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Gorilla Journal 17, December 1998 Two Young Gorillas Killed in JombaOn September 3, 1998, poachers shot 2 mountain gorillas near Jomba in Virunga National Park, D. R. Congo, according to AWF (African Wildlife Foundation). Birori, a juvenile male, and Gasigwa, a 3-year-old female, who belonged to the Lulengo group, were killed only 100 m from the park boundary. During a group count, ICCN rangers (Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature) noticed that only 6 of the 8 group members were present. It is thought that the gorillas were killed mistakenly and that the poachers were hunting other animals. They left the apes' bodies and fled. They were not the first gorilla victims in the Virunga National Park
during the war. On 18 May 1997 four gorillas had been shot by a patrolling
Congolese officer who had been bitten by the silverback male. According
to the first reports, they were members of the ex-Luwawa group and one
of the victims was the leading silverback, Kabirizi. Another report said
that not the Kabirizi group was concerned, as first supposed, but the
Ndungutse group; there are suspicions that not only 4 gorillas were killed
and buried, but up to 10. |