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7NEWS
16 hours ago
- General
- 7NEWS
Gorillas once caught by wildlife traffickers set free in historic reintroduction
Last October, four female eastern lowland gorillas were airlifted from their home in Kasuhgo, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and released 40 miles (64 kilometres) northeast in Virunga National Park. Less than a year later, they have all successfully integrated into a group of wild gorillas, in what is being hailed as the largest translocation of the subspecies ever. Conservationists hope that its success will not only prevent the local extinction of an isolated population, but provide essential knowledge needed to protect the critically endangered apes in the future. The females — named Isangi, Lulingu, Mapendo and Ndjingala, and aged between 10 and 21 years old — were rescued from the illegal wildlife trade as babies and taken to the Gorilla Rehabilitation and Conservation Education Centre (GRACE) where they were rehabilitated over a long period of time, learning to forage and socialise as they would in the wild. Deemed ready for release, last fall they were flown to Mount Tshiaberimu — or Mountain of the Spirits — a 1,700-metre (5,577-foot) peak in the northern region of the national park, where they were kept in a fenced enclosure before being released into the wild. The gorilla monitoring team, who expected the transition to take anywhere between several months to several years, were astounded when, in less than two months, they appeared ready to leave the enclosure. 'It happened much quicker than we all anticipated,' executive and science director for GRACE Gorillas, the NGO leading the rewilding process alongside Virunga National Park and local communities, Katie Fawcett said. This was partly down to the allure of a handsome wild silverback called Mwasa, who approached the fence of the enclosure day after day, beating his arms on the ground and grunting to catch the females' attention. It worked: they responded to his calls and even chose to abandon their indoor dens to sleep closer to him along the fence line. Watching on carefully, the monitoring team decided that it was the natural time to let the females join him. 'We really pride ourselves on every decision being gorilla led,' Fawcett said. 'After three days of attention directed at the magnificent Mwasa … the decision was made: 'let's go for it'. 'The fence was cut so they could come out.' Since then, to the team's surprise and delight, the four females have quickly settled into life in the wild, adjusting to the colder climate on the mountain's steep hills and a new diet of bamboo shoots and other native plants. While rangers continue to monitor the gorillas' health, collecting non-invasive biological samples and conducting visual assessments, so far the gorillas have shown no clinical signs of stress — in fact, they are looking 'amazing', says Fawcett, with thick, shiny coats and full bellies. The biggest excitement came in the new year, when Mwasa was spotted mating with Ndjingala, a 16-year-old female, for the first time. Since then, the other three have also been seen mating with him, according to Fawcett. As gorillas have a similar gestation period to humans, the team are eagerly counting down the days to September, but she says they are cautiously optimistic: 'It's probably going to take some time as the female gorillas were on contraception while they were in the sanctuary at GRACE.' Averting extinction A birth would be a huge ray of hope for the whole species. The eastern lowland gorilla, or Grauer's gorilla, is found in the lowland tropical rainforest of eastern DRC and is the largest of the four gorilla subspecies — all of which are endangered. While there have been successful translocations of western lowland gorillas in the past, eastern gorilla releases have had a very poor survival rate, with individuals dying or disappearing within weeks of release, or being so young that they have been unable to survive without a lactating mother. 'What's different about this reintroduction project is not only that it is the largest and we're putting in four females into this group, but also that the decision was made early on not to just throw a baby back into the group, but to rehabilitate it over a long period of time and make sure the gorilla has the social skills and critical survival skills,' Fawcett said. '(We were) trying to mimic that natural behaviour of having adult females join a wild group.' The project was also intended to provide a critical genetic boost to the small and isolated population of eight gorillas living on Mount Tshiaberimu. Previous scientific modelling found this population to be non-viable, with some estimating that it would go extinct between 20 and 50 years, unless new females were introduced. 