'Jungle police' risking their lives for endangered gorillas in the DR Congo

The parade is aimed at bolstering discipline and morale in a group of men and women who know that every time they step into the jungle their lives are at risk.

Earlier this month, five rangers and a staff driver were killed during an ambush at the sister operation in the Virunga National Park. The risk is real - not just to the rangers trying to protect the gorillas but also to the primates themselves.

Multiple conflicts which have stretched over decades in the DR Congo have led to a catastrophic collapse in the population of the world's largest primate - a gorilla subspecies which lives in the forests in the east of the country.

It's estimated only a few thousand of the Grauer's gorilla exist in the wild - and the recent spike in unrest in this troubled part of the world threatens to put the remaining few at further risk.

Source: NewsSky