Jan 22 2007
Meeting planned tomorrow with Rebel Commander
I met with Colonel Ashok today from the UN peacekeepinng force, who informed me that MONUC has made contact with the rebel battalion commander Colonel Makenga.
Colonel Makenga has agreed to a meeting at his base in Jomba, and we will be leaving very early tomorrow morning under UN escort to meet with him.
We will be discussing the possible return of my rangers to their patrol posts that they were forced to abandon a month ago, and I will try and negotiate access for patrols into the gorilla habitat to locate and assess the current status of our habituated groups.
We will find out tomorrow if we will have access or not, but I hope to be able to get the first of my rangers on the ground by early next week, or sooner if the rebels accept.
Daily news from the conservation frontline by Innocent and Diddy, and other Congolese rangers risking their lives to save mountain gorillas of the Virunga National Park in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo
Please be safe, you are the gorillas’ only hope. The world awaits your good news!
Good luck! I sincerely hope this useless killings will end and I deeply respect your work!
Ronald
Holland
My heart goes out to all those that pledge their lives to the protection of our diminishing wildlife. Please pass on my enormous gratitude to the Rangers. The sad thing is that protecting the surviving mountain gorillas has been one of the sole successful environmental stories from the past 20 years. For those that want to become utterly depressed or hopefully motivated, check out bushmeat.org or KarlAmmann.com. Best of luck in your herculean efforts.
All those who have taken up the effort of conserving wildlife are heros to me. I look up to people like the park rangers who risk life and limb to protect wildlife. I hope this can be resolved peacfully and those involved return safley home.
-Justin
Our wildlife is so precious, I can only hope to wish that all animals will be protected. Safe returns to all of the park rangers who put their lives at risk for our beautiful animals…they are doing something worth while….
I hope that the meeting was a success and that soon the brave rangers will be back,protecting these beautiful animals. Their survival depends so heavily on the commitment of all of us to work together to provide a safe area for them to live and breed. My thanks to you and your staff.
I am very happy to hear of this lastest news. I am in 6th grade and I chose this article to write about for my school project on current events in the world. I hope that the worlds crys to stop are heard by the rebels and this killing of the Gorillas stops. I enjoyed going to Busch Gardens to see these beautiful animals close up and they are one of my favorite animals.Thank you Todd Pitman for your story in Orlando Florida and for all the hard work of the Rangers that risk their lives every day for the gorillas. Thanks, Joshua 11 yrs.old from Florida
Thank God for people who dedicate themselves to the protection of these beautiful animals. This means so much for so many people and will hopefully help to save the future not only of this species but of biodiversity on this planet.
Joshua, your words are very kind, I will translate your comment into swahili, and post it with several others on the wall of the ranger station at Rumangabo (the park station). I think it will cheer up the rangers and their families.