What promotional actions are being taken to help get the word out about the endangered Ugandan gorillas?
BWINDI IMPENETRABLE FOREST, Uganda (Reuters) – Lurking deep in the mist-glazed forests of east Africa, Uganda’s mountain gorillas are preparing to ‘tweet’ for their survival. With the launch on Saturday of the “Friend a Gorilla” campaign, human fans will soon be able to follow the everyday drama of one of the few remaining 720 mountain gorillas online, far from the red ants, mud and tropical rain of their habitats. When the friendagorilla.org site goes live, users will be able to access videos, pictures and rangers’ blogs through websites like Facebook and Twitter, said Moses Mapesa Wafula, head of the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA). They will also be able to follow their new friends via satellite tracking. “By paying one dollar to Friend a Gorilla, everybody contributes to the conservation of this species,” Wafula said. Not everybody can afford the $500 price tag for a real gorilla trek but the fiber-optic tentacles of globalizat
KAMPALA, Uganda – He’s hairy, his table manners are atrocious, and he wants to be your friend on Facebook. No, it’s not the ex-boyfriend. It’s Muhozi, an endangered Ugandan mountain gorilla, who’s appearing online as part of a fundraising program the Ugandan Wildlife Authority launched Saturday to help save the species. Around 340 mountain gorillas — nearly half of the 740 remaining worldwide — live in Uganda’s lush Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park and 40 more live in another Ugandan reserve. The rest live in the Virunga mountain range, which stretches from Uganda into Rwanda and the war-ravaged Congo. Despite their size — a male silverback can reach over 7 feet (2.1 meters) and weigh 400 pounds (180 kilogram) — the gorillas are threatened by poachers who kill them for meat, farmers and charcoal-burners who encroach on their habitat, and the indiscriminate bullets of rebels on the run. They must be protected by rangers with automatic rifles. The Wildlife Authority is hoping tha
The actions of the UWA are meant to promote both the plight of the gorilla and to spur ecotourism to the region. “KAMPALA, Uganda – He’s hairy, his table manners are atrocious, and he wants to be your friend on Facebook. No, it’s not the ex-boyfriend. It’s Muhozi, an endangered Ugandan mountain gorilla, who’s appearing online as part of a fundraising program the Ugandan Wildlife Authority launched Saturday to help save the species. Around 340 mountain gorillas — nearly half of the 740 remaining worldwide — live in Uganda’s lush Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park and 40 more live in another Ugandan reserve. The rest live in the Virunga mountain range, which stretches from Uganda into Rwanda and the war-ravaged Congo.” Sources: http://news.yahoo.
