Inflation has almost doubled the cost of protecting gorillas
No one should ever have to choose which baby survives. With your help, we won’t.
You hear the danger before you see it. A harsh metallic snap cuts the silence like a knife. Birds scatter in every direction. Then a single shriek. High. Anguished. Agonised. A baby gorilla crying out for her mother. Then, another shriek. Both are urgent. But which one do you answer?
Right now, more traps are being laid in gorilla forests across the Democratic Republic of Congo. And rising prices are making it harder than ever to stop them.
Rising costs. Rising threats.
Almost 80 per cent of families in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are already living in poverty. They’re scraping to get by on less than a pound a day. So when the rising cost of food and fuel keeps going up, they’re forced back into the forest simply to find the food they need to keep their children alive. They have no alternative.
They are caught up in poverty, not cruelty. But they and their little ones are hungry. And the traps they set do not distinguish between bushmeat for the cooking pot and a baby gorilla. They snap shut with the same brutal force on any creature unlucky enough to brush against them. After that, there is no escape.
More poverty means: More traps, more injured gorillas, more urgent rescues, more families under threat. At the same time, the cost of protecting gorillas has surged. Fuel costs more. Food costs more. Veterinary supplies cost more. Patrols cost more. Inflation is not abstract here. It is pushing gorillas closer to extinction.
Every rescue is a race against time
In just one recent month, vets treated three gorillas caught in traps, a number we would normally expect to see in six months.
Each rescue means:
- Rangers finding the trap in time
- Emergency treatment in the forest
- Removing a wire snare from a tiny arm or leg
- Monitoring the gorilla until it can return safely to its family
Without patrols, there is no rescue. Without funding, there are no patrols.
Gorillas cannot afford to lose even one life
Gorillas breed slowly. They have very few young. And it takes many years before they can have young of their own. If one adult female dies, generations are lost. That is how extinction happens. We simply have to protect every gorilla.
For more than 40 years, we have stood between gorillas and extinction
We have protected them through: Illegal poaching, illegal mining, civil war, and pandemics. And together, we have helped gorilla populations recover from the brink. But this cost-of-living crisis is the greatest challenge we have faced in years. We cannot overcome it alone.
Because of you: A trap can be destroyed before it closes. A ranger can arrive in time. A baby gorilla can live who would have died.
Your gift today could mean:
- £33 helps keep rangers in the forest
- £66 helps find and destroy deadly traps
- £231 supports emergency treatment for an injured gorilla
- £990 funds a full month of ranger patrols
Doing nothing is not an option.
Gorillas won’t survive this crisis on their own.
With your support, we can:
- Fund patrols
- Remove snares
- Protect forests
- Support local families with sustainable alternatives
- Safeguard the next generation of gorillas
Please don’t let rising prices undo decades of conservation progress.
Will you help protect every gorilla?
Make your donation today and help ensure we never have to choose which baby survives.
