Why are gorillas poached?
Why are gorillas poached? :The endangered mountain gorilla that were almost extinct in the 19th century can be trekked in Bwindi and mount Mgahinga national parks in Uganda, Volcanoes national park in Rwanda and the Virunga national park in Congo. There are about only 900 mountain gorillas left in the wild and here are some of the reasons why gorillas are poached.
Medicinal purposes
In most cases mountain gorillas are being poached because of the belief of local traditional healers who assume that the mountain gorilla body parts can be used for magic and charm, their belief has caused to them to continuously poach the great apes.
Bush meat
One of the reasons why mountain gorillas are poached is for bush meat; some rich folks enjoy gorilla meat and think its prestigious consuming it. The need for money has caused some people to join in the poaching of mountain gorillas in order to gain income by selling them.
Pet trade
One of the main reason gorillas are poached is for selling them abroad for to rich people who own illegal private animals’ sanctuaries. The locals tend to get a lot of money through selling of mountain gorillas abroad.
Lack of awareness
Some times mountain gorillas are poached because there is insufficiency of regional awareness about the importance of gorillas, the unfollowed rules and regulations of gorillas has also led led to reckless poaching of mountain gorillas.
Accidental poaching
Sometimes gorillas fall in traps being set for other angulates like antelopes thus leads to bad injuries that can lead to their death later on.
The other reasons why gorillas might become extinct apart from poaching is the political unrest in some countries like Congo, diseases this is because gorillas are vulnerable to human diseases like whooping cough and many others.
The other reason gorillas might become economy apart from poaching is habitat loss, the places where mountain gorillas live have been encroached by humans for Agriculture and settlement purposes this makes gorillas move to higher elevations that can be harsh to their heath.
Uganda is the only place in the world where tourists can encounter the gorillas habituation experience which involves joining researchers on gorilla habituation experience this takes 4 hours unlike gorilla trekking which takes only 1 hours. The maximum number for this activity is only 4 people.
The cost of gorilla trekking in Uganda is USD 600, in Congo USD 400 and USD 1500 in Rwanda.
