Sanctuaries and reintroduction: a role in gorilla conservation?

Abstract

First paragraph: The current threats to gorilla (Gorilla gorilla, Gorilla beringei) populations, and indeed African wildlife in general, are complex and inextricably interlinked, and include poverty, human population growth, loss of habitat (through logging, mining, and land conversion), and hunting (Butynski, 2001; Teleki, 2001; Nellemann and Newton, 2002). Overexploitation of wildlife is not a new phenomenon and was probably responsible for the historical and ecological extinction of many species (Rao and McGowan, 2002). However, increasing urbanization and associated market economies, modern hunting methods and road networks, have commercialized the bushmeat trade (Kemf and Wilson, 1997; Bowen-Jones, 1998; Robinson and Bodmer, 1999; Wilkie and Carpenter, 1999; Fa et al., 2002; Nellemann and Newton, 2002). The general consensus seems to be that this trade is out of control, unsustainable, and accelerating (Ammann and Pearce, 1995; Kemf and Wilson, 1997; Butynski, 2001), and that gorillas are in danger of becoming extinct in the wild if causal factors are not effectively addressed (Butynski, 2001).