Ugandan gorilla Rafiki killed at UNESCO park, four arrested

An popular gorilla in a world heritage-protected game park has been brutally killed by poachers, who claimed they were acting in self-defence.

An iconic gorilla in a world heritage-protected park has been brutally killed by poachers.

Wildlife authorities have arrested four poachers over the brutal killing of a gorilla in a UNESCO-protected game reserve.

The male silverback gorilla, named Rafiki, was hugely popular with tourists in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda.

Rafiki, 25 years old, went missing on June 1 and he was found dead the next day.

The state-run Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) found evidence of him being brutally killed.

“A post-mortem report revealed that the Silverback sustained an injury by a sharp device/object that penetrated its left upper part of the abdomen up to the internal organs,” the organisation said in a statement.

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An iconic gorilla in a world heritage-protected park has been brutally killed by poachers. Image: Uganda Wildlife Authority

The UWA also said four men had been detained for their role in the death of Rafiki.

One of the detained men had been found in possession of wild hog meat, rope and wire snares and spears, according to the UWA.

The man “confessed to killing the gorilla in self-defence,” the statement said, adding he said it charged at him while he and a colleague were hunting.

The park, a UNESCO world heritage site near Uganda’s border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, is a 120 square mile patch of dense tropical forest that is home to primates, elephants, antelopes and other wildlife.

The park is home to an estimated 400 mountain gorillas – roughly half the world’s population.

Rafiki was head of a 17-member gorilla group called Nkuringo.

Poaching is rampant in Uganda’s game parks and police frequently announce seizures of illicitly acquired wildlife products such as ivory, rhino horns, pangolin scales and others.