'The tiny gorilla population was doomed but could now be saved by this intervention,' Liz Williamson, a professor at the University of Stirling in the UK specialising in the conservation, ecology and behaviour of gorillas, who was not part of the project, said. She added that the situation facing Grauer's gorillas across eastern DRC is 'dire', but the translocation could bring multiple conservation benefits. Emmanuel de Merode, director of Virunga National Park and a Belgian prince, commended the initiative: 'This is a huge milestone in efforts to bolster the eastern lowland gorilla population and we are delighted that the gorillas are successfully adapting to the wild.' Troubled times However, there are huge challenges working within Virunga National Park, which has been the centre of armed conflict for decades. More than 200 rangers have been killed in the park since it was created in 1925, and the recent resurgence of the M23 rebel group has escalated matters, with attacks on rangers becoming increasingly common. Mount Tshiaberimu is located within the troubled region. 'Working in this area is not easy,' DRC director for GRACE Gorillas Jackson Kabuyaya Mbeke said. 'The main thing strategically is to put the community in the middle of everything we do: we recruit caregivers, we recruit educators who are trained at GRACE … and they feel that responsibility of taking care of wildlife.' Brought up in the area himself, he recalls when gorillas were widespread and as a child, he would listen to them calling or beating their chests. 'We grew up in the same habitat, sharing the same resource,' he said. 'Gorillas are our identity, our totem, they are an important source of pride in this area.' Yet, as human populations grow, pressures on gorilla habitat are inevitable, with forest being cleared for agriculture and firewood. During times of conflict, with communities in extreme need, these threats are heightened as some resort to hunting gorillas for their meat. The reintroduction is a huge breakthrough, but it is only the start. 'The real key for gorilla conservation success in this region is forest protection,' Fawcett said. 'We're super excited by this result and how it can help to inform these critically endangered populations, but we need to stop populations reaching that point.'
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Gorillas once caught by wildlife traffickers are set free in historic reintroduction
Editor's Note: Call to Earth is a CNN editorial series committed to reporting on the environmental challenges facing our planet, together with the solutions. Rolex's Perpetual Planet Initiative has partnered with CNN to drive awareness and education around key sustainability issues and to inspire positive action. Last October, four female eastern lowland gorillas were airlifted from their home in Kasuhgo, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and released 40 miles (64 kilometers) northeast in Virunga National Park. Less than a year later, they have all successfully integrated into a group of wild gorillas, in what is being hailed as the largest translocation of the subspecies ever. Conservationists hope that its success will not only prevent the local extinction of an isolated population, but provide essential knowledge needed to protect the critically endangered apes in the future. The females – named Isangi, Lulingu, Mapendo and Ndjingala, and aged between 10 and 21 years old – were rescued from the illegal wildlife trade as babies and taken to the Gorilla Rehabilitation and Conservation Education Center (GRACE) where they were rehabilitated over a long period of time, learning to forage and socialize as they would in the wild. Deemed ready for release, last fall they were flown to Mount Tshiaberimu – or 'Mountain of the Spirits' – a 1,700-meter (5,577-foot) peak in the northern region of the national park, where they were kept in a fenced enclosure before being released into the wild. The gorilla monitoring team, who expected the transition to take anywhere between several months to several years, were astounded when, in less than two months, they appeared ready to leave the enclosure. 'It happened much quicker than we all anticipated,' says Katie Fawcett, executive and science director for GRACE Gorillas, the NGO leading the rewilding process alongside Virunga National Park and local communities. This was partly down to the allure of a handsome wild silverback called Mwasa, who approached the fence of the enclosure day after day, beating his arms on the ground and grunting to catch the females' attention. It worked: they responded to his calls and even chose to abandon their indoor dens to sleep closer to him along the fence line. Watching on carefully, the monitoring team decided that it was the natural time to let the females join him. 'We really pride ourselves on every decision being gorilla led,' Fawcett tells CNN. 