In the cage of an empty, half-renovated zoo. Small, fragile, locked in. His gaze is lost. He paces in circles, trapped in a silence louder than all the sirens in the world: the silence of inaction. This orphaned bonobo — a victim of poaching, intercepted on July 13, 2025 in Ndjale, Tshuapa Province — once had a chance. A chance at rehabilitation, a promise of care, a possibility to live… somewhere else. But 42 days later, he is still being held at the Kisangani Zoo, a facility which, ironically, is currently under renovation. There are no specialized treatments, no opportunities for socialization, no veterinary oversight — not even a stable enclosure. And yet, he remains there. As if time didn’t matter.
And yet, everyone knows. The case was exposed in an article published by KilaloPress on August 13, thoroughly documented. It revealed how a suspicious administrative document, signed in the name of the ICCN, allowed a man — not recognized as an official agent — to transport a captive baby bonobo to Kisangani with no clear legal justification. The Local Security Council of Ikela even declared the document to be a forgery. The man was released. The bonobo remained imprisoned.
Since then, NGOs have written to the authorities. Experts have spoken out. Journalists have investigated. Many voices have been raised. Still, no action has been taken. The ICCN has yet to issue a public response. The responsible ministry has remained silent. No member of parliament, oversight body, or environmental ethics committee has stepped forward. As if this bonobo’s life isn’t even worth a formal memo.
From within the ICCN itself, the only known response so far has been a request for explanation sent to the director of the Kisangani Zoo. No disciplinary action. No audit. No mission report.
At best, this reflects a serious failure of internal control; at worst, it reveals the outlines of an organized dysfunction, where responsibilities are blurred, decisions vanish, and wildlife protection becomes a secondary concern.
In a phone interview with a senior ICCN official familiar with the case, KilaloPress tried to understand this institutional silence. The response was striking:
“This is too much!” the official snapped, visibly irritated by the growing attention around the matter.
He claimed that the ICCN was “doing its best with limited resources”, and denounced what he perceived as unjustified pressure. He went further, pointing fingers at NGOs and conservation actors, accusing them of enjoying international funding while criticizing the ICCN without offering any concrete support.
But KilaloPress firmly rejects this argument. If the ICCN admits it lacks the means, then it has both a moral and institutional obligation to reach out to its many partners who could assist — either through the transfer of the animal or its specialized rehabilitation, in full compliance with Congolese environmental law.
Every passing day is another blow to this animal’s survival. This young bonobo, torn too soon from his mother, deprived of social contact, denied proper care and a suitable environment, is slowly fading.
This is not just an animal behind bars — it is a traumatized being, a member of a protected species, recognized as such by international conventions. To let this individual waste away in a construction site masquerading as a zoo is not a mistake. It is a moral and institutional failure.
And it’s not for lack of options. There are sanctuaries in the DRC — with qualified personnel, veterinarians, ethologists, proper quarantine and behavioral rehabilitation protocols. They are ready to receive this animal.Why hasn’t the transfer happened?
One Congolese conservationist, speaking anonymously to KilaloPress during the initial investigation, summed up the situation with bitter irony: “Since Congolese authorities won’t take care of their emblematic species, might as well send them straight to Vantara.”
A direct reference to the Memorandum of Understanding between the ICCN and the Indian sanctuary Vantara — a controversial agreement whose terms remain vague, even to Congolese authorities.
A reminder that when conservation isn’t done properly at home, others are always willing to do it — in their own way. So what more is needed? A death? Another scandal? An international outcry?
This bonobo is still there. And each day spent in that cage worsens his trauma, makes reintegration harder, and further erodes the credibility of the ICCN and the national conservation framework.
The ICCN’s silence, the ministry’s inaction, and the indifference of those who could intervene but choose not to — all of them will be accountable if this animal dies. They won’t be able to claim ignorance. Everything has been said, written, submitted, and repeated. This is no longer a case of poor information.
This is a refusal to act.
This is no longer about one case. It is a test of truth. A test of commitment to our ecological responsibilities. A test of our humanity. Because in that cage, it is not just a bonobo pacing back and forth. It is an entire conservation system collapsing under the weight of institutional cowardice.
By Franck zongwe Lukama