent and the Rangers are devastated.

Nsekanabo, 2008-2010. May he rest in peace.

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.

3 MILLION people live LESS THAN A DAY’S WALK from Virunga National Park

Bad news have just arrived from the Rwindi Station in the central sector of the park (see map). Rangers at the station heard gunshots nearby and went to investigate. Only 3 kilometers away along the road they found a dead lion.

It was an adult female with a gunshot to the chest.

Read the full story »

As usual your generosity in times of need has been fantastic- on behalf of Ranger Kanyaranga’s family we would like to thank the following:

Brenton H $20; Laura F $20; Robert W $100; Wolfgang L $160; Joseph K $20; Suzanne M $20; Debbie C $20; Iris K $60; Jean-Luc P $100; Theresa S $40; G4G $40; Pirjo I $60; Amy M $20; Rosie M $20.

A total of $700 was raised in less than a week- half of that paid for the wake and funeral. The other half will go to Kanyaranga’s widow.

Ranger Kanyangara pictured in November 2008

Yesterday I went to the funeral of Ranger Kanyangara Muhima, who was shot in the chest during an attack by Mai-Mai rebels on Friday.

It was a very somber occasion and all too familiar: this is the third Ranger killed in the line of duty this year alone, following the death of Safari in January and Katambiri in March.

Rangers carry the coffin from Rwindi Station

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It’s with great sadness that we learned of the death of ranger Kanyangara Muhima, who died after he was shot in the chest during an ambush by suspected Mai Mai rebels yesterday morning on the shores of Lake Edward.  He was on patrol investigating the hippo killings that we reported earlier this week when his section was ambushed.  His fellow rangers tried to evacuate him by canoe, but he died several hours later before we were able to get him to hospital.

His funeral will be on the edge of the Rutshuru River, at a very beautiful place called Mai ya Moto, that overlooks the Rwindi plains that he spent his life protecting.

We would like to raise $400 to help his widow and children. Please donate using the “Emergency Support to Ranger Widows” category in the Donate One-Time section.