On Thurs­day after­noon, the Lwi­ro Pri­ma­te Reha­bi­li­ta­tion Cen­ter (CRPL), Lwi­ro Pri­ma­tes, was attac­ked by an armed group that for­ced its way into the cen­ter and ope­ned fire. You can ima­gi­ne the panic this cau­sed among the staff and the ani­mals, who are already living under cons­tant stress due to the ongoing armed con­flict in the region.

For­tu­na­tely, the­re were only mate­rial los­ses and emo­tio­nal dis­tress. All staff mem­bers and the ani­mals are safe.

The follo­wing mor­ning, as they do every day, the team retur­ned to their posts to con­ti­nue caring for the more than 200 pri­ma­tes living at the cen­ter, such as Flo­ren­ce, pic­tu­red here caring for the young Felix.

From SOS Pri­ma­tes, we would like to express our deep gra­ti­tu­de and admi­ra­tion for the incre­di­ble work carried out by the team. We also hope that pea­ce will soon return to the region.

If you are con­si­de­ring hel­ping, this is one of tho­se moments when your sup­port can truly make a dif­fe­ren­ce. You can explo­re some of the ways to help here. As always, all sup­port goes directly to the Demo­cra­tic Repu­blic of Congo:

https://sosprimates.org/wp/pequenos-grandes-gestos/