<p><strong>Ranger Christian Shamavu carries a baby eastern lowland gorilla, which he and his team from <a href="http://gorillacd.org/">Virunga National Park</a> in the <a href="http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/democratic-republic-congo-guide/">Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)</a> rescued from poachers in a dramatic undercover operation last week.</strong></p><p>Posing as black market gorilla buyers, the rangers recovered the infant male unharmed inside a backpack and arrested three poachers, who were seeking to sell the gorilla—now named Shamavu after his rescuer-for as much as U.S. $40,000, according to park authorities.</p><p>Shamavu is the fourth baby gorilla Virunga rangers have recovered from poachers in 2011—the highest number on record in a single year, suggesting that baby-gorilla trafficking may be on the rise in the region.</p><p>"We are very concerned about a growing market for baby gorillas that is feeding a dangerous trafficking activity in rebel-controlled areas of eastern DRC," <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/08/080807-demerode-virunga-missions.html">Virunga National Park Warden Emmanuel de Merode</a> said in a statement.</p><p>"We are powerless to control the international trade in baby gorillas, but our rangers are doing everything they can to stamp it out on the ground."</p><p>(See<a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/06/080616-virunga-rangers.html"> "Inside the Gorilla Wars: Rangers on Risking It All."</a>)</p><p><em>—Stefan Lovgren</em></p>