Four endangered Gorillas found dead

May 2010

Four gorillas which lived in Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park have been found dead – three of them infants. They were part of an estimated 380 members of the endangered Virunga population. It is not exactly known why or how they died, but it is thought because of extreme weather conditions – rain and cold.

The Karisoke Research Center  has 25 trackers and two armed anti-poaching patrols (five-member teams) that monitor parts of Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park for poachers.  They found initially a dead female and her baby (named Mutesi) alive, but very weak.  The trackers soon discovered another dead baby – thankfully the mother was alive. Unfortunately on rescuing Mutesi she died a few hours later.  The fourth Gorilla to be found dead was a two-week old infant from another group of gorillas, not from Mutesi’s Pablo group.

The gorillas currently live and range on the heights of Mount Karisimbi, an inactive volcano on the borders of Rwanda and The Democratic Republic of Congo. Karisimbi is the highest of the eight major mountains of the mountain range standing  4,507m (14,787 ft),  and is part of the East African Rift Valley.  The high altitudes make it extremely cold for survival.  There were no signs of foul play in the deaths of the Gorilla infants.

In total there are 380 Virunga mountain gorillas left in the world, according to a census in 2003. Although this number represents an increase since Dr. Dian Fossey's  death, who founded the Research Center in 1967, it is still a critically low number. Data collected from 1989 to 2003 reports the population had grown by 17%.   

The Research Center  has been the centrepiece for mountain gorilla research and conservation in Rwanda and in the larger Virunga region since 1967 and continues despite wars and upheavals to continue its pioneering work.

 

 

Source: various, including Wildlife Extra,Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund