Saving Endangered Gorillas through Anti-Poaching

Anti-poaching teams, part of the “active conservation” begun by Dian Fossey, continue to protect and save gorillas today in Rwanda and the Congo.

Anti-poaching in Rwanda

Protection of the gorillas from poaching is a primary focus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International and, in particular, the Karisoke™ Research Center. Protection activities at Karisoke consist of anti-poaching patrols in the forest and a daily, dawn-to-dusk human presence with all of the approximately 110 gorillas we monitor.

Karisoke’s anti-poaching teams are "active conservationists" in the field, sweeping what is known as the Karisoke™ sector of the Volcanoes National Park to record the presence and location of illegal activities, such as wood cutting, water collecting or cattle grazing. They also remove about a thousand snares each year, most of which are set for antelopes and other small game but can cause serious injury or death to the gorillas. All data on snares and other illegal activities are shared with the Rwanda park authorities (a component of the Rwandan Development Board/RDB) to help guide park management decisions. A mobile anti-poaching unit, which includes Karisoke's anti-poaching teams and staff from RDB, provides added protection for mountain gorillas living deep in the forest. Team members set up campsites from which they jointly patrol Volcanoes National Park for one week at a time. The location of the camp and team members are kept secret and changed weekly, enabling them to catch poachers off-guard. Karisoke staff also conducts cross-border patrols with local teams from the Ugandan and Congolese sectors of the gorillas’ habitat.

In addition to the anti-poaching patrols, each group of gorillas the Fossey Fund monitors has a dedicated team that remains with the group from dawn-to-dusk, seven days per week, 365 days per year.  These teams have two functions: to collect data on the gorillas and protect them from poachers. Following poaching attacks in 2002, the Karisoke™ Research Center increased the amount of time our tracking teams are with the gorilla from half to full days. This protection continues today; trackers spend roughly four hours in the group collecting data and then remain in close proximity, but out of sight, to the group for the remainder of the day to deter possible poaching attempts.

The anti-poaching and protection teams are extremely dedicated to safeguarding the gorillas. When insecurity in the area forced the suspension of all tourist visits to Volcanoes National Park in 1997 and 1998, Jean Bosco Bizumuremyi, Field Operations Coordinator at that time, took the initiative to organize military escorts to enter the park with the trackers so they could monitor the gorilla groups that had been studied for three decades. During this period, many of the Karisoke™ staff members were robbed and their homes were looted for raingear, boots and other equipment by rebels hiding in the forest. To combat these and other risks, the men underwent rigorous paramilitary training provided by the Rwandan army. Today, they continue to risk their lives to protect the mountain gorillas.

Anti-poaching in the Congo

The extensive experience of the Karisoke anti-poaching and protection teams has been exported to other sites in the region.  For example, Karisoke™ staff have trained members of the national parks service in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and rangers from the community-based Tayna Gorilla Reserve that protect the endangered Grauer’s (eastern lowland) gorilla. Such capacity building of African conservationists is an important part of the Fossey Fund’s mission. 

In the Congo the Fossey Fund also supports the staff of Maiko National Park, which is located in the northern sector of the Grauer’s gorilla’s range.   Maiko National Park was officially gazetted as a national park in 1970, but was largely neglected and did not receive any international support. Since 1996, civil war in the Congo prevented the few staff who had not fled the area from entering the park except on rare occasions. It is home to numerous important species as well as gorillas.

When the Fossey Fund’s work with Maiko began in 2003, there was only one park warden and a handful of unpaid, unequipped park guards. Now there are more than 140 staff, including 40 guards in each of the three sectors, who have received equipment, uniforms and training in security and biodiversity. They are provided with salaries and basic health care as well. The guards are now patrolling a significant portion of the park and have reopened a number of patrol stations. They have arrested poachers, seized illegal weapons, and located and dismantled numerous snares.