Gorilla Protection

Category: DRC, Gorilla tourism, Kabirizi Family, Rangers, Successes | Date: Oct 09 2009 | By: paula

Having met the Kabirizi family twice I feel as if they are my family so you can imagine my joy when I saw that Kabirizi has another child. that means that Miza, the orphaned baby gorilla we wrote about in “Looking for Miza” about has another sibling!

Look at this beauty!

Thank you Innocent for bringing us this wonderful news. I know that things are still very difficult in eastern DR Congo but the gorillas look quite peaceful thanks to our former CEO Emmanuel de Merode who is now the Virunga National Park warden and his team of dedicated rangers on the ground.

Tags: Congo DRC, gorilla, Innocent, mountain gorilla, Virunga, Virunga National Park

One response so far

Category: Kabirizi Family, Press | Date: Mar 16 2009 | By: paula

Last year, after meeting the wonderful Nancy Abrahams, we were invite to recommend candidates for the Abrahams Foundation conservation awards. The Alexander Abraham Foundation based in the United States, recognizes people in defence of the natural resources of the DRC, in particular the natural parks which contain many rare and endangered species. It was a no brainer fur us, we nominated the men who had put their necks on the line and risked everything to save Virunga National Parks endangered mountain gorillas at a time when nobody else dared.

We nominated Paulin, who risked his life by exposing the link between the illegal charcoal trade, corruption and the gorilla killings. Paulin ultimately paid the price with his position in Virunga and now works in Salonga National Park.

We also nominated Innocent and Diddy, two rangers who represent so many other dedicated rangers, were also nominatd. Their diarise on WidlifeDirect  raised global awareness about the unfolding situation. Ending up on the BBC and appearing in numerous publications including the book Looking for Miza, Innocent and Diddy have come to symbolise the hope that we can all believe in.

Innocent and Diddy are the hero’s of this true story

Despite the fame, they have retained their personal dedication and continue to conserve wildlife in the Virunga National Park.  We congratulate Innocent, Diddy and Paulin for recognition well deserved.

It was such a big event that even Alan Doss of MONUC attended and made a speech.  He said that these people should be considered “heroes,” considering the various threats and daily violence they face to protect the parks and the territories of the country.

He compared their work to that of the United Nations Blue Helmets in the DRC “who give their all to protect thousands of civilians against acts of violence in the northeast of the country.”

Everyone at WildlifeDirect is very proud that our nominations were considered and that these three wonderful men and two others have received the reconition that they deserve.  We congratulate the team at ICCN in Virunga for these awards.

Tags: Abraham foundation, conservation, Diddy, gorillas, Innocent, Mountain Gorillas, prize, Virungas

6 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Mar 03 2009 | By: paula

Today we are celebrating the birth of a baby by Mahisho in the Kabirizi family. Innocent took some lovely photos which can be found here at the Official Virunga website

But we are also mourning the death of 8 year old Muchana at the St Louis Zoo - she was found dead tangled in her ropes.

And 32 year old Kambula at Texas Zoo who had an untreatable condition and was euthanized

We are also deeply shocked by the savage chimpanzee attack in Connecticut. Listening to the 911 call is terrifying I am not surprised that it took this particularly horrific mauling of a woman last week by the pet chimpanzee, for the USA to take immediate action in banning trade in apes. Its not the first time it has happened, over 100 people have been attacked by chimpanzees in USA (29 are children) but this incident led to the swift drafting of new legislation and the passing of a vote to ban interstate trade of apes and monkeys. It’s a pity that it took such a tragic incident to close a loop ion US legislation which bans the importation of apes for pets, but did not ban the transport for the purpose of sale of apes once in the USA. Now that the vote has passed (overwhelmingly 323-95), and will make it difficult for people to access apes like chimpanzees and gorillas which are sought for household companions.

Hopefully this incident which led to the killing of the 14 year old chimpanzee named Travis, will discourage people from seeking baby apes for pets. One consequence of ape trade is the tragic escalation in number of orphaned apes now in captivity in at JACK, Limbe, Cercopan, Tacugama and Lola ya Bonobo.

Ironically, someone called me yesterday asking if I could help find a baby mountain gorilla for a member of the royalty in one of the Arab states who wanted a pet. I know that Vanessa would agree with me when I told them why it was such a bad idea! Somehow though, I fear that this person will try to get a gorilla through illegal means.

