Four poachers have been arrested in Uganda following the killing of a rare silverback gorilla in the famed Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.
One of the suspects has admitted slaying the animal with a spear, but says he did so after it charged him while he hunted smaller creatures, the country’s wildlife authority said on Friday.
All four men are now awaiting trial, although it is unclear exactly what charges they will face.
The gorilla – known as Rafiki, which means "friend" in Swahili – was the dominant male of a 17-strong group which had become a huge tourist draw and which were known to be comfortable with human contact.
It went missing on 1 June and the body was discovered the next day. A post-mortem revealed extensive injuries to internal organs caused by a sharp device.
"The death of Rafiki leaves the group unstable and there is the possibility that it could disintegrate," Bashir Hangi from the UWA told the BBC.
"It has no leadership at this time and it could be taken over by a wild silverback."
If that happened, the group would likely withdraw from human interaction, which could impact on tourism and ultimately devastate the local economy.
The quartet of suspects in the killing were arrested on 4 June. If charged and found guilty of killing an endangered species, they face life in prison or a fine of £4.3m.
In 2018, the mountain gorilla was removed from the list of critically endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature after intensive conservation efforts, including anti-poaching patrols, appeared to have brought them back from the brink of extinction.
The IUCN now classifies the species as endangered.
