War Threatens Rwanda’s Gorillas
A British veterinarian and others who care for mountain gorillas in strife-torn Rwanda must abandon their posts, leaving the endangered animals to the mercy of poachers, an official at the Morris Animal Foundation said.
“It’s a potential tragedy for the rest of the world,” Robert Hilsenroth, executive director of the foundation, said Friday.
He said the decision was made Friday to abandon a clinic at the Volcanoes National Park and a research center that are under the auspices of the foundation and an affiliate group, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund.
The groups support research and medical programs at the park and the Karisoke Research Center. Fossey, a scientist who devoted herself to saving gorillas in Rwanda, was murdered in 1985.
There are only 651 of the majestic apes worldwide, 331 of them in Rwanda 50 miles north of the capital city, Kigali, where battles are raging.
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