Tracking apes at risk of extinction in Congo

Mondika, Republic of Congo – Over the past 60 years, illegal hunting and logging have been the main causes of an estimated 80 percent reduction in the numbers of chimpanzees and gorillas in the Republic of Congo’s Mondika wildlife reserve.

Since 1988, the apes have gone from vulnerable to endangered, to critically endangered – and conservationists say the forests of Central Africa’s Goualougo Triangle are being lost at an alarming rate.

They have helped to turn a number of animal hunters into wildlife trackers, who now protect their former prey.