: Congolese conservation rangers work with locals to evacuate the bodies of four Mountain Gorrillas killed in mysterious circumstances in the park, Virunga National Park, Eastern DRC. A Silver-Back Alpha male, was shot, three females were also killed. Two of the females had babies and the other was pregnant. The two babies were not found and it is thought that they will have died of stress and dehydration. The gorillas were killed as a warning to rangers not to interfere in the illegal Charcoal industry in this very poor area. This industry is worth around 40 million dollars annually and the only hardwood for charcoal is inside Virunga National Park.
Rangers have been threatened, tortured and killed as a result of this clash of political and economic wills. Over 140 Rangers have been killed since 1994 in their efforts to protect the Gorrillas of Virunga, one of the world’s most endangered species. The DRC has the highest toll of human casualties of any country since the second world war, a figure in the region of 4.6 million dead as a result of war and resultant displacement, disease, starvation and ongoing militia violence.