Four men were detained by Ugandan wildlife authorities in connection with the death of a 25-year-old male gorilla who is a popular attraction for tourists.
Reuters reports the silverback gorilla, named Rafiki, was killed in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park after he went missing on June 1. His body was found the next day.
The arrests of the men followed an investigation conducted by the state-run Uganda Wildlife Authority into Rafiki’s death after a postmortem report showed he had suffered an injury by a sharp object that penetrated the left upper part of his abdomen up to the internal organs.
One of the detained men was found in possession of wild hog meat, rope, and wire snares and spears, according to a statement by UWA.
The man “confessed to killing the gorilla in self-defense,” claiming Rafiki charged at him and a colleague while they were hunting.
The park where Rafiki was killed is a UNESCO World Heritage Site near Uganda’s border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It sits widely on a patch of dense tropical forest and is home to primates, elephants, antelopes, and other wildlife.
The park is home to almost half of the world’s population of gorillas, with almost 400 living there, making them a popular attraction for tourists. Rafiki was the head of a 17-member gorilla group called Nkuringo.
Poaching is a large issue in Uganda’s game parks, and police frequently report seizures of illegally caught wildlife products such as ivory, rhino horns, pangolin scales, and other items.
