DR CONGO / GORILLA RESCUE

Peacekeepers from the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo rescue the first group of orphaned gorillas and help reduce illegal trading of the primates across the country's border. MONUC / UNEP

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:03:20
• Production Date: 28 April 2010
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS OBSERVER MISSSION IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO - MONUC; UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME - UNEP
• Subject Topical: NATURAL RESOURCES; ENVIRONMENT; WILDLIFE
• Geographic Subject: DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
• MAMS Id: U100428e

Description

STORY: DR CONGO / GORILLA RESCUE
TRT: 3:20
SOURCE: MONUC / UNEP
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: NATS / ENGLISH

DATELINE: 27 APRIL 2010, GOMA, KASUGHO, NORTH KIVU PROVINCE, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

Shotlist

1. Tracking shot, Goma town
2. Aerial shot, Goma airport
3. Aerial shot, Kasugho
4. Med shot, helicopter landing
5. Various shots, offloading boxes with gorillas from helicopter
6. Various shots, trucks driving
7. Wide shot, offloading boxes with gorillas from truck
8. Various shots, carrying gorilla boxes
9. Various shots, taking out gorillas from the boxes
10. Various shots, feeding the gorillas
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Katie Fawcett, Diana Fossey Gorilla Fund International:
“The center will be an opportunity to rehabilitate the gorillas. They have been torn away from their families; they have seen their families being killed. It is a very long and laborious process to regain their confidence to learn to behave like a Gorilla again. And our ultimate goal is to reintroduce the Gorillas back into world habitat.”
12. Various shots, aerial over Kasugho village
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Pierre Kakule, Coordinator and Founder, Taina Natural Reserve/Board President and Founder Taina University:
“It is what we call “village for conservation” and this brings locals to understand why it is important to protect the nature. And I think that here in Kasugho, thanks to them we’ve been able confiscate all the Gorillas, not only Gorillas but Chimps, and Monkeys.”
14. Med shot, gorillas drinking milk
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Katie Fawcett, Diana Fossey Gorilla Fund International:
“All this is part of a protection program. So I see this very as much as the center helping with Gorilla protection, because it is very difficult to do law enforcement and to provide protection for the Gorillas if there no facilities to care for the Gorillas which are confiscated through the illegal trade. So this is a really important opportunity, every individual counts. The Gorillas are critically threatened thought their range.”
16. Various shot, aerial views

Storyline

Four Orphaned baby Gorillas that were confiscated from poachers and brought to Goma were airlifted yesterday (27 April 2010) to Kasugho in the Lubero territory in the province of North Kivu.

The United Nations (UN) Peacekeeping Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) provided logistical support to fly the animals on a helicopter.

The Gorillas will stay under the care of the Gorilla Rehabilitation and Conservation Education (GRACE) in Kasugho until their release into the wild.

The local population in Kasugho will benefit from GRACE’s project and learn to take adventure in conserving the natural reserves and also learn to train others.

The GRACE center is part of a larger initiative working with the community conservation to build reserves in the area alongside Taina University’s Biology department.

Conservation agents work in this area to sensitize and train the local population in conservation.

Students from Taina university will also be actively involved in the conservation project. They will coordinate efforts to educate the local population and create a database. The project will also bring development and promote tourism to the population of Kasugho and neighboring villages.