Sep 21 2007
Kabirizi: The Story So Far
If you have ever had the chance to see him, you will never forget.
Kabirizi is our least habituated Mountain Gorilla Silverback in the Mikeno Sector, and the leader of 30 individuals: 3 Blackbacks, 6 Adult Females, 3 Sub-Adult Males, 2 Sub-Adult Females, 9 Juveniles, and 7 Babies. He has the largest family by far in the sector.
His family was also the victim of attack in June, when a female was executed in the back of the head, and her orphaned baby left clinging to her breast. This orphan, Kabila, is now doing well in Goma under the supervision of vets and rangers.
Kabirizi
Kabirizi is named after an ICCN Director who died in a traffic accident in the late 1990s. Kabirizi was not born into a habituated family of gorillas; he was a wild gorilla who became head of the family in 1998. That is when he was given his name.
The Kabirizi family used to be the Ndungutse family - as you know Mountain Gorilla families are named after the dominant Silverback. But Ndungutse was assassinated in 1997 after being caught in crossfire between the DR Congo army and Rwandan rebels near the Bukima patrol post.
Ndungutse was the son of Zunguruka - who died of old age. Zunguruka means “He who walks in circles”. So why the name? Well apparently when he was being habituated in 1986 he used to walk in circles…
Ndungutse had a younger brother, Salama - that means “Peace” in Swahili. Salama was calm and kind, and always brought up the rear of the group, with Ndungutse in front. In 1994 Kabirizi, who was then totally wild, solitary and wanting females, fought with Salama as he tried to steal some of Ndungutse’s females. The interaction was vicious, and Salama later died of his wounds.
So when Ndungutse was killed by bullets in 1997, there were some 24 gorillas in the family of which 2 were Blackbacks: Karateka and Buhanga. There was also a very large adult female, Nsekuye, who did not want to be led by either of these young males. We think she just felt as if she was the oldest of the group and they were simply too young.
So Nsekuye left the family with all the females, and Buhanga, the older of the two Blackbacks, left with Karateka and the young gorillas.
Soon after, in 1998, Munyaga, then a solitary Silverback, took over Nsekuye and her females. At the same time Kabirizi took over the young gorillas from Karateka and Buhanga. Karateka and Buhanga became solitary.
A few months later Kabirizi stole the females from Munyaga - therefore cementing his dominion over Ndungutse’s former family.
Kabirizi shows his strength
So today Kabirizi would appear to be all powerful and unbeatable. But this is not necessarily the case. When a Silverback has a large family, he becomes scared because he has a lot to lose - he is vulnerable and needs to work hard to protect what he considers to be his. Kabirizi showed his strength when he acquired his family, but now he is afraid.
When Karateka and Buhanga want to fight with him he runs away. We noticed this in August when Kabirizi and his family covered an unusually great distance to get away from Karateka. There are other solitary Silverbacks in the vicinity too - Bukima, Mareru, Pili-pili. These solitaries want a family, and they are willing to fight for it. This is how it all works however - should gorillas not interact and change females, inbreeding would become a major problem.
Kabirizi still likes to show his strength nevertheless. Once when I was observing him he pulled a tree down on top of my head and gave me a nose bleed. This kind of thing happens sometimes, but it is normal for us because it is our job. Another time a ranger had a watch - the make was Disco - and it had flashing numbers. Kabirizi grabbed the ranger’s wrist and broke the watch with his fingers, smashing the glass. Then he just slumped away.
This story is to be continued.
Ruzizi, the older brother of Kabila who is orphaned in Goma
Kangugo on top of Kitagenda, in full play
Bageni - this means Visitor in Swahili
Adult Female Mahisho
Mutazimiza - the orphan in the family whose hands and feet were bare of skin. She was showing signs of improvement but we have not been able to check up on her in over 3 weeks.
Fooling around… other individuals of the Kabirizi family
Diddy
Technorati : congo, drc, iccn, kabirizi, wildlifedirect
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
Diddy — thank you so much for this facinating history of the Kabrizi family…the picturesa re extraordinary! That is a pretty funny story about the watch…though I am guessing the ranger did not find it so funny at the time!
