Critter News

FEBRUARY 24, 2009

Cameroon, with one of Africa’s highest rates of deforestation, has set up a new national park to protect gorillas, chimpanzees, elephants and a rare type of antelope called bongo. Tags: conservation africa park gorillas endangered species cameroon.

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Critter News

MARCH 21, 2009

the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund "Coins for Congo" program. The mountain gorillas have a special place in my heart (awwwwww!). Tags: virunga poverty economic development congo gorillas. They are also the most logical. Here's an example. These guys are a great group and I've been a member for several years.

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Critter News

APRIL 19, 2009

Back in February, a three-year-old gorilla was caught in a poacher's snare meant for antelope. Here's the story from the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund website. Tags: rwanda africa animal rescue poaching gorilla. Fortunately, wildlife staff from the Karisoke Research Center discovered it and it's okay now.

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Rwanda Gorillas Rescue Research Center 100

Critter News

APRIL 30, 2010

Tags: wildlife trafficking united nations bush meat congo gorillas. Frankly, with the rate these poor animals are being decimated, I wonder sometimes if they SHOULD be released back into the wild. Wouldn't they be safer in the reserve?

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Critter News

JULY 24, 2009

Tags: africa bush meat congo gorillas endangered species cameroon. At least there are activists in African countries themselves that are working to stop this practice. The Last Great Ape Organization in Cameroon is only one of them, but it's the only law enforcement nongovernmental organization in Africa.

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Critter News

JANUARY 2, 2009

See silverback gorillas stalking each other in Virunga. Tags: virunga congo gorillas.

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Gorillas Congo Tagged 100

Critter News

NOVEMBER 11, 2008

And the mountain gorillas are once again vulnerable. The rebels have taken over the wildlife rangers' headquarters and the gorillas are unprotected. About 200 of the 700 remaining mountain gorillas are in this forest. Tags: virunga africa gorilla war congo. Of course, there is more war in the Congo.

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Gorillas Congo Africa Wildlife 100

Critter News

DECEMBER 4, 2008

On Monday, December 2, 2008, the Year of the Gorilla was launched by the UN and Monaco's Prince Albert. Tags: united nations gorillas. Officials for the U.N.-backed Half a million euros? That's all they think they can raise? That's setting your sights pretty low. Reminds me of Dr. Evil asking for One.

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Critter News

FEBRUARY 6, 2009

The Rangers in Virunga can continue their daily routines of removing poachers snares (536 snares were found during the recent census taking), filming newborn gorillas and simply enjoying the results of their tremendous sacrifices to protect the gorillas. We have finger prints, gorillas have nose prints. And did you know.

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Critter News

MAY 22, 2009

Habitat destruction is a very serious threat to the mountain gorilla. The 2009 Year of the Gorilla (YoG) partnership is supporting a project enabling local residents in areas endangered by increasing demands for fuel – not least the Virunga National Park, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – to buy low-cost, fuel-efficient stoves.

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Critter News

NOVEMBER 28, 2008

Now that the rangers have been allowed back into Virunga, they are going to conduct a census to determine what's happened to the mountain gorillas living there. Another nagging worry remains: the gorillas simply won't be there any more. He says: "We've not had reports of any gorilla killings.

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Critter News

JANUARY 13, 2009

Protecting mountain gorillas in the Congo is dangerous work. Tags: virunga war congo gorillas endangered species. Just last week, a 33-year-old ranger was killed by Mai Mai rebels. Mai Mai rebels are described as community-based militia groups frequently involved in banditry. Here is a brief Youtube video of him.

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Critter News

NOVEMBER 12, 2008

I signed up yesterday to get email alerts from the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. Tags: virunga congo gorillas. I called the fund and spoke to the front desk person who said this was the best way to get updates from them about the situation in the Congo. I am so worried about these animals.

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Critter News

DECEMBER 15, 2008

Pretty amazing that the 7 mountain gorilla deaths recorded thus far in Virunga have all been due to natural causes. Tags: virunga gorilla congo. Remember that Virunga National Park has been under Congolese rebel control since 2007 and the park rangers have only just been allowed back in.

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Critter News

NOVEMBER 17, 2008

The rebels insist the gorillas are safe. “We Tags: virunga war congo gorillas. We are protecting them,” said Babu Amani, a rebel spokesman. In the meantime.

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Critter News

NOVEMBER 30, 2008

Here's a video of the gorillas and the babies (be patient, it tends to start and stop). Tags: virunga congo gorillas endangered species. Answering gunfire rattled up from the valley, in what a ranger said was a clash between the CNDP and the Rwandan Hutu rebels based in the park.

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Congo Gorillas Endangered Species Tagged 100

Critter News

JANUARY 11, 2010

The 700 remaining mountain gorillas are safe because they are out of the lava's path, but about 40 endangered chimpanzees and other animals living in the area are directly threatened. Tags: natural disaster chimpanzees virunga africa congo gorillas.

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Congo Gorillas Africa Tagged 100

Critter News

NOVEMBER 24, 2008

The gorilla rangers have returned to Virunga after more than a year's exile. Tags: virunga congo gorillas. You can see how happy they are in this video.

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Gorillas Congo Tagged 100

Critter News

APRIL 18, 2009

The imprisonment of the Rangers comes after a lengthy trial in the North Kivu province courts initiated after the July 2007 massacre of 5 mountain gorillas that was met with outrage around the globe. The charges included the massacre of the gorillas and involvement in the illegal charcoal trade.

