Gorillas vs Guerillas

[Simon Hampel]

Foreign Correspondent - 28/08/2007: Gorillas vs Guerillas

[ame]http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/content/2007/gorillas_200k.asx[/ame]

On the densely forested slopes of a range of volcanoes stretching across Rwanda, Uganda and The Democratic Republic of the Congo, live the world’s last two remaining populations of mountain gorillas.

But for how long?

This year alone in four separate incidents, nine gorillas from a group living around the Mikeno volcano in Virunga National Park, have been killed – the most recent deaths suspected to be an attack on the park itself.

Rangers and conservationists working to protect the animals are in constant danger themselves from poachers and rebel militia living in the mountains, who value the gorillas for their meat and sell their babies for the exotic pet trade.

For this report Paul Raffaele spent some time in the jungles of Rwanda and the DRC. Travelling with national park rangers he came in close contact with the endangered primates who seemed unperturbed by the intrusion.

When Raffaele encountered a family of gorillas in their jungle habitat he was surprised to find them so at ease in the presence of humans. As one large male fell asleep in front of him, Raffaele understood how easy it would be for anyone wanting to harm them.

 

[Arizona Docent]

Truly a very sad situation.

On the lighter side, the name confusion of gorilla vs guerilla was used as a joke in the Martin Short movie "Captain Ron." When their yacht lands on a Caribbean island, the Short character decides to take a stroll through the jungle, even though Captain Ron (Kurt Russell) advises against it because of the guerillas (which he pronounces in the anglicized way of gorillas). Short assures him that the only gorillas are thousands of miles away in Africa, but partway through his walk a rifle sticks out of the foliage and he is taken captive by the guerillas.