Tags: ape trade, baby gorilla, DR Congo, Innocent, Kabirizi, Missouri Zoo, Mountain Gorillas, Virunga

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Category: Kabirizi Family | Date: Dec 05 2008 | By: paula

Its amazing that the ICCN are able to conduct a gorilla census sin Vurunga National Park despite the continued conflict that is ongoing (even though most news agencies have tired of telling that story apart from Bloomberg who reports cooperative efforts between Congo and Rwanda).

Diddy at Bukima camp last year when he found Miza

Diddy and Innocent have revealed that not only have they found most gorilla families intact, but that there migraitons, and importantly, there have been some births. We are still waiting to hear about Miza and look at her photos. Her sister Mivumbi who rescued her when she was orphaned, has had an infant of her own. If you haven’t got it yet,  the childrens book Looking for Miza is a perfect Christmas gift for any child or adult.

Miza was orphaned last year and it was feard she was dying

Read more about the exciting survey and watch the videos from the field here

Tags: Diddy, DR Congo, ICCN, Innocent, Kabirizi, Miza, mountain gorilla, mutazimiza, Virunga National Park

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Category: Humba Family, Trackers | Date: Nov 26 2008 | By: paula

Emmanuel and the rangers have finally returned to the Mikeno sector of the Virunga National Park after 14 months of absence. They are conducting a census of the gorillas and have already met the Humba family. YOu can read about it on the Gorilla.cd blog

The story has been captured by AFP which is below
Gorilla love conquers war in DR Congo

Agence France-Presse
First Posted 19:05:00 11/24/2008

RUMANGABO — It’s a striking example of how a little love can overcome a whole lot of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Rebels and the government, who have blighted lush Nord-Kivu province with months of fighting, have cut a unique deal to allow armed park rangers back into the famed Virunga reserve to care for its long-neglected gorillas.

The deal will allow ranger Innocent Mburanumwe to be reunited with a bald blackback ape that has occupied his waking dreams for the past 15 months, ever since CNDP rebels took over the eastern gorilla sector of the park in September 2007 and forced the rangers to flee.

“Kadogo’s my favorite, because of all the ones I’ve seen, he’s the only one that is completely bald. Kadogo was born bald! I can’t wait to get up there to see him again.”

Last month, the rangers had to flee again, this time from Rumangabo with their families after the rebels swept through the southern sector of the park.

“I grabbed a kid in each arm and ran,” says Mburanumwe. His wife and six children remain behind in Goma at a camp for the rangers’ families housing 1,500.

Over the next week or so, hundreds of rangers will shoulder their Kalashnikovs and head into the bush from their Rumangabo headquarters to begin a census of the apes, keenly watched by their new rebel minders.

It is a unique situation in the battleground that is Nord-Kivu, the first time that an armed group has been allowed through a front line to go about their business freely.

At least that’s the plan, painstakingly worked out between park director Emmanuel De Merode, employed by the Kinshasa government, and rebel leader Laurent Nkunda at a meeting last week.

De Merode pores over the map of the park and smiles gamely when told he’s like a player in a wicked board game, minefields at every turn, only in his case it’s Congo’s bewildering array of armed groups. There’s the Mai Mai, the Rwandan FDLR rebels, the government forces, and of course, the CNDP, his new partners in conservation.

“It’s a complicated situation and they’re all involved in natural resource exploitation. Now it’s a little simpler because the park is all controlled by the CNDP. But it’s a difficult situation,” said the Kenya-raised Belgian, above the noise of a screaming baboon.

“There’s always controversy. But the message is very clear. We are only here to do park management and we’re doing it because it’s a world heritage site and also to protect the natural heritage which is extremely important to the economic future of the country.”

But ranger Roy Nkoma Musubao said he has no room for fear, particularly of the FDLR, whose illegal charcoal trade in the park poses the biggest risk to the rangers.

“This is my job, my lifeline. Armed groups or not, the job has got to be done,” said Musaboa, 120 of whose comrades have been killed since 1997.

De Merode commands 680 rangers, including many who stayed behind when the rebels advanced, notably Pierre-Canisius Kanamahalagi, a 52-year-old who wears smart city clothes and an air of authority.

