Mountain gorilla population increases despite war

WWF International

Mountain gorilla numbers in Congo's Virunga National Park have increased, despite the war in and around the area, according to the first count to take place for over a year.

In September 2007, forces loyal to the ex-rebel leader Laurent Nkunda threw park rangers out of the Mikeno sector of Virunga National Park, where six groups of habituated mountain gorillas live.

Fifteen months passed without any rangers being able to monitor the mountain gorillas but in December 2008 Virunga National Park director, Emmanuel de Merode, successfully negotiated with the CNDP rebel group to allow park rangers access the Mikeno sector and resume monitoring of the area.

The Institut Congolaise de Conservation du Nature (ICCN), the government institution in charge of protected areas management in Virunga National Park, has since been fully operational and ICCN rangers have just completed a census of the habituated mountain gorillas - those considered most at risk from the conflict. The count showed that the number of gorillas in these groups had increased to 81, compared to a count of 72 in 2007.

“Habituated mountain gorillas aren’t afraid of humans, which makes them particularly vulnerable to danger,” said Marc Languy, of WWF’s Eastern Africa Regional Programme. “We are relieved to see that instead of fewer gorillas, which we had feared, there are actually several more animals.”

While on a five day patrol during which they were looking for and counting mountain gorillas, two ICCN patrols removed more than 400 snares placed by poachers targeting small forest antelopes that can harm and maim gorillas.

“This clearly indicates that conservation efforts must continue to save mountain gorillas which remain threatened, despite the good news brought by the latest count,” Languy said.

There is currently a cease fire between CNDP and the Congolese Army who
have joined up with Rwandan forces to fight FDLR rebels, however, the rangers still have conflict and violence to contend with. On 8 January a ranger was killed during an attack by Maï Maï militia against an ICCN Patrol Post and another ranger was kidnapped.

“This astonishingly good news about the mountain gorillas is possible thanks to the courageous efforts of ICCN rangers who worked tirelessly to gain access to the gorillas despite on-going violence,” said Dr. Susan Lieberman, Director of WWF International’s Species Programme. “WWF will continue to provide ICCN with the support it needs to keep a vigilant eye on mountain gorillas as conflict and poaching are still imminent threats.”

ICCN has been able to keep its operations running during the conflict with financial and technical support from International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP), a joint initiative of AWF (African Wildlife Foundation), FFI (Flora and Fauna International), and WWF and other conservation partners on the ground.

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Notes
● WWF, works in collaboration with ICCN and during the recent conflict has been focusing its efforts in the area on the humanitarian crisis caused by the fighting by distributing fuelwood from sustainable tree plantations to people living in IDP sites and passing out improved cooking stoves, which use half the amount of wood as a normal stove.

● Mountain gorillas are listed as critically endangered on IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species, about 720 survive in the wild, with more than 100 of them living in the Virunga National Park. Mountain gorillas are the main tourist attraction in the DRC, Rwanda and Uganda and the money earned by the tourism benefits local communities.

● Virunga National Park was created in 1925 as Africa's first protected area and is located in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, bordering Rwanda and Uganda.

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