‘Hugely Vulnerable’

Could we be facing the extinction of the species?
There are around 680 mountain gorillas left in the wild. For a species, that's almost impossible to be sanguine about their future. The last several weeks have seen a 10 percent reduction of the [Congolese] population. If you have a 10 percent reduction in as many weeks then you may lose the gorilla population, yes. They've been at lower levels before. But the situation prevailing in the DRC right now is quite like Rwanda was 10 years ago. Now, it's much better in Rwanda. The Rwandan government puts enormous stock in putting their gorillas forward. The Congolese government probably feels the same, but there are huge problems. [Congolese President Joseph] Kabila himself hosted a conference a couple of years ago for great-ape survival. Congo put a lot of effort into that. But the reality is that [DRC capital] Kinshasa is a long way from the park where this happened. And [the] DRC has a lot of other problems, as well.

Is this a turning point in their survival?
In the sense that it's such a horrendous incident, the outcome of despair and anger and frustrated concern will probably stimulate a response. Maybe more money, maybe stronger government intercession. I hope the government will take this extremely seriously.

What happens now?
I would like there to be a formal inquiry into what really happened. Let us see a report about the charcoal trade in eastern Congo, and the links to severe and serious corruption involving officials of ICCN. Let us see increased resources to protect the gorillas. And then parallel to that let us see the reaction of the international community and how the DRC government responds to that, and how NGOs respond, as well.

You sent in an elite advance team to protect the gorillas about a month ago, and Congolese officials told them to leave, correct?
Yes. I'm hoping that ICCN directors will see fit to boost the security presence on the ground, to ensure that gorillas aren't shot in the future.

Wouldn't it behoove the smugglers to leave the gorillas alone and just get on with their business?
If the habitat is creating the charcoal, they'll eventually get harassed for cutting down trees. In the past [the smugglers have] made mayhem and people got scared, so this is a direct strategy to drive people away through fear. I'm not sure the charcoal magnates think logically on that issue. I'm not sure there's much logical thinking going on right now in that part of the country.

© 2007