Oh my god Diddy beautiful pictures. Guess the watch wasnt a Timex..:):):) steph
Dear Diddy
The story you tell us shows me once more how close you stands to them. You give me the feeling to be there too. Perhaps you present us also the Mapuwa familymembers by names, because in July I has fallen in love- but it was Mapuwa
Thank you Diddy for this great histories! i look forward to know many moore of this. I hope that very soon you can bring back some information of the actual situation of the gorillas; There is some information from the WWF that maybe very soon you can again restart your patrols in the gorilla sector. Let´s believe it is true…
Lisa thank you for the information that you investigated yesterday. Demmands and donnations are now on their way to the Rhino Foundation, and with a little luck, new funds from the PIBI Biological Reaserch Foundation could be send to the Congo Rangers next week. I´m working now in a second fund donnation to Wildlife Direct from the American Council for Wildlife Preservation; I whish that all this could be done faster! Interesting information in the UNESCO site that you post. thank you again, I hope that you can read this.
MY DEAR FRIENDS FROM WILDLIFE DIRECT.-
ACCORDING TO WILDLIFE NEWS THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE AND U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT HAVE MADE AVAILABLE $496,000 US DOLLARS FOR HELP THE VIRUNGA NATIONAL PARK. THIS SUPPORT DIRECTLY ADDRESSES THREATS TO GORILLAS, BIODIVERSITY AND ILLEGAL POACHING IN AND AROUND VIRUNGA NATIONAL PARK, INCLUDING REHABILITATION OF RANGERS POSTS, THE PROVISION OF EQUIPMENT AND TRAINING FOR RANGERS. THIS SUPPORT WILL IMPROVE THEIR CAPACITY FOR EFFECTIVE WILDLIFE CONSERVATION AND FURTHER LAW ENFORCEMENT. That´s really good news!!! I will be out this weekend in a remote place without any internet connection, but hope that next monday we all can confirm this great news!! aparently this all happened just last week, but I didn´t ear anything of this until now! Do you have some notice about this in Wildlife Direct???
Beautiful creatures, i’m very grateful, for you to be giving us their histories at a time like this. I hope the money from the US helps, i just hope the UK, joins suit.
I also hope what WWF say is true, and that you can restart your patrols soon. Please all of you take care and that we start to get some more good news.
Here’s the Wildlife News link for the USAID grant: http://www.wildlifeextra.com/gorilla-funds843.html
That’s the faith-based initiative.
s.
Gosh I hope that the US grant is true……it is about darn time!! We must give to them..we are the wealthiest country!!!!!!! No excuses! Thanks Diddy for the beautiful pictures..Kabirizi is so beautiful and so strong looking..he looks like he could rip someone to shreds! Interesting to know that he has fear….what a huge family he is responsible for….all of them are so very beautiful I just love looking at their faces …it makes me smile! Take care and I really, really hope you guys can get back to your gorillas soon…it must be torture for you! God Bless!
You are most welcome F.J. The USAID Grant is fabulous and really welcome news right now. I hope that somehow things can move forward despite the conflicts, although it’s really hard to imagine how. It all seems so complicated and challenging at present. Everyone is adding and sharing such really good information on this site. I hope with all of our effort we can see some real concrete improvements for the Mountain Gorilla’s as well as the other wildlife. Do you think we need to start a concentrated writing campaign, where we all target the same people? Lisa, California
I just sent an email to the US Dept of State etc for their generous donation..I figure I am also chewing them a new one in emails that I needed to send a nice one today! Ha……
That’s so funny, Annie. I was thinking about doing the same thing. : ) Lisa, California
Good to hear the news F.J. That would be great if someone could start some kind of campaign like Lisa mentioned. I’m very new to all of this. Also I work 12-14 hrs a day. I need guidance on who to send emails to. If I could copy anyone’s homework I’d appreciate it. LOL
Thanks Diddy for the history and the photos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just got done reading the 9/12/07 Floor Statement by Senator Brownback regarding the situation in Eastern Congo. Very interesting. Everyone should read it and then write a letter to the United States Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice requesting the very same thing. You know, I love the Mountain Gorillas, but the thought of children senselessly dieing of starvation because they have to hide in the jungle is also too much for me to take. Lisa, California
Here is the link to the 9/12/07 Floor Statement by Senator Brownback
http://enoughproject.wordpress.com/2007/09/20/senator-brownback-floor-statement-on-eastern-congo-091207/
Averting the Nightmare Scenario in Eastern Congo
http://allafrica.com/peaceafrica/resources/view/00011228.pdf
The last post was already posted by Will “Sorry” I have not read all the posts.
