FINDING THE GORILLAS
Harambe’s death at Cincinnati Zoo inspires a journey to the Congo
Two years ago, a Cincinnati Zoo worker shot and killed Harambe, one of its western lowland gorillas, after a child fell into the enclosure. His death stirred sympathy, outrage and parody around the world.
The zoo, however, focused on its behind-the-scenes efforts to save gorillas. The institution finished construction on a $13 million state-of-the-art indoor structure for its gorillas and redoubled its financial commitments to save those in the wild.
For the zoo, that included a trip deep inside the Republic of Congo to the protected forest of the NouabaléNdoki National Park. This is where, 20 years ago, work began on habituating wild western lowland gorillas. By habituating them — making them comfortable around of humans — scientists could safely follow and observe gorillas in their natural habitat to better protect the critically
endangered species.
Thane Maynard, director of the Cincinnati Zoo, and Ron Evans, curator of primates, and a photojournalist from the Cincinnati Enquirer traveled thousands of miles to visit the park. They got there by plane, truck, speedboat and dugout canoe. They hiked through swamps, forests and villages.
A mission inspired this effort: to see if the world could come to care as much about the many as it did the one.
Dave Morgan, a research fellow at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo, guided the two-week-long trek through the dense, remote forest. He is also the co-director of the Goualougo Triangle Ape Project.
It took the party four days to see a wild gorilla.
It took a few more to find Kingo, the first western lowland gorilla ever habituated in the wild. What the world knows about these animals is, in large part, a product of watching Kingo. (He’s affectionately called “the million-dollar gorilla” for all the work and research centered on him.)
The knowledge scientists have gathered, they say, has informed zoos around the world on how to best serve the animals in their care. They’ve learned how much space the gorillas need in their enclosures, for example, and what to feed them.
Less than a month ago, the Wildlife Conservation Society, in collaboration with other organizations, released a study showing that 360,000 gorillas still inhabit the forests of Western Equatorial Africa. The Congo is home to 60% of the gorillas.
The new accounting reflects three times the number originally believed to be alive. But 80% of the gorillas live outside protected areas like the Nouabalé- Ndoki National Park.
That means that most gorillas are exposed to poaching and deforestation. The population data reflect that: Their numbers are still declining at the rate of
2.7% a year, according to the study. In Northeast Congo, about 5% of the western lowland gorillas are killed by hunters each year, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
During the Cincinnati Zoo’s journey into the forest, the threats faced by gorillas was in ample evidence. The trekkers could hear gunshots, proof that poachers were nearby. They saw men peddling monkey meat, part of the illegal practice of selling wild African animals known as the bushmeat trade. They saw tons of trees on trucks and on boats — some of the trees as old as
900 years — bound for China to be sold to builders.
“People think the Congo is endless,” zoo director Maynard says. “It’s not.”
The story of gorillas, say those who study them, is deeply intertwined with the human story. The saving of their habitat and the saving of the species is a bellwether for our own survival.
The experience of Harambe’s loss sharpened that interconnection, the Cincinnati Zoo officials say.
“The bottom line is one gorilla made the whole world pay attention,” curator Evans says.
“It is why we have them in zoos. It’s important to tell their stories.”