Anna serves as Communications Officer for International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP). Originally from Iowa in the United States, she now calls the hills and volcanoes of the Greater Virunga region home. She is a conservationist at heart and by profession, and is thrilled to report on the amazing work of IGCP and partner organizations in the conservation of mountain gorillas.
We are sorry to report that the forests of Virunga National Park in Eastern DRC have become ground zero for the hunt for renegade general Bosco Ntaganda and troops loyal to him.
Here is the report of the situation directly from Virunga National Park – http://gorillacd.org/2012/05/09/rebel-militias-enter-mountain-gorilla-sector/
There was a coordinated patrol between Virunga National Park and Volcanoes National Park in an area critical for unhabituated mountain gorillas when the militia entered Mikeno Sector. They have finished the patrol as of yesterday after having destroyed over 100 snares set for antelopes (but which are a danger to mountain gorillas nonetheless). International Gorilla Conservation Programme, on behalf of the Greater Virunga Transboundary Collaboration, had facilitated the coordinated patrol along with the two parks. Yesterday, emergency rations were sent in to the patrols from Volcanoes National Park and plans to get all teams back to their bases safely are underway.
The International Gorilla Conservation Programme is a coalition of FFI, AWF and WWF.
This article originally appeared on the International Gorilla Conservation Programme website
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