The #1 source for news about monkeys and apes

[Kesson Magid <kanadadry AT yahoo.co.uk>]

Good news, for a change

Jan 22nd 2004 
>From The Economist print edition


The number of mountain gorillas appears to be rising


ONE might be forgiven for thinking that the story of
wildlife conservation is one of unrelenting gloom, as
forests are chopped down and savannahs put to the
plough. However, a census carried out recently by the
wildlife authorities of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda has
revealed a bright spot. According to the census, the
number of gorillas in the Virunga mountains, which
those countries share, has risen by 17% since 1989.

Lest the champagne be broken out too soon, that figure
represents an actual rise of only 56 animals. With a
total of 380 in Virunga, and an estimated 320 in the
delightfully named Bwindi Impenetrable National Park,
in Uganda—the only other place that the subspecies is
found—mountain gorillas are not, as it were, out of
the woods yet. But it is clearly good news. And
mountain gorillas have never been abundant. The first
estimate of the Virunga population, made by George
Schaller—then an eager young zoologist and now a
veteran of the field—was 450 individuals. That was in
1959, just before independence and the subsequent
outbreak of the first Congolese civil war.

War and poaching reduced the Virunga population to a
low of about 260 in the late 1970s. Now, the area is
at peace. Nor are poachers any longer the only people
who make money out of the gorillas. Rwanda, in
particular, has developed a lucrative eco-tourism
industry based on rich foreigners who wish to follow
in the steps of Dr Schaller and of Dian Fossey, an
American researcher who brought the gorillas' plight
to the world's attention, and was later murdered,
probably by poachers who did not welcome the
publicity. Eco-tourism gives local people a stake in
conservation efforts, and thus an incentive to
discourage poaching. As a result, the Virunga
gorillas' future looks brighter now than it has for
many years.



 
 
Copyright © 2004 The Economist Newspaper and The
Economist Group. All rights reserved.
 
 
 



________________________________________________________________________
BT Yahoo! Broadband - Free modem offer, sign up online today and save £80 
http://btyahoo.yahoo.co.uk