Help gorillas: two quick petitions

Please click on and sign the following two petitions:

1. Save Congo Mountain Gorillas
2. Don’t Cut Funding That Saves Gorillas

1. Background | From Care2

Target: American Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo James F. Enwhistle

According to a United Nations report, Africa’s Great Congo Basin Gorillas could disappear by the mid-2020’s. These gentle animals are caught, trafficked and sold as exotic pets for thousands of dollars in the world market. They’re also killed and sold as “bushmeat,” even though gorilla meat is illegal in the country.

This July, six baby gorillas were smuggled out of the Congo into Rwanda to be sold. Luckily, after failed poaching attempts the babies were returned by Rwandan officials, but their parents are suspected to have been killed — likely for bushmeat.

About 680 mountain gorillas — one of the world’s most endangered treatment — remain in the wild according to the World Wildlife Fund. Ask the American Ambassador to the Congo to urge Congoan leaders to strengthen efforts to protect these gorillas.


Grace: Save Their Family Tree (Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund)

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2. Background | From Force Change

Target: United States House of Representatives

Goal: To keep providing funding that helps to preserve rare gorillas in the 2012 fiscal year budget.

With the new year approaching the government is forced to consider where it can afford to save money and cut funding. The small proportion that is going to support wildlife in central Africa is proposed to be cut. This would mean that the efforts being made to preserve gorillas ravaged by years of social and political unrest would be halted. The House of Representatives needs to reconsider where to cut funding and should not stop saving gorillas.

In the past, America has provided foreign aid to Africa to help support a variety of environmental conservation programs. The Central African Regional Program for the Environment is one such program that has made strong efforts to support the lives of rare and endangered gorillas. The group provides protection for the gorillas and also helps to limit development that destroys the animals’ natural habitat.

Currently, Central Africa receives funding from three different forms, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the U.S. Forest Service International Program. These programs all help to preserve natural landscapes. They also support the Multinational Species Conservation Funds and the Global Environmental Faculty. Both of which support endangered species by actively generating funds from international communities.

Without U.S. support, the natural wildlife in Central Africa is highly at risk. Programs that support the sustainability of rare species, especially gorillas, would be shut down. The United States must continue to provide funding to support these groups. Sign this petition to urge the House of Representatives to continue to provide funding for environmental welfare in Central Africa in the 2012 fiscal year budget.



See More:

• Compassionate Eating
• Earthlings

how sad it is
that every day
another precious species
seems to go away
but here we sit
and here we can
protect all creatures
and be the best
of man

Karen Lyons Kalmenson