Hannah King-Guffey

Human Origins

Maughan

1 July, 2018

In the National Park, Virunga, located in the eastern Congo, lives a group of mountain gorillas

that are in danger. They have been unsafe from poachers and been threatened from oil miners

that have taken over their land. There are many people that want to protect this endangered

species and many people that have different priorities for the gorilla’s land/ homes.

Mountain gorillas live on the green, volcanic slopes in Rwanda, Uganda, and the D emocratic

Republic of Congo. Mountain Gorillas are usually found on the ground in communities of up

to 30 individuals. These groups are led by one dominant, older adult male, often called a

silverback that organize troop activities like eating, nesting in leaves, and moving about the

group's 0.75-to-16-square-mile home range. (National Geographic , 2018) As of 2013 there is

said to be less than 790 Mountain gorillas left on this earth. (Mountain Gorilla Conservation

Fund, 2013) “In the 100 years since its discovery, the mountain gorilla has endured uncontrolled

hunting, war, disease, destruction of its forest habitat, and capture for the illegal pet trade. These

factors led to a dramatic decline in numbers.” (WWF, 2017)

The Senkwekwe Center located, 3.5 kilometers north of the headquarters of Virunga National

Park, is the only facility in the world that cares for mountain gorilla orphans, and according to
the Virunga National Park website, they have “arguably the most skilled and experienced gorilla

veterinarians in the world.

In 2014 poachers were a danger to mountain gorillas. Killing these mountain gorillas was a

common issue that was difficult to prevent because of the large amount of land these gorillas

lived. There were poachers that would kill the parents and then take the baby away for sale.

Other poachers who wanted to take over the National Park would kill these gorillas under the

belief that then there would be no reason to protect the park anymore.

Conservationists attempt to mitigate these threats was by taking gorillas that couldn’t live on

their own into their shelter till they can finally be healthy enough to live in the wild. (Einsiedel,

2014) The attempts grew to an even higher priority when an oil company named SOCO began

fighting to take over the National Park of Virunga. The attempts to save the land negatively

affected the local communities during the fight to save the land. 130 rangers died protecting the

park.

In the film Virunga their final statements were, “SOCO fought hard to take over the land to take

advantage of the economic gain of the natural resources located inside the park. Once SOCO

eventually won in the war they began their damage. Despite claiming in June 2014, that they

would halt operation, SOCO has refused to withdraw unconditionally from Virunga. The

company continues to drill in the park. SOCO denies that their operations in the park or illegal

and states that it is committed to abiding by international and national law. SOCO insists that

they never seek to have operations in the mountain gorilla habitat in Virunga volcanoes or the

Virunga equatorial rain forest. SOCO insists that it did not ever break into the park. Though they

have found dead gorillas killed by their people.”

People at SOCO didn’t care about the wildlife and beauty inside the park. John, a British SOCO

security subcontractor, and formal special forces from the film Virunga crassly said, “Who gives

a fuck about a fucking monkey.” But this is untrue, although an issued arrived when Virunga

supporters began receiving money in exchange for favors that hurt their efforts to protect the

area. My adopted sister, who was born a grew up in the Congo, has said that in the Congo the

government isn’t helpful when it comes to times like these conflicts. Many people will accept

money as bribes, or someone in authority will accept money in exchange for a consequence.

Melainie Gouby, a freelance journalist discovered that, “SOCO is paying their security company

to deal with all these security issues, and so the security receives a certain amount of money and

that was that. They just let them do whatever the need to do”.

To think of a sustainable plan to protect the mountain gorillas is difficult. It would be preferred if

the oil companies would stay out and the land could be for the wildlife and use of resources.

Though oil companies are persistent and powerful and a country like the Congo cannot always

win a war against an English oil company. To provide satisfaction I believe spilling the land

would be a realistic compromise. It is a National Park and the monkeys are valued there and

many people including myself believes it should be protected. Being able to protect the land and

respectfully use the beautiful land’s resources would benefit everyone.

Works Cited

Einsiedel, O. v. (Director). (2014). Virunga [Motion Picture].

Mountain Gorilla Conservation Fund. (2013). Questions about Gorillas. Retrieved from

Mountain Gorilla Conservation Fund.

National Geographic . (2018). Moutain Gorillas. Retrieved from National Geographic:

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/m/mountain-gorilla/

WWF, M. H. (2017). Mountain Gorilla. Retrieved from WWF Global:

http://wwf.panda.org/knowledge_hub/endangered_species/great_apes/gorillas/mountain_

gorilla/