Jane Nafula
31 July 2007
Kampala — THE International Gorilla Conservation Programme has condemned the recent incident in which four mountain gorillas were shot dead in Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
IGCP is a partnership between Fauna & Flora International, the World Wide Fund for Nature, the African Wildlife Foundation and the protected area authorities in Rwanda, Uganda and the DRC, to conserve the threatened mountain gorillas and their forest habitat.
A press statement issued last week indicates that three female mountain gorillas and one male silverback gorilla were killed in the Virunga National Park.
"All four mountain gorillas were shot, but it is unclear who killed them and why," the statement said.
"Over 700 mountain gorillas survive in the wild today, and none exists in captivity. For such a small population the unnecessary and indiscriminate killing of four mountain gorillas is a huge loss."
The carcasses were discovered in the southern part of the park by rangers from the Institute for the Conservation of Nature.
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