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Critter News

NOVEMBER 15, 2008

A Congolese minister says that "In 2007 alone, we recorded the slaughter of 15 mountain gorillas and more than 20,000 antelopes,".adding Tags: congo gorillas. adding that in the past decade the number of hippopotami had fallen from 30,000 to 1,000. 30,000 to 1,000? I don't have the words to react anymore.

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Critter News

NOVEMBER 20, 2008

We've got to get the gorilla rangers back into Virunga. Tags: virunga congo gorillas endangered species. According to the AP. Security Council agreed Thursday to send 3,100 more peacekeeping troops to Congo, while rebels said they remained committed to a pullback from the front lines despite an army attack.

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Critter News

SEPTEMBER 7, 2008

Six thousand people (over 1,000 Congolese soldiers with their families) have left Virunga National Forest where so many of the remaining mountain gorillas live. Tags: virunga gorilla congo. This development is the result of an agreement between the army and the Congolese Wildlife Authority. You can donate to his family here.

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Critter News

AUGUST 4, 2009

The Congolese rangers protect the wildlife in Virunga National Park, the most famous inhabitants of which are the 700 remaining mountain gorillas. Tags: virunga rwanda africa congo gorillas endangered species. These rangers are very brave people with possibly the most dangerous jobs in the world.

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Animal Person

MARCH 18, 2010

Here are some observations: When reading a book about gorillas to/with a seven-year old, I was struck by the mixed messages the book sent. Here 's the book, and in the preview you can see that in the beginning when the gorilla being described is male he is referred to as "he." So far so good. I'm a terrible fiction writer.

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Critter News

NOVEMBER 12, 2008

Tags: virunga congo gorillas. Here is a link to the official web site for the Virunga National Park. I feel so stupid for never knowing about it. Great blog too. Today's post is about one little chimp who was rescued from the military.

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Critter News

AUGUST 25, 2008

In this case, someone confused a baby chimp with a baby gorilla. ICCN (Congolese Wildlife Authority) rangers received a tip-off that someone in Goma was trying to sell a baby gorilla. The rangers set up a sting operation, where one of them posed as a foreigner interested in buying the gorilla.

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Congo Gorillas Trafficking illegal 100

Critter News

NOVEMBER 13, 2008

I suppose I've come to this pretty late and gorilla people already knew that this trouble was brewing. The rebel forces in the Congo have controlled the gorilla sector of Virunga since 2007. Tags: virunga congo gorillas. Clearly, I haven't been following this as I should have been.

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Congo Gorillas Bosnia Rwanda 100

Critter News

JANUARY 21, 2009

This from the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund website. Tags: obituary africa gorilla. Shinda had been observed to be unwell for about two weeks when, on Nov. 22, our trackers could not find him within his group, probably because he was too weak to catch up with them. 24, but he had already died.

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Critter News

JUNE 26, 2009

Tags: virunga africa congo gorillas endangered species. They died between May 25 and June 16, he said. Here's sobering statistic. In 1980, Lake Edward had a hippopotamus sanctuary with 27,000 animals. Now there are only 300.

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Congo Gorillas Endangered Species Animal 100

Critter News

APRIL 27, 2010

I've read of the mountain gorillas in Virunga grieving over the loss of a silverback. Tags: chimpanzees jane goodall animal research. A couple of studies imply that chimpanzees may mourn their dead. I believe they do. I believe that great apes do have that capacity. Heck, even my cats visibly missed old Charlotte who died last August.

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Critter News

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

Under the new legislations, experiments on great apes such as chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans are to be banned and "strict" restrictions set on the use of primates in general. Tags: chimpanzees europe animal research apes primates. And they must work at "reducing levels of pain inflicted on animals.".

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Critter News

NOVEMBER 10, 2008

Europe's environment chief plans to ban laboratory tests on mankind's closest relatives -- chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos and orangutans -- in a clampdown on animal testing by the drugs industry and other laboratories. Tags: europe apes. Their is a proposal to ban testing on apes in the EU.

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Critter News

DECEMBER 29, 2008

This situation sounds a lot like the the mountain gorillas, the Congo and Virunga National Park. Tags: ivory chad africa poaching elephants. Elephants in Zakouma National Park, the last stronghold for the savannah elephants of Central Africa's Sahel region, have crashed to just 1,000 animals from an estimated 3,000 in 2006.

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Critter News

MAY 15, 2009

The European Parliament approves of the ban on testing on large primates (chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans), which are threatened with extinction, except in experiments aimed at conservation of these endangered species. Tags: animal experimentation europe animal research medical research. I really hope this passes.

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Critter News

MARCH 29, 2009

Two of my favorite issues are chimpanzees threatened in labs and mountain gorillas threatened in the Congo. Tags: chimpanzees poaching congo endangered species. Let's combine the two and look at chimpanzees threatened in the Congo. Because they are in serious trouble there too. Warning: Heartbreaking pictures in this link.)

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Congo Endangered Species Apes 2008 100

Critter News

DECEMBER 12, 2009

Zoo patrons were shocked to see Barika, a western lowland gorilla, holding a knife and apparently pointing it at another primate in the enclosure. Tags: zoos welfare violations animal welfare. A zookeeper had left the knife behind in the exhibit.

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Critter News

DECEMBER 23, 2008

In some parts of Africa, rangers receive military training and equipment to defend animals (and themselves) from poachers in pursuit of elephants, rhinos, gorillas, and other endangered species. Tags: military force environment. In Nicaragua, the army patrols beaches to protect sea turtle eggs.

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