Chimpanzee attack8/13/2023 There is an ongoing surge in human population in the area, he says, and wherever the park’s land is illegally used for farming, park authorities are obliged to uphold laws to protect it.Įven if the chimp attacks subside, they may well erupt again in future because of the ongoing pressure from humans. “Human-wildlife conflict is an extremely serious issue in Virunga, as it is across Africa and elsewhere,” says Emmanuel de Merode, chief warden at Virunga. Reports of the scale and number of attacks are probably exaggerated, says Richard Wrangham of Harvard University, but he concedes that there has been an increase in tension between humans and chimps in that corner of the DRC – although only in areas where chimp habitat has been lost. “It may be a more general sign of mistrust and antagonism, which is regularly seen in chimp sanctuaries and other captive facilities,” he says. Klaus Zuberbuhler, a psychologist at the University of St Andrews in Fife, UK, and scientific director of the Budongo Conservation Field Station in Uganda, says restricting the chimps’ habitat can certainly affect their behaviour, though it is debatable whether the chimps’ aggression towards humans is a form of revenge. But putting out clear, useful information becomes more difficult once rumours of violence have spread. “As soon as we can return, we will distribute information flyers in Swahili and French,” Mollon says. But efforts are being thwarted by the armed conflict between M23 rebels and the DRC government, which began in April. Such reports highlight the urgent need to defuse the situation – both by educating locals in behaviours that will minimise the chances of violent confrontations, and by habituating chimps to humans. Mistrust of chimpanzees has been heightened by local media reports, which suggest that as many as 10 people have been killed and 17 injured by chimps, in acts that were reported as “revenge attacks” for people encroaching on their territory.
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