Ongoing War, Oil Company Threaten Rare Mountain Gorillas in Congo

For quite some time now, the Congolese army and several rebel groups have been fighting each other, in spite of previous peace accords. As sources report, this battle is mostly carried out in the Virunga National Park.

This means that the animals that were supposed to find a safe haven on these lands are, in fact, threatened with being either accidentally – or maybe even purposely – shot on a daily basis.

Green-oriented organization World Wildlife Fund informs us that the situation is all the more unfortunate as said animal sanctuary is home to the now critically endangered mountain gorillas.

Apparently, park rangers are doing their best in keeping these animals out of harm's way and patrol the area on a regular basis, yet these big apes still get caught in the crossfire whenever the rebel group known as M23 and the Congolese army come face to face.

Moreover, all the noise and commotion caused by these conflicts affects their psychological wellbeing, as these mountain gorillas are bound to experience severe stress.

The official website for the World Wildlife Fund also reports that, should these conflicts finally be settled, the large apes living in this part of the world would still not be safe, as a major oil company, headquartered in the UK, intends to exploit these lands in order to gain access to the aforementioned resource.

Commenting on this situation, one of the World Wildlife Fund's leaders, Marc Languy, made a case of how, “We know that SOCO has put all its activities around Lake Edward on hold because of the recent fighting. But this doesn’t mean it has changed its plans to start exploration. In fact, SOCO now own 85% of the concession after recently buying the shares of Ophir Energy, another UK-based oil company.”

As this organization explains, extracting oil from this part of the world is likely to affect not just regional flora and fauna, but also indigenous communities.