'After three days of attention directed at the magnificent Mwasa … the decision was made: 'let's go for it.' The fence was cut so they could come out.' Since then, to the team's surprise and delight, the four females have quickly settled into life in the wild, adjusting to the colder climate on the mountain's steep hills and a new diet of bamboo shoots and other native plants. While rangers continue to monitor the gorillas' health, collecting non-invasive biological samples and conducting visual assessments, so far the gorillas have shown no clinical signs of stress – in fact, they are looking 'amazing,' says Fawcett, with thick, shiny coats and full bellies. The biggest excitement came in the new year, when Mwasa was spotted mating with Ndjingala, a 16-year-old female, for the first time. Since then, the other three have also been seen mating with him, according to Fawcett. As gorillas have a similar gestation period to humans, the team are eagerly counting down the days to September, but she says they are cautiously optimistic: 'It's probably going to take some time as the female gorillas were on contraception while they were in the sanctuary at GRACE.' A birth would be a huge ray of hope for the whole species. The eastern lowland gorilla, or Grauer's gorilla, is found in the lowland tropical rainforest of eastern DRC and is the largest of the four gorilla subspecies – all of which are endangered. While there have been successful translocations of western lowland gorillas in the past, eastern gorilla releases have had a very poor survival rate, with individuals dying or disappearing within weeks of release, or being so young that they have been unable to survive without a lactating mother. 'What's different about this reintroduction project is not only that it is the largest and we're putting in four females into this group, but also that the decision was made early on not to just throw a baby back into the group, but to rehabilitate it over a long period of time and make sure the gorilla has the social skills and critical survival skills,' says Fawcett. '(We were) trying to mimic that natural behavior of having adult females join a wild group.' The project was also intended to provide a critical genetic boost to the small and isolated population of eight gorillas living on Mount Tshiaberimu. Previous scientific modelling found this population to be non-viable, with some estimating that it would go extinct between 20 and 50 years, unless new females were introduced. 'The tiny gorilla population was doomed but could now be saved by this intervention,' Liz Williamson, a professor at the University of Stirling in the UK specializing in the conservation, ecology and behavior of gorillas, who was not part of the project, said in an email. She added that the situation facing Grauer's gorillas across eastern DRC is 'dire,' but the translocation could bring multiple conservation benefits. Emmanuel de Merode, director of Virunga National Park and a Belgian prince, commended the initiative in a press release: 'This is a huge milestone in efforts to bolster the eastern lowland gorilla population and we are delighted that the gorillas are successfully adapting to the wild.' However, there are huge challenges working within Virunga National Park, which has been the center of armed conflict for decades. Over 200 rangers have been killed in the park since it was created in 1925, and the recent resurgence of the M23 rebel group has escalated matters, with attacks on rangers becoming increasingly common. Mount Tshiaberimu is located within the troubled region. 'Working in this area is not easy,' says Jackson Kabuyaya Mbeke, DRC director for GRACE Gorillas. 'The main thing strategically is to put the community in the middle of everything we do: we recruit caregivers, we recruit educators who are trained at GRACE … and they feel that responsibility of taking care of wildlife.' Brought up in the area himself, he recalls when gorillas were widespread and as a child, he would listen to them calling or beating their chests. 'We grew up in the same habitat, sharing the same resource,' he says. 'Gorillas are our identity, our totem, they are an important source of pride in this area.' Yet, as human populations grow, pressures on gorilla habitat are inevitable, with forest being cleared for agriculture and firewood. During times of conflict, with communities in extreme need, these threats are heightened as some resort to hunting gorillas for their meat. The reintroduction is a huge breakthrough, but it is only the start. 'The real key for gorilla conservation success in this region is forest protection,' says Fawcett. 'We're super excited by this result and how it can help to inform these critically endangered populations, but we need to stop populations reaching that point.'
