Gorilla Sanctuary Is Congo War Front:
The gorillas have the potential to draw tourist revenue to a desperately poor region and bring in vital funding through conservation groups. Over the last 12 months, though, rangers have watched helplessly as the gorillas have been massacred.2007 was the apes’ bloodiest year on record since famed American researcher Dian Fossey first began working in Congo in the mid-1960s to save them. The toll: 10 shot and killed, two others missing. The rangers don’t know for sure who killed the gorillas, but they believe illegal charcoal traders are trying to sabotage the park for easier access to its trees.
Now armed groups have seized the habitat. With park staff unable to set foot inside the reserve for the last four months, the gorillas’ fate is unknown.