We as humans go through a lot of emotions. When we lose something or someone close to us, we often feel the need to grieve and mourn them. This is a natural thing for humans to go through during the time of loss. You may be surprised to know that this feeling is not completely exclusive to the human race. Even animals have their way of dealing with loss. Here is a photographic evidence that this is not all that uncommon with animals. How this gorilla dealt with the loss of his mother will surely break your heart.

Gorillas

Gorillas are considered to be a part of the four species of great apes. It is no secret that they closely resemble us human beings. These great apes are able to walk upright like us, they do not have tails, and they, in fact, have a brain which is comparatively larger than that of an average monkey. This enables them to process information faster and they can also absorb more data than them. One thing we have to note is that these apes are also slowly nearing extinction. Their population has decreased so much in these recent years.

Declining Population

Because of various reasons, the total population of gorillas has deducted at an alarming rate and there is no sign of slowing down as of now. All in all, there are approximately 150,000 – 200,000 western lowland gorillas that can still be seen on this earth. It is a sad fact to note that the eastern lowland gorillas are even weaker in their population. You would not believe how few these gorillas have become in the recent past. Their total number of population is below 5,000. We all know that human beings are in fact responsible for most of the hunting involved when it comes to the of gorillas. There is one particular thing that humans do that has eliminate thousands and thousands of gorillas. It is nothing other than the devilish act of poaching. These poor gorillas are mostly poached for the bushmeat trade. Most gorillas that reside on the mountains have also withered away due to the change in climate as well. These are two of the main reasons why they are dying in a widespread manner.

Patrick Karabaranga

Who is Patrick Karabaranga? you ask. Well, he works as a park ranger at the Virunga National Park. This park is actually a very notable one that has done a commendable job in preserving wildlife. The national park is reportedly one of the oldest African national parks. There are around 880 gorillas that stay in this national park. They rely on the park for safety, food, and co-existence. The number of gorillas that stay here actually amounts to a quarter of all the mountain gorilla population. So what does Karabaranga do? Well, he is a dedicated park ranger who works towards the betterment of the gorillas that stay in their natural habitat. This man aims to save as many gorillas as he possibly can and has done so many times throughout his career. He would sometimes pose a danger to himself when he finds out about infiltrations from poachers and traffickers. He does his best to keep these gorillas from those who seek to attack or hunt them. An attack happened in the park when the ranger was not available…

Young Gorilla

When he heard about the attack, Karabaranga quickly went to the park to check what had happened there. There was a photo taken of Karabaranga where he had placed his arm around a young gorilla which appeared to be going through some emotional stress. This moment of affection that the park ranger Karabaranga and the gorilla shared in the photo made everyone who had even seen the picture to feel that pain. This young gorilla had just lost his mother. As you may have already guessed, yes the gorilla at the hands of human. The young gorilla’s mother had been hunted by none other than the evil poachers who had managed to sneak into the national park. He and another two young gorillas had been kept in the park after losing their parents who were hunted by poachers. The young gorilla can be seen hanging onto Karabaranga as if he is pleading him to make the pain go away. He rests in the park ranger’s arms, looking for someone to ease the agony.

Difficult Life

Most of the gorillas that had been kept in the park have actually gone through a very rough patch. They had been taken into the wildlife park to hopefully have a better future, to populate and multiply. They had a very difficult start to life […] They were recovered from poachers,  Chief Warden Emmanuel De Merode had revealed when he was asked about the gorillas that stay in the national park. It seems that some of the gorillas had such a dark past that it was quite surprising for the park rangers that they were doing well. Even the mere fact that these gorillas had survived and thrived was something to short of a miracle. De Merode also claimed that it was pretty miraculous. Young gorillas of that age very rarely survive. The park does all that it can to hopefully keep these gorillas in a better environment than they could ever hope for. All they aim to do is to save and help produce as many gorillas as they possibly can.