Celebrated on the third Friday of May, Endangered Species Day is an annual observance that raises awareness for the importance of conserving endangered species, such as Africa's majestic mountain gorillas.
The instability surrounding Virunga National Park, Africa's most biologically diverse park, has put the entire region in grave danger. Even though the park, which is located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has been declared a UNESCO world heritage site, rebel militia are illegally poaching wildlife and stripping the park of natural resources.
With a varied terrain and limited capacity to deploy rangers to every corner of the park's nearly 2 million acres, Virunga's Air Wing progam is the best line of defense the rangers and the park have at reducing threats to Virunga's wildlife populations, including the mountain gorillas.
Since 2006, LCA has provided critical support to the Ugandan and Rwandan Wildlife Authorities to help protect the mountain gorillas residing in those regions, and beginning in 2016, LCA became a major supporter of Virunga's Air Wing program by providing vital aid to the rangers' anti-poaching efforts through improved air support.
Thanks to conservation efforts, which LCA has helped to support, Virunga's mountain gorillas were lifted from the edge of extinction last year when their population finally surpassed 1,000! On November 14, 2018, the IUCN Red List downlisted the mountain gorillas from "critically endangered" to "endangered" for the first time since 1994.
LCA is wholly committed to giving the park, the rangers, Africa's mountain gorillas, and all other wildlife their very best chance of survival by continuing to provide critical support to Virunga National Park's Air Wing program.
Click here to learn more about LCA's "Saving Mountain Gorillas" campaign.
Photo: LCA