Statement by the International Gorilla Conservation Program, a joint initiative of the African Wildlife Foundation, Fauna and Flora International and World Wide Fund for Nature.

Tuesday 5 June 2001. On Saturday, June 2, militia groups crossed the border into Rwanda from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Fighting over the weekend between the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) and the militia groups resulted in at least 150 people captured and a number dead. Two of the militia captives admitted to the park authorities in Rwanda that they had killed one gorilla, and eaten it for food. The gorilla had been killed on the Rwanda side of the border, in the Parc National des Volcans. From other accounts, it is possible, but yet unconfirmed, that two gorillas were killed in this incident.