Four extremely rare mountain gorillas are killed after being struck by lightning in Uganda
FOUR extremely rare mountain gorillas have been killed after they were struck by lightning in the wilds of Uganda. The bodies of three adult females and a male infant were found by horrified rangers in Mgahinga National Park with “gross lesions”. To make things worse one of the giant apes was pregnant – a hammerblow […]
FOUR extremely rare mountain gorillas have been killed after they were struck by lightning in the wilds of Uganda.
The bodies of three adult females and a male infant were found by horrified rangers in Mgahinga National Park with “gross lesions”.
To make things worse one of the giant apes was pregnant – a hammerblow to a species already down to just 1,000 survivors.
The Greater Virunga Transboundary Collaboration (GVTC) called the tragedy a “big loss for the species”.
Mountain gorillas are now restricted to protected areas in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda.
The four that died were part of a 17-member group, which are known as the Hirwa family by the wildlife authorities.
The Hirwa group had crossed the border from Rwanda into Uganda just last year, reports the BBC.
The Mgahinga park is in the Virunga Massif range of mountains which straddles Uganda, Rwanda and DR Congo.
“This was extremely sad,” Andrew Seguya, executive secretary of the GVTC, told the BBC.
“The potential of the three females for their contribution to the population was immense.”
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He added the 13 surviving members of the Hirwa family have since been found and are unhurt.
The Ugandan apes were filmed for BBC documentary Spy In The Wild 2 screened last month.
They were caught posing for the cameras in heart-warming images featured by the Sun Online.