Gorilla Hunting

Gorilla Hunting

While gorilla hunting is considered to be illegal, it continues to go on all the time. Many people love to hunt, and nothing is better to them than the ultimate trophy. That can be in the form of an adult male gorilla that weighs several hundred pounds. The fact that it is dangerous and that it is illegal is often something that makes this type of hunting even more thrilling.

In some parts of Africa it is still legal to go on such hunting safaris. The government of Africa makes tons of money off of these efforts and the villagers are willing to guide these hunts in order to make money as well. Yet destroying these gorillas for fun and for personal satisfaction is a huge reason why they are on the verge of being extinct.

Many people in Africa hunt them for their own survival. The meat from these animals will feed many hungry villagers. With their populations continually increasing and food supplies low, it is a way for them to ensure their own survival. They can place nets or traps out there in the wild for other animals but if they get a gorilla they won’t pass up the opportunity to have a decent meal.

Even if these villagers are only killing a handful of gorillas, it definitely adds up. When you consider that they are being killed faster than they can reproduce there is definitely a balancing problem with them as a species on the losing end of things. They need to be well protected so that they have a chance to get their numbers up again.

Protecting gorillas and helping them to survive means we have to find ways to get these types of hunting to stop. More pressure has to be placed on the leaders of Africa so that it is will be illegal to hunt them under any circumstances. There also needs to be plans in place that offer huge rewards for turning in poachers. Fines and jail time for those involved will hopefully help to reduce those occurrences. Right now though there aren’t enough people in place to enforce such laws.

However, it seems that most poachers have easier access to gorillas now than in the past. First, there are more roads leading into the forests due to logging operations. Second, the natural habitat of the gorillas has been significantly reduced. That makes finding where they are in the forest easier than it has ever been before.

The advances in weapons have made the strength of the gorilla no match for them in most instances. Heavy artillery is often used to kill them. The young gorillas may be taken to sell as well as the adults being killed. Sometimes hunting them is done just so that an area can be cleared out and free from their presence.

The people of Africa definitely need to be educated about what is going on with the gorilla. Many of them likely don’t realize the impact that these problems are having and what the long term effects of killing gorillas is going to be.