“There’s a misconception put out by Kinshasa that the rangers were chased out” says Kanamahalagi. “They were ordered out by the government for propaganda reasons!”

“I’ve been called a rebel by some because I stayed on to look after the gorillas. But the management recognizes I’m a conservationist. Even a hero. A hero,” he says, emphasizing the last word.

De Merode is too diplomatic to say, but the mysterious presence of Kanamahalagi at the park’s headquarters is part of a delicate two-step with his new partners in conservation, the price to pay for being allowed back into the park.

No one can be certain the highly vulnerable apes, which have not been seen for 15 months, have survived unscathed. The park is home to 200 of the world’s 700 surviving great apes.

But Kanamahalagi insists they are safe. “The gorillas we’ve seen are in very good health, apart from their natural habitat damaged by FARDC [army] bombardment recently. Happily it didn’t affect the gorillas.”

Tellingly, De Merode, speaking separately, said such evidence is “anecdotal” and will have to be checked out by qualified personnel.

According to Mburanumwe, the partnership is working so far. “We embraced those who were here when we got back, so the coalition is working.”

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/world/view/20081124-174114/Gorilla-love-conquers-war-in-DR-Congo

Tags: Congo, Congo crisis, Humba Family, Innocent, Mikeno, mountain gorilla, Virunga National Park

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Category: Threats | Date: Oct 09 2008 | By: admin

We are alarmed with news reports that rebel forces have taken over the military base at Rumangabo. This has forced the ICCN to begin evacuating rangers from the Virunga National Park which is critical for their safety and survival, but will leave the gorillas and forests vulnerable.

According to AFP “The Democratic Republic of Congo’s envoy to the United Nations called on the Security Council to intervene to stop what he called an “imminent” Rwandan attack on the eastern DRC city of Goma.

Atoki Ileka told AFP that DRC authorities had “observed concentrations of Rwandan troops in the Rwandan border town of Gisenyi,” and that this suggested that an attack on Goma, located just across the frontier, was “imminent.”

Goma is the capital of Nord-Kivu province, which is at the center of renewed fighting between rebel and government forces that broke out August 28 in the east of the DRC.

“We have asked the Security Council to put the necessary pressure on Rwanda to prevent a new (Rwandan) aggression against DRC,” Ileka said, adding that troops in Rwandan uniforms had seized the Rumangabo military camp near Goma early Wednesday.”

Reuters have also just reported the invasion of Congo by Rwandan troops “Congo has accused neighboring Rwanda of sending troops across the border and fighting in support of a Congolese warlord. A Rwandan military spokesman denies the allegations.

North Kivu provincial Gov. Julien Mpaluku says Rwandan soldiers backing Congo warlord Laurent Nkunda crossed into Congo three days ago and headed for the frontier villages of Tshanzu and Bunagana. He said Wednesday that Rwandan troops were fighting in Rumangabo, a small village north of the regional capital, Goma”.

Rumangabo is the headquarters of the Virunga National Park where our former CEO Emmanuel de Merode and his team of rangers including Diddy and Innocent are based. In a post on the Official Virunga National Park website where Samantha reports that heavy fighting had broken out between the army and Nkunda’s rebels. The fighting approached the park station (Rumangabo is the Park headquarters). Military tanks were apparently “firing on the hills where they believe the rebels to be; an army helicopter is also hovering, patroling the area”.

It is now certain that the CNDP (Nkunda’s troops) have taken control of the Rumangabo military base - a major blow to the army and a major threat to the Rangers at the station.

A post on the blog at Gorilla.cd states

“Emmanuel is doing his utmost to try and secure the station and get the remaining people out. Monuc - the UN team in DRC - thankfully knows Pierre and the others are all there and have told them not to move from the station as it is unsafe”.

This is of course terrible news for conservation as it not only puts the ICCN staff in a severely dangerous situation(over 120 rangers have died in the line of duty over recent years), but will further curtail conservation activities, patrols or management of the park. In addition, it is likely to escalate the problem of internal refugees which will deepen the environmental impact of the tens of thousands that are being displaced as they seek safety.

Tags: Diddy, ICCN, Innocent, Laurent Nkunda, MONUC, Mountain Gorillas, Rangers, rebels, wildlifedirect

6 responses so far