DRC's Viruna National Park Mountain Gorilla #s Up 12%+ - But Rangers Remove 500+ Snares

[hatrack]

The population of mountain gorillas in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Virunga National Park has risen by 12.5%, a census shows. It revealed that 81 gorillas were now living permanently inside the park.

In total, about 211 of the great apes were estimated to be currently residing in Africa's oldest national park. It is the first census to be completed by the park's wildlife rangers since rebel troops seized control of the area in August 2007. More than 50 rangers from the Congolese Wildlife Authority (ICCN) conducted more than 128 patrols during the eight-week census.

"Mountain gorilla family structures change with each birth, death, interaction and migration," explained ICCN gorilla monitoring head Innocent Mburanumwe, who writes a regular "gorilla diary" for the BBC News website. "The Kabirizi family, our largest gorilla group with 33 individuals, has five newborns which is wonderful news," he revealed. "But we are still hoping to locate the two gorillas from this same family that we have not yet seen."

During the 16-month period from August 2007 until January 2009, 10 baby gorillas were born into four of the habituated families. However, three gorillas that had been previously identified in the August 2007 census have not been found and are listed as missing.

EDIT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7852953.stm