In March 2008, Honore Mashagiro, the former Director of Congo's Virunga National Park, was arrested in Goma, on charges that he masterminded the execution of ten highly endangered mountain gorillas in 2007. Mashagiro allegedly engineered the slayings to serve as a warning to conservationists, who were trying to prevent charcoal harvesters from burning the forests surrounding the gorilla's habitat. Charcoal harvesting is a very profitable business in the fuel-strapped Democratic Republic of Congo. Virunga National Park was established in 1925, and is Africa's oldest national park.

1. Six other park employees are suspected as having followed Mashagiro's orders.
2. Ten thousand people live in Virunga National Park, as a result of civil unrest in the Congo and neighboring Rwanda
3. No. of mountain gorillas believed still living in the wild: 600
4. Gorillas are sometimes killed for their meat by hungry refugees
5. Most gorillas in zoos are not mountain gorillas, but lowland gorillas

• Reuters Africa: Congo Arrests Ranger Over Gorilla Killings (March 19, 2008)
• News24 (South Africa): Man Held for Gorilla Slaughter (March 19, 2008)
• ABC News: Gorillas Massacred for Loggers' Greed? (March 19, 2008)
• Topix.net: Honore Mashagiro
• Google News: Honore Mashagiro
• WildlifeDirect: Congo Ranger Briefing (April 20, 2007) (Time: 7:15)
• The Gorilla Organization: Planting trees for the future of the national park (November 19, 2007)
  • Mashagiro was present at a tree-planting ceremony in Virunga National Park in November: "The ceremony was launched by the environment minister for South Kivu Province, in the presence of the regional director of the Congolese Wildlife Authority, Honore Mashagiro and Henry Chiruza, the Gorilla Organization's DRC programme Manager."
• TerraDaily: Rebels And Rangers Kill Conservationists And Poachers... (May 20, 2007)
  • Mashagiro, on the murder of a conservationist inside Virunga in May of 2007: "They went straight to the house of the head of the post, who was absent... They killed the conservationist who was inside the dwelling at the time."

• Wildlifedirect.org: Chief Suspect Behind the Rugendo Massacre Arrested (March 19, 2008)

• Google Blog Search: Honore Mashagiro

• • Honore Mashagiro is currently a stub, a brief collection of the best links for this story. The page will be updated as we find more information.

• Help Mahalo complete this search! Let us know if you've found additional quality links about Honore Mashagiro on Google, Del.icio.us, Digg or elsewhere, and we can expand this result.