Congo Rangers Get New Interactive Website for Gorilla Protection

Published on Oct 6, 2008 - 8:05:17 AM

By: Virunga National Park

Oct. 6, 2008 - Congo's Rangers in Virunga National Park launched a new interactive website today at www.gorilla.cd aimed at raising critical funds for the protection of mountain gorillas and other wildlife in the park. Virunga National Park - Africa's oldest national park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site - is currently at the centre of an ongoing war between the government and rebel militia in the east of the country. Rangers are struggling to protect the park - Africa's most threatened.

"This is an unprecedented initiative in DR Congo," said Park Director Emmanuel de Merode. "Virunga is a challenging place for conservation, but we feel the new tools available for building a community of supporters and activists on the internet gives us our best chance of saving the park and its mountain gorillas. Everyone around the globe can now play a fundamental role."

The website, that includes a blog written daily by the Rangers and provides individuals and organizations the ability to raise money and campaign on the Rangers' behalf, was initiated by the Congolese Wildlife Authority and funded by the European Union, the major institutional donor to Virunga.

Mountain Gorillas are critically endangered, with only 700 remaining in the world, about 380 in the Virunga Volcanoes Conservation Area (shared by DRC, Rwanda and Uganda) and 320 in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda. Despite the conflict in the region, their decline had been reversed up until January 2007 thanks to international support and courageous conservationists coupled with the popularity of gorilla-watching tourism. At September 2007 there were 72 habituated Mountain Gorillas in DR Congo.

The Congolese Wildlife Authority (ICCN) and its Rangers work throughout the country to protect the National Parks of Congo and their wildlife from poachers, rebel groups, illegal miners and land invasions. Over 150 Rangers have been killed in the last 10 years protecting the 5 parks of eastern DRC, and Rangers worked throughout the civil war without receiving a salary.

Virunga National Park, Africa's oldest national park (established in 1925) and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979, is home to 200 of the world's mountain gorillas. Formerly known as Albert National Park, Virunga lies in eastern DR Congo and covers 7,800 square kilometers. The park is managed by the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature, the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN).

Website: http://gorilla.cd/

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