Yea Lisa I sent a nice email today because I am always sending not so nice ones! Ha..I just told them thank you for the generous donation which has been needed so dearly we all know! Thanks again to all you wonderful people who care about animals and our environment …saw another news line about how the polar bears will be extinct in 50 yrs……so many issues to deal with!!!!!!!!!
Thank you so much,Diddy, on the history of the Kabrizi family and the pics. Really enjoyed it. Would love to see the gorillas in person.
Sure hope and pray that 6 figure fund is on the level.
Rangers, take care. Stay safe.
Oh, Wonderful news about the grants…I hope that the rangers can get in there soon and start working again.
I’ve thought of another angle, i am emailing all the children charities i can think of in the UK, and pointing out to them a couple of headlines, from Guardian and USA today, re children being taken from their schools and being used as soldiers/sex slaves. Which makes my blood boil! If we can get them on the case as well. I wish to fight for the gorillas, but wouldn’t wish the children to suffer either.
That is the first I heard of the USAID funds. I will look into it straight away and see how it is being channelled on the ground. I also found this link: http://www.afriquenligne.fr/news/daily-news/us-supports-virunga-national-park,-mountain-gorillas-of-drc-200709198914/
Central African Regional Program for the Environment: http://carpe.umd.edu/
s.
Congo Basin Forest Partnership: http://www.usaid.gov/locations/sub-saharan_africa/initiatives/cbfp.html
s.
State Department press release about USAID funds: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2007/sep/92236.htm
s.
Thank you for providing the links, Sheryl. “Our efforts are focused on conserving and protecting the habitat of these magnificent animals. The survival of the mountain gorillas of Virunga is severely threatened by the tragic events in the region, and we will continue to devote whatever resources we can to protect the gorillas and other threatened species there,” said Oceans, Environment, and Science Assistant Secretary of State Claudia A. McMurray.” I just wanted to cut and paste Claudia A. McMurray’s quote onto Wildlife Direct for prosperity.
Sheryl, you’re awesome! Thank you. Lisa, California
MAYBE ALL THOSE EMAILS TO THE WHITE HOUSE AND THE SENATORS AND CONGRESSMEN AND NEWS MEDIA LIKE CNN –HELPED AND SOMEONE IS READING — YEAH!
Wanda…I hope you are right, maybe people are listening!
And Lisa and Louise, it is funny, because I have had similar thoughts about my concern for the gorillas versus the atrocities happening to so many — especially children — in that region. I guess at the end of the day, it personally boils down to this for me — all these efforts, when all is said and done, are not really just about gorillas, or hippos, or cheetahs…they are above all about people…about the rangers committed to preserving lives and a way of life, about protecting and providing for their families and villages; it is about Lola Ya Bonobo and supporting the wonderful things Claudia and her staff do everyday, including (at least seemingly) giving the children near the preserve a sense of compassion that can perhaps, down the road, be translated into positive actions toward people, animals and the environment; it is about activism, even through something as simple as this blog and helping to bring desperately needed attention to a part of the world that has been largely ignored despite the horrors that have happened there for years…I imagine that every forest started with that one little tree that eventaully became thousands of acres — and I think that is what we are doing here to some extent, sowing seeds for one crop that will become many (hmm, how’s that for mixing metaphores!) Anyway, totally rambling now, but I do believe that all of these efforts can help move along a multitude of issues.
Wonderful news re the grants. I wish the UK could match this; although I have written to PM Gordon Brown I have not received any reply (surprise, surpise!) Let’s hope my daily prayers are answered and that the rangers can get in there and start patrollng for the protection of our gorillas. Wonderful news that the Art for Gorillas Auction raised a good sum of money. I was outbid on ebay for one of the paintings! Please take of yourselves Diddy & Innocent and thanks for the beautiful pictures. God bless you all always.
Yvonne, UK
BTW y’all, nominations for CNN Heroes ends on September 30. You can only nominate a person once, but that doesn’t mean all of us couldn’t nominate the same person many times. I think I’m going to write something up for Paulin.
s.
CNN Heroes: http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/cnn.heroes/nom/
s.
sheryl, sounds like a good move, tell us what we need to do and who you are nominating. I will then certainly follow suit, but as you said we need to decide who. Perhaps someone from wildlife direct, could recommend someone.
I agree with Louise…we should probably put our efforts into nominating one person, so they have a better chance…Other thoughts?
