Happy Homecoming: Six Poached Baby Gorillas Rescued, Returned to Congo (Time.com)

Six endangered mountain gorillas were returned home to the Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday after being rescued from poachers who smuggled them into neighboring Rwanda.

The gorillas, who range in age from 5 to 8 years old, were victims of what's become a widespread issue in Africa: animal trafficking. According to Rwandan and Congolese authorities, poachers are thought to have killed the gorillas' parents in order to steal their babies and smuggle them across the border.

Rwandan officials told Reuters that it's likely the poachers were planning to either sell the gorillas on the illegal wildlife market or slaughter them for their bushmeat, which is considered a delicacy in some areas of the continent. But because of a renewed collaboration between the Rwandan and Congolese governments, these gorillas were among the very few poached animals that are lucky enough to be rescued.

(MORE: Are Gorillas Rwanda's Post-Civil War Hope?)

"Because the countries are working together, we managed to reduce that [poaching]," Rica Rugambwa, Rwanda's director general of tourism and parks, told Reuters. "We are able to minimize that but it is still a challenge."

It's estimated that only 680 mountain gorillas live in the forests of Central Africa. The species has been listed as critically endangered, and many are protected within the confines of a Ugandan national park. Others live in the Virunga Volcano Region, which stands on the borders of Rwanda, Uganda and Congo - a dangerous area that has been overcome by civil war in recent years.

The six rescued orphans stayed in Rwanda briefly before being airlifted back to Congo, with help from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, the conservation groups that sponsored the trip. The gorillas are now being cared for at a rescue center until they are eventually able to be released into the wild.

Erin Skarda is a reporter at TIME. Find her on Twitter at @ErinLeighSkarda. You can also continue the discussion on TIME's Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.

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Six orphaned gorillas returned to Congo

GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo — Rwanda handed over six orphaned gorillas to the Democratic Republic of Congo after poachers smuggled them out of the country to sell as exotic pets, or for consumption as bush meat.

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Poaching has decimated populations of chimpanzees, gorillas and forest elephants in the jungles of west and central Africa and regional governments have vowed to step up efforts to stop trafficking.

Mountain gorillas are listed as critically endangered, with about 680 surviving in the wild, all in central Africa.

Rwandan authorities said on Sunday they had rescued the gorillas, aged between 5 and 8 years old, from traffickers in various parts of the country.

Officials have detained six Rwandan and Congolese men whom they believe are part of a wider criminal ring. Gorillas are caught and sold for thousands of dollars on the world market as exotic pets, or killed and sold locally as a delicacy.

"Because the countries are working together we managed to reduce that (poaching) .... we are able to minimize that but it is still a challenge," said Rwanda's director general of tourism and parks, Rica Rugambwa, on the Rwandan-Congolese border.

The gorillas were flown from there to a research center and were then due to be released into the wild.

The rare mountain gorillas are found in a Ugandan national park or in the Virunga Volcano Region, which straddles the borders of Rwanda, Uganda and Congo.

The WWF says more than 100,000 people live near the forests where they are found. Poaching, capture for illegal wildlife trade, as well as people's need for land to grow food has reduced the mammals' forest habitat to "virtual islands in the middle of human settlements," WWF says.

Congo's mountain gorillas have also weathered years of warfare in the country's east. Dozens of rangers have been killed trying to protect the area's five national parks from poachers and armed groups.

"We came to finish the war and security is coming slowly," Congolese Environment Minister Chantal Kambibi said. "We will try to protect them properly."

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

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