Six baby gorillas returned home Sunday to the Democratic Republic of Congo. The young primates, ranging in age from five to eight years old, were among the very few fortunate enough to be rescued from smugglers.
Authorities believe poachers killed the gorillas' parents in order to steal them and smuggle them across the border into Rwanda.
In Central Africa, only 680 mountain gorillas survive in the wild. Many of the them, listed as critically endangered, are protected at a national park in Uganda.
Reuters explains "gorillas are caught and sold for thousands of dollars on the world market as exotic pets, or killed and sold locally as a delicacy."
"The rescue is being hailed as step in the right direction for both Congolese and Rwandan wildlife protection agencies, who have been working in partnership to reduce poaching in wilderness preserves along their shared border," TreeHugger reports.
Six Rwandan and Congolese men, believed to be part of a wider criminal ring, have been detained.
Two conservation groups sponsored the gorillas' trip home. They currently reside at a rescue centre.
Eventually, they'll be released into the wild.
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