Forest Fires Threaten Uganda's Gorillas
8/3/99
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Title: Forest Fires Threaten Uganda's Gorillas
Source: Reuters Limited
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: August 3, 1999
KAMPALA, Uganda (Reuters) - The rare mountain gorillas that inhabit
Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable Forest are under threat from forest
fires sparked by a severe drought in the west of the country, the
Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) said Tuesday.
Over the last week, fires have raged around the edge of Bwindi
National Park in southwest Uganda destroying at least 30 square miles
of forest.
Three small fires took hold within the park itself but have now been
doused, UWA's Executive Director Dr Robbie Robinson told Reuters.
``While the area is still extremely dry it is going to be prone to
more fires,'' Robinson said. ``We hope to get some decent rains in
the near future.''
The fires were started accidentally by honey collectors trying to
smoke out bees, but gorilla colonies were not affected and tourists
were still able to track the animals.
Tourist arrivals at Bwindi have slumped to 30 percent of normal
levels after eight foreign tourists were brutally murdered by
Rwanda's ethnic Hutu Interahamwe rebels on March 1. The park was
closed for a month while security was stepped up.
Uganda is one of only three countries where the mountain gorillas can
be found in the wild and Bwindi is home to roughly half of the 600
gorillas in existence.
The other 300 live in the Virunga range of volcanoes in a series of
linked national parks straddling the borders between Uganda, Rwanda
and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.