Gorillas and Guerillas Don't Mix

"A female gorilla and its infant that were part of a 12-strong group attacked by gunmen last month are dead, say conservationists in the DR Congo," the BBC reports:

The latest casualties brings this year's gorilla death toll to nine. Earlier this year, two silverback male gorillas were shot dead in the same area of the park in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, while a female was killed in May. A census carried out in 2004 estimated that 380 mountain gorillas, more than half of the world's population, lived in the national park and surrounding Virunga volcanoes region. ...

The news comes on the same day that conservation groups launched an appeal to raise funds to increase the protection of the remaining gorillas. The Zoological Society of London (ZSL), working with other organisations, has developed a three-month emergency action plan. The strategy includes providing round-the-clock monitoring, increasing the number of patrols and funding an investigation into the July killings. Dr Noelle Kumpel, ZSL's Bushmeats and Forests Conservation Programme Manager, said: "Shockingly, this is not the first time that gorillas in the park have been slaughtered in this way. We are calling on the public to support our appeal for funds to help us ensure that it does not happen again."

Not so fast, says ZNet. According to the populist website, any "appeal for funds" is just trying to fatten the coffers of already wealthy "conservationists" and the British-trained former militias they hire to patrol Congo's national parks. In fact, ZNet alleges, the gorilla killings might have been perpetrated by the mercenaries looking for a reason to ask for more money:

Our February-March investigative visit to DRC revealed a different picture than the one regurgitated by The Washington Post* [and other media outlets] from press releases provided by Wildlife Direct, the mercenary “conservation” organization supporting the “beleaguered” “ranger force.” We were in the Virungas in February and photographed well-stocked storerooms of food in the rangers’ encampments. Post reporter [Stephanie] McCrummen laments about the rangers wielding “rusty machetes,” but the truth is that there is a private “conservation” army in the Virungas, and they are outfitted with new uniforms and automatic weapons, including Ak-47s and what appear to be well-oiled .50 caliber machine guns on tripods. ...Indeed, the upsurge in gorilla killings is synonymous with Wildlife Direct’s arrival on the scene. ... It seems likely that the gorilla killings are elemental to the public relations strategy — a few gorillas sacrificed for a walloping perception management coup against the Western public.*

New Scientist has another take: "One theory is that the gorillas are victims of a conflict between those locals who see them as the basis for a tourist trade, and others who want them gone so they can use the forests to fuel a booming trade in charcoal."