I’m sure many of you remember the orgy of gorilla killing at Virunga National park in 2007. According to The BBC there have been some developments in the case.
The Congolese Nature Conservation Institute (ICCN) is reported to have brought the charges against Honore Mashagiro – one of its members.
Mr. Mashagiro is accused of being the mastermind of the plot to have the gorillas killed.
Six other foresters could be questioned over the killings, and their role in trapping and slaughtering the animals on the alleged orders of Mr Mashagiro, reports say.
I am speechless.
Afarensis: Anthropology, Evolution, and Science 
An inside job, huh. I think we ought to airlift the survivors to a safer place.
All those gorillas are doomed where they are.
It is in the Eastern Congo. Compared to what is happening to people there, 10 gorillas is nothing.
Compared to what’s happening to people [… put your place here], animals are nothing, uh? So we should take care of people in [… put your place here], and let all species die? Pope BXVI would be proud of you.
Marco
At least charges are being pressed there. AFAIK, nobody has been charged or arrested in the bear slaughter in eastern Russia at all yet, particularly the one that was on a reservation being closely observed in a long-term study by zoologists.
And there the slaughter happens because people *still* think that bear gall bladders actually have curative properties. No proof, just a thousand year old wives tale that people are willing to pay money to continue to believe in…
By the time the human race passes into extinction any non-domesticated animal that can fill a cooking pot will be long since extinct. Anything larger than a rabbit in Virunga is probably disappearing into the bushmeat trade right now. We’re slowly and surely sawing off the branch we’re sitting on.
By the time the human race passes into extinction any non-domesticated animal that can fill a cooking pot will be long since extinct. Anything larger than a rabbit in Virunga is probably disappearing into the bushmeat trade right now. We’re slowly and surely sawing off the branch we’re sitting on.
The tragedies occurring in places like the Congo, Darfur, and Tibet are indeed horrible. That, however does not diminish, nor should it, the heinous nature of this story. Nor does my horror at this story diminish the pain and suffering of people around the world. It seems to me that some of you are saying that the human heart isn’t large enough to feel sad at the suffering of both humans and animals. I happen to think it is. I also think that this is not an either/or situation.
I think you have me confused with BWV. I did not claim that “…nothing compares to human suffering…”
“I think you have me confused with BWV”.
You’re right, I was thanking you for your support, and answering to BWV.
I think that the killings in Darfur, Congo, Tibet, et al are ghastly. The deliberate killings of gorillas, or bears, or whatever, in places where they’re supposed to be protected, are ghastly, too. And both kinds of killings diminish us, as human beings. We’re supposed to be better than that. But many of us obviously don’t strive to be.
Anne G
I think that the killings in Darfur, Congo, Tibet, et al are ghastly. The deliberate killings of gorillas, or bears, or whatever, in places where they’re supposed to be protected, are ghastly, too. And both kinds of killings diminish us, as human beings. We’re supposed to be better than that. But many of us obviously don’t strive to be.
Anne G
Again bwv; why? Because “man” is more important than other species? Or millions (thousands, hundreds, tens…) of men are more important than some gorillas? What is there, an onthological qualitative jump (just as the actual pope said, mind you) between us and them? Please explain the proportionality.