WASHINGTON, DC, May 14, 2002 (ENS) - Conservationists based in Washington and in three African countries are worried about the whereabouts of an infant mountain gorilla that was stolen from a national park in Rwanda last week after two nursing females were killed.

Two endangered female mountain gorillas were killed by poachers in the Parc National des Volcans on May 9. Two infant gorillas survived. One was taken back into the gorilla group where it may find a surrogate mother, but the other is missing, according to Katie Frohardt of the DC and Nairobi based African Wildlife Foundation.

Dead gorilla mother with surviving infant. Another infant is missing. (Photo by Maryke Gray and Jose Kalpers courtesy African Wildlife Foundation)

Local authorities and the Rwandan military have two suspects in custody. These individuals are being questioned about their knowledge of the buyer who wanted the baby, as well as the location of the missing infant gorilla.

It is important that not only the poachers, but the buyers, are dealt with by Rwanda's legal system, says Frohardt.

"All the evidence seems to indicate that the gorillas were killed in order to obtain gorillas for sale on the illegal market," says Dr. Annette Lanjouw, director of the International Gorilla Conservation Program (IGCP). The program, active in Rwanda since 1979 and throughout the Virunga region since 1991, is supported by the African Wildlife Foundation, the World Wide Fund for Nature, and Fauna and Flora International.

Dr. Annette Lanjouw (Photo courtesy African Wildlife Foundation)

The bodies of the adult females were found on the morning of May 10 by trackers who also discovered that one of the group's young males had been wounded.

While the population has increased about 10 percent over the past 10 years, only 660 mountain gorillas exist today. They are all in the wild as the species does not survive in captivity, Frohardt says. "Each individual is critical. These are the most highly endangered great apes in the world."

If the baby was sold, it has probably already been taken from Rwanda for a destination abroad, says Frohardt, who was African Wildlife Foundation's Program technical director and former Rwanda director for IGCP from 1995 to 1997.

"For many years we have not seen this sort of poaching incident where a baby is removed, which indicates an external market for gorilla babies, she says.

The infant would be purchased by a private individual, Frohardt speculates, because no legitimate zoo would buy or display an illegal endangered primate. It is unlikely that the baby will survive for more than a few days without proper care, she says.

One of the two mountain gorilla mothers found dead by trackers in Rwanda (Photo courtesy African Wildlife Foundation)

Despite civil strife and economic hardship in the three countries inhabited by mountain gorillas - Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo - there is strong support within local communities for gorilla protection, says Frohardt.

"From my experience I saw a very close relationship with the gorillas in Rwanda's communities surrounding the parks. The people named gorillas 'grandfather,' or 'uncle' and viewed them as part of their own patrimonies," said Frohardt, who lived for three years in Rwanda. "The field staff put their own lives at risk daily to protect the gorillas," she said.

The African Wildlife Foundation is interested in working with Rwandan authorities to catch the perpetrators of this wildlife crime, and asks that anyone with knowledge of the missing infant's whereabouts go to authorities with this information.