Here’s a cool video of an undercover operation in Goma to arrest a gorilla trafficker and some of the subsequent efforts to nurse the baby gorilla back to health.

I was curious about the high production quality of the piece. It was produced by Virunga National Park’s rangers, who have their own website. It’s sophisticated and very well designed, with ongoing media production and tools for distributed fundraising. Clearly, this is a well-funded project.

I’m surprised to see them have such a slick public presence, but hopefully this is a good sign. Preservation of the park is in direct competition with its other, more destructive economic value: charcoal production. The charcoal producers and park rangers have been in conflict for many years, now (The gorilla murders that took place a few years ago were a direct result.) Hopefully, with enough outside funding, preservation and ecotourism will become the more valuable product of the region.

Related Posts:

• Bloody Effing Hell (September, 2007)
• HASA (June, 2008)
• Peace Deal Announced (January, 2008)
• Feingold on the D.R. Congo (October, 2007)
• Work Update (September, 2007)

This entry was posted on Monday, May 4th, 2009 at 10:40 am and is filed under developing world, goma. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.