Sheryl, When you finish writing you piece for Paulin if you could post it here then I can copy it and nominate him myself.
Thanks, Gary
OK, I submitted my nomination for Paulin. Maybe some of you want to nominate someone else - one of the other rangers or a member of Wildlife Direct’s staff. I think the point is to bring attention to CNN that the people working to protect wildlife in the Virungas face daily dangers and do their work because they love it. In my nomination for Paulin I mentioned his work with villagers to teach them about the negative effects of the charcoal trade and I mentioned the school he started, too.
They’re an incredible group of people so nominate away!
s.
That sounds good to me. I have not had the privilige of reading many of Paulin’s posts at Wildlife Direct, but I imagine I can find them somewhere in the archives and read more about all of Paulin’s awesome work. Good idea, Sheryl! Lisa, California
Lisa….That’s what I’ve been doing all morning. I also see that you went back aways on 9-18
Lisa..If you have the 8-6-07 Newsweek it was a story on Paulin
I started reading Paulin’s blog back in January. I miss his posts and I hope he’s doing well in the northern sector. I wish he’d blog again.
s.
When you start reading the January posts you learn that the period of calm for the rangers and gorillas has been brief. Nkunda and his troops were killing gorillas in January and occupying some of the ranger stations. Nkunda got some bad global press for that crime, and issued a notice that his troops would not kill gorillas.
So, now we’re back to the park being occupied by his troops, no access to the gorillas, and so it goes …
s.
Hi all — just want to share the URL where you can locate members of the US Congress and track down the status of bills: http://thomas.loc.gov/…It is one stop shopping, more or less.
I’m in the process of nominating Paulin. What is the city where he is located?
Sheryl, what email address did you use for him?
Thanks Christine, That will be very helpful. Lisa, California
And Christine, your words were so eliquent regarding how you feel about all of this. I feel the exact same way. Thank you for putting it so beautifully. Lisa, California
I used the Wildlife Direct snail mail addy in the District and I used the press@wildlifedirect.org e-mail addy.
s.
Sheryl — I looked up S. 2125 on Thomas and they don’t have it…it must not have been passed yet…I will see if I can track it doen through Obama’s Senate site tomorrow.
And thank you Lisa…
I found this on Obama’s Senate site. http://obama.senate.gov/press/060404-leahy_obama_sec/ Lisa, California
Final poll on search kindly website,
Wildlife direct on there till some point next sunday.
http://www.searchkindly.org/
This is final vote for who gets donations in October.
Get voting and using the website.
Christine: S. 2125 was passed in 2006. I posted about it on September 20. Here’s the basic info: “Here it is, Christine: S. 2125, passed and signed by Dubya in December, 2006. http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s109-2125”
s.
Crap. No punctuation after URLs. Imma start writing them in HTML … crazy Wordpress.
Christine, here’s part of what I posted on September 19, no the 20th. It’s early.
********************
Here it is, Christine: S. 2125, passed and signed by Dubya in December, 2006. http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s109-2125
Here’s the budget report portion of the Act: “S. 2125 would authorize the appropriation of $52 million for fiscal year 2006 to provide
assistance to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The bill also would direct the
Department of State to request increased funding for the Democratic Republic of the Congo
in its annual budget requests through fiscal year 2009. The bill would require the President
to develop a strategy to implement various policies outlined in the bill with regard to the
Democratic Republic of the Congo. Finally, the bill would authorize the appointment of a
Special Envoy to help resolve instability in the Eastern Congo.
For the purposes of this estimate, CBO assumes that S. 2125 will be enacted before the end
of the fiscal year, and that the authorized amounts will be appropriated. Based on historical
spending patterns and the assumed date of enactment, CBO estimates that implementing the
bill would have no cost in 2006 and would cost about $50 million over the 2007-2011 period,
assuming appropriation of the authorized amounts. Enacting the bill would not affect direct
spending or receipts.”
***********************
s.
Sheryl…interesting…I cannot find this on Thomas…maybe there was just some glitch when I looked for it…or amybe I am the glithc!
I couldn’t find it on Thomas, either. It was a voice vote, but I didn’t think that made a difference.
s.
re: S. 2125: The problem is that so many bills are authorized and never appropriated, so the projects just linger in limbo forever.
That’s a good question for Obama’s people, then. Bush signed it, so where’s the money?
s.
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