Wildlife traffickers may have killed her family to capture her; rescued baby gorilla Bili begins a second life in Congo

When Bili the baby gorilla was rescued from wildlife traffickers in Nigeria in 2023, she was sick, frightened, and so young that she needed constant reassurance from her human caregivers. For the next three years, she would sleep clinging to a rescuer, gradually recover from illness and learn to trust again. Now, after an international operation moved her to a forest sanctuary in the Republic of the Congo, the young western lowland gorilla is beginning another chapter, with conservationists hoping she may eventually return to the wild.According to CNN's October 16 report, experts believe that some, if not all, of Bili's family members were probably killed when she was taken from her natural habitat for the exotic pet trade. Her precise birthplace remains unknown, with Cameroon, Gabon and the Republic of the Congo among the possible origins. What is known is that she was intercepted in Lagos, Nigeria, in August 2023, when customs officials uncovered an attempted sale of the infant gorilla.Her rescue has since become a story of survival, international cooperation and the challenges of rehabilitating animals traumatised by wildlife trafficking.Rescued from traffickers as an infantBili...