Zawya
20-03-2025
- General
- Zawya
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) refugee surge strains humanitarian support in Burundi and Uganda
When gunshots rang out near her home in the Congolese city of Uvira last month, Mapendo knew it was time to leave. Gathering her children and other family members, she crossed the fast-flowing Rusizi river into neighbouring Burundi, joining desperate throngs fleeing the violence gripping swathes of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Today, Mapendo and her family are sleeping under open skies near a sports stadium-turned-makeshift refugee shelter in the northwestern Burundian town of Rugombo, 'The outfit I am wearing is all I have,' says Mapendo, clad in a black shirt and brightly patterned skirt. 'This is also the case of my children.' As a refugee, her last name is not being used for her protection. Months of fighting in eastern DRC have uprooted hundreds of thousands of people – in a country where millions have already been displaced by other upheavals. Of the tens of thousands seeking safety in neighbouring countries, Burundi has taken in the lion's share – nearly 66,000 Congolese refugees and asylum seekers to date. Most of them are women, children and the elderly. 'In just a matter of weeks the number of new arrivals has skyrocketed, doubling at an alarming pace,' says Dragica Pajevic, World Food Programme (WFP) Deputy Regional Director for Eastern Africa. Working with Burundian authorities and humanitarian partners, WFP is delivering life-saving food assistance to the Congolese newcomers, who are hosted in existing transit centres and temporary reception sites, including schools, churches and recreational spaces. They will then be relocated to refugee camps and other permanent sites. But their sheer numbers – with WFP's own caseload, including long-time refugees in Burundi, doubling to 120,000 – are stretching resources to the limit. Already, WFP has been forced to sharply reduce food rations for the refugees. Without new funding, it may be forced to cut food assistance altogether in July. 'The international community must act now to prevent an escalating hunger crisis,' says WFP's Pajevic . An escalating hunger crisis Nearby Uganda is also taking in thousands of Congolese refugees, who share horrific stories. Muisa – real name withheld – managed to cross the border with the two youngest of her six children, after escaping rampaging armed fighters in DRC's main northeastern city of Goma. 'Gunshots echoed through the market' in Goma, where she sold fish, Muisa recalls. 'People fell, including a friend shot dead right behind me.' Muisa managed to survive the shootout, but she was raped by fighters. Her husband was killed in their home. Her four older children remain with her sister in Goma. 'Now, all I long for is peace - a place where my children can go to school, where fear doesn't shadow every step,' says Muisa, now living at a refugee settlement in southwestern Uganda. Another Goma resident, Amadi, also fled to Uganda with his family. The father of six, who sold bottles of petrol for a living, recounts the hunger and fear that gripped the city during recent fighting. 'Schools closed, streets emptied and I couldn't sell,' Amadi says. The family survived on scraps of food from neighbours, before heading by foot and car to southwestern Uganda. Amadi and other Congolese refugees are packing Ugandan transit and refugee hubs, their numbers far exceeding housing capacities. WFP is delivering hot meals and high-energy biscuits to the newcomers – on top of our assistance to some 1.4 million refugees already in Uganda. But here, too, funding shortages are curtailing this aid. Uganda's overall fast-growing population of 1.7 million refugees, reliant on humanitarian intervention and support, is the highest in Africa, increasing the urgency for sustained assistance. 'I wish for a day when refugees like us can live, not just endure,' says Amadi, whose family found refuge at the same settlement as Muisa. 'My message to the world echoes that hope: pray for peace, so we might rise again.' Uncertain future In the Burundian town of Rugombo - located in northwestern Cibitoke province bordering eastern DRC – more than 40,000 refugees are now packed in blue and white tents lining the town's sports stadium. The ground is scattered with plastic water jugs and newcomers' belongings. Children kick up clouds of red dust as they jump rope. More refugees arrive daily, some weighed down with hastily packed bundles and suitcases. Most, like Mapendo, however, were forced to flee with nothing at all. Along with shelters, the influx of newcomers has overwhelmed local health facilities, in a country grappling with diseases like cholera, measles and especially malaria. As WFP food trucks roll in, refugees and local community members help unload the heavy bags of food, moving them to storage rooms provided by local authorities. At a makeshift kitchen nearby, workers stir giant vats of rice and split peas over open fires. Later, the food will be dished out for the two meals a day WFP provides the hungry newcomers. But the WFP assistance and local good will are not enough to keep pace with surging demand. 'The meals are so small, I leave my portion to my children,' says Mapendo, adding she has no other means to access food, medicines and other essentials for her children. Congolese refugee Promesse and her three children face the same difficult conditions. 'We desperately need assistance,' says Promesse who, like Mapenda, hails from Uvira, in DRC's South Kivu province. She and her husband separated as they fled the fighting in their homeland. But she pushed on, trekking three days and taking a boat across the Rusizi to Burundi. 'We get food, but it is not enough,' with the influx of new arrivals, says Promesse. 'There are many mosquitoes and our children are at risk of malaria. For now, she and her children are sheltered at a school. She doubts she will return home anytime soon - and fears what will happen next. 'When classes resume,' she says, 'we will be forced to sleep outside.' Distributed by APO Group on behalf of World Food Programme (WFP).
