rare gorillas in danger

Rebels have taken over the Virunga National Park; an area in eastern Congo that serves as a wildlife habitat for endangered mountain gorillas, threatening one of the last known groups of these animals. The park was created in 1925 as Africa's first national park, but the area it is on has never been under control. Only seven hundred mountain gorillas still exist in the world and ten have been killed already this year. In January two silverbacks were killed and four months ago a dead gorilla was found and had been murdered. More than half of them live in the area that has been seized. The use of weapons could be head and the park rangers were forced to leave the reserve. The rebels are loyal to one warlord, Nkunda, and have battled over the park with the army. The park sits at an intersection of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda. The gorillas are not a target of the rebels but their habitat had been overtaken and its possible they will get caught in crossfire of fighting. International wild life groups concerned about the gorillas are funding a hundred-thousand dollar crisis management program. They hope to increase the number of rangers watching the area. Nkunda allowed some rangers to look for the gorillas, but only eighteen were accounted for out of about seventy-two. For more than a decade, the Eastern Congo has been wrapped up in violence involving mercenaries and rebels. After a four year war ended in 2002, government forces have failed to contain violent outbreaks. Many people don't think about the problems with endangered species. They need to be carefully watched and looked at. I hope that the rebels will be put down so that the park can get back into routine.