Gorillas Extinct in Ten Years in Central Africa?

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Rangers observe a mountain gorilla in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Virunga National Park.
Photograph by Brent Stirton, National Geographic Stock
Nick Wadhams in Nairobi, Kenya
for National Geographic News
Published March 24, 2010

Gorillas may soon go extinct across much of central Africa, a new United Nations report says. Among the threats are surges in human populations, the ape-meat trade, and logging and mining as well as the spread of the Ebola virus and other diseases, the report says.

Stretching from the Atlantic Coast to the East African countries of Burundi and Rwanda (regional map), the Congo Basin covers much of central Africa and has traditionally been a rain forest refuge for gorillas and other apes.

But "with the rate of poaching and habitat loss, gorillas in the region may disappear from most of their present range in less than 10 to 15 years from now," according to the report, co-authored by the international law enforcement agency Interpol.

more:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/01/100324-gorillas-extinct-africa-un-report/