Page 32 - AT

A32 FEATURE
Friday 20 december 2019
How do you save endangered gorillas? With lots of human help

By CHRISTINA LARSON 40% of the forest already
Associated Press was cleared for agriculture
KINIGI, Rwanda (AP) — in the early 1970s.
Deep in the rainforest of "With tourism, the tension is
Volcanoes National Park, always not to overexploit,"
a 23-year-old female go- says Dirck Byler, great ape
rilla named Kurudi feeds on conservation director at
a stand of wild celery. She the nonprofit Global Wild-
bends the green stalks and, life Conservation, which is
with long careful fingers, not involved in the Rwanda
peels off the exterior skin gorilla project. "But in Rwan-
to expose the succulent in- da, so far they're careful,
side. and it's working."
Biologist Jean Paul Hirwa The idea of using tourism
notes her meal on his tab- to help fund conservation
let computer as he peers was contentious when con-
out from behind a nearby servationists Bill Weber and
stand of stinging nettles. Amy Vedder first proposed
The large adult male sit- it while living in Rwanda
ting next to her, known as during the 1970s and '80s.
a silverback, looks at him Fossey herself was skepti-
quizzically. Hirwa makes a In this Sept. 2, 2019 photo, a silverback mountain gorilla named Segasira walks in the Volcanoes cal, but the pair persisted.
National Park, Rwanda.
low hum — "ahh-mmm" — Associated Press "The wonder of the gorillas'
imitating the gorillas' usual lives, their curiosity, their so-
sound of reassurance. into cropland. and insects, and live in fair- team goes into the field cial interactions — we felt
"I'm here," Hirwa is trying to Instead of disappearing, ly stable, extended family to address a gorilla emer- that's something that could
say. "It's OK. No reason to the number of mountain groups. Their strength and gency, they must carry ev- be accessible to others,
worry." gorillas — a subspecies of chest-thumping displays erything they might need through careful tourism,"
Hirwa and the two great eastern gorillas — has risen are generally reserved for in equipment bags weigh- Vedder says.
apes are all part of the from 680 a decade ago to contests between male ri- ing up to 100 pounds — in- Figuring out the balance of
world's longest-running just over 1,000 today. Their vals. cluding portable X-ray ma- how many people could
gorilla study — a project population is split between Every week, scientists like chines. Schaller conducted visit the forest, and for how
begun in 1967 by famed two regions, including mist- Hirwa, who works for the the first detailed studies long, was a delicate pro-
American primatologist covered defunct volca- nonprofit conservation of mountain gorillas in the cess of trial and error, We-
Dian Fossey. noes within Congo, Ugan- group the Dian Fossey Go- 1950s and early '60s. He ber says.
Yet Fossey herself, who da and Rwanda — one of rilla Fund, gather data as also was the first to discover In 2005, the Rwandan gov-
died in 1985, would likely Africa's smallest and most part of long-term behav- that wild gorillas could, over ernment adopted a mod-
be surprised any mountain densely populated coun- ioral research. time, become comfortable el to steer 5% of tourism
gorillas are still left to study. tries. If they see any health prob- with periodic human pres- revenue from Volcanoes
Alarmed by rising rates of "The population of moun- lems in the gorillas, they ence, a boon to research- National Park to build in-
poaching and deforesta- tain gorillas is still vulnera- inform the staff at Gorillas ers and, later, tourists. frastructure in surrounding
tion in central Africa, she ble," says George Schaller, Doctors, a nongovernmen- Today, highly regulated villages, including schools
predicted the species a renowned biologist and tal group whose veterinar- tour groups hike in the and health clinics. Two
could go extinct by 2000. gorilla expert. "But their ians work in the forest. The Rwandan rainforest to years ago, the share was
Instead, a concerted and numbers are now growing, vets monitor wounds and watch gorillas. raised to 10%.
sustained conservation and that's remarkable." signs of respiratory infec- Ticket revenue pays for op- To date, about $2 million
campaign has averted Once depicted in legends tions, but intervene only erating costs and outstrips has gone into funding vil-
the worst and given a and films like "King Kong" sparingly. "Our hospital is what might have been lage projects, chief park
second chance to these as fearsome beasts, goril- the forest," says Jean Bosco made from converting the warden Prosper Uwingeli
great apes, which share las are actually languid pri- Noheli, a veterinarian at rainforest to potato farms says.
about 98% of human DNA. mates that eat only plants Gorilla Doctors. When his and cattle pastures. About "We don't want to protect
Last fall, the Switzerland- the park with guns. We
based International Union want to protect and con-
for Conservation of Na- serve this park with people
ture changed the status of who understand why, and
mountain gorillas from "criti- who take responsibility," he
cally endangered" to "en- says. The money from tour-
dangered," an improved if ism helps, but the region is
still-fragile designation. still poor.
It wouldn't have happened Jean Claude Masenge-
without an intervention sho lives with his parents
some biologists call "ex- and helps them farm pota-
treme conservation," which toes. About once a week,
has entailed monitoring the 21-year-old earns a
every single gorilla in the little extra money help-
rainforest, periodically giv- ing tourists carry their bags
ing them veterinary care up the mountain, totaling
and funding forest protec- about $45 a month. He
tion by sending money into would someday like to be-
communities that might In this Sept. 7, 2019 photo, children watch a drone flying near the Volcanoes National Park in Ki- come a tour guide, which
otherwise resent not being nigi, Rwanda. could earn him about $320
able to convert the woods Associated Press monthly.q