Eastern Lowland Gorillas have been severely affected by human activity and fighting for survival since the 1990s. There has been continuous reduction in their count due to the instability in the Congo escalating into rebel war and violence. Gorillas are hunted more than ever before and their habitat is being destroyed drastically by mining, deforestation, illegal charcoal production and increasing pollution. The Kahuzi-Biega national park, which is responsible for protecting the gorillas, is on the verge of closing.
The Democratic Republic of Congo has been fighting rebel troops who entered across the border into the neighboring DCR ever since the Mobutu Sese Seko government dissolved in the ’90s. These rebel troops set up their training camps in the forests making it difficult to safeguard gorillas. Wildlife researchers, park rangers and game wardens either fled for their lives or were moved from the park at gunpoint.
The conditions get worse as some DRC soldiers have erected a barrier that makes it impossible for the park authorities to get a glimpse of what’s really going on inside. Trapped and hungry for food, the Congolese rebels are becoming cannibalistic to gratify their hunger. These rebels have already eaten two gorillas and if the fighting continues, humans alone won’t make it to the causality list as along with them endangered gorillas could completely go extinct from the world.