3.
While Africans plunder the gorilla population, they are not the only ones. Over the years, their European neighbors have developed a taste for exotic bush meat as a status symbol. Trophy hunters value gorillas for their collectable heads and hands. Finally, some hunters persist in the decades-long practice of trapping young gorillas to sell to zoos and private citizens across the world. When mature members of the gorilla troop try to defend an infant, hunters shoot to preserve their prize. Entire troops of gorillas have perished this way. The international gorilla trade continues even though it is illegal, since the laws are nearly impossible to enforce. Gorilla populations continue to decline.