In in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, conservationists and gunmen are close to open war. After the highly publicised of five mountain gorillas late last month, the six surviving gorillas have been given a 24-hour armed guard.
The animals were not killed for their meat. Conservationists describe the killings as 鈥渆xecutions 鈥� bullets to the head鈥�. One theory is that the gorillas are victims of a conflict between those locals who see them as the basis for a tourist trade, and others who want them gone so they can use the forests to fuel a booming trade in charcoal.
At least eight mountain gorillas have been killed in Virunga Park so far this year. Only about 700 survive, roughly half in the and the rest in Uganda.
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