The case of the missing chimpanzees in the Democratic Republic of Congo goes far beyond a simple administrative scandal. It reveals a deep fracture in national environmental governance and highlights an unsettling question that field actors keep repeating: where have the animals gone?
It is in this context that organizations grouped within the Environmental Civil Society in the DRC—members of SOCEARUCO and the Congo Basin Conservation Society (CBCS-Network)—have addressed an official note to the Minister of Environment. Their position is based on a series of verified facts which, pieced together, paint a damning picture.
The troubling investigation shows that nine chimpanzees were recorded at the Kinshasa Zoo and were supposedly exported to Vantara in India. The documents list nine, but reality shows that only eight actually left the country. The ninth, a female still present at the zoo and abandoned in a dilapidated cage, contradicts the official administrative version and stands as the first tangible proof of a fundamental falsehood.
Even more disturbing is the case of the six chimpanzees from Buta, hidden under a blue plastic tarp at the Kinshasa Zoological Garden, adding another layer of darkness to the affair. These infants, concealed in a location known only to a few insiders, have now disappeared. No report, no transfer, no explanation. The zoo holds no trace of their presence. They seem to have vanished, as if their very existence had to be erased.
Added to this are six other chimpanzees from Buta who never even reached the Kinshasa Zoo—under rehabilitation at the time—and who have also gone missing. And then two more young chimpanzees from the Kisangani Zoo, transferred on 4 February 2025, also disappeared. To this, one must add the list of about twenty chimpanzees from N’Sele Park, yet another episode revealing an administrative black hole. Are the six part of the group of twenty? According to the civil society’s letter, this too remains an unresolved and troubling question.
These animals had been observed, filmed, photographed—yet today nothing remains: no record, no register, no CITES permit attesting to any legal transfer. The total absence of documentation raises an unforgiving question: are these animals dead, or were they clandestinely exported, and on what legal basis? The question becomes even more pressing when one recalls that the DRC has accredited, fully equipped, and specialized sanctuaries that were never consulted to take in these vulnerable animals.
As the findings accumulate, a worrying pattern emerges, suggesting the existence of a parallel system—a true biodiversity mafia operating behind the institutional façade. Structures meant to protect wildlife appear to have been transformed into gears of a criminal economy where each empty cage and each missing permit fuels a lucrative and opaque network.
These elements, included in the position letter, anchor the scandal within its legal framework. Civil society points out that the DRC is violating several fundamental standards: the Constitution, national conservation laws, the CITES Convention, and international resolutions governing breeding and transfers. The CITES SC78 report, published in November 2025 in Samarkand, confirms serious inconsistencies, notably the impossible traceability of numerous animals, the abusive use of the “C” code to declare them captive-bred, and the complete absence of any evidence of legal breeding. Between July 2024 and June 2025, the DRC exported 2,272 animals, including 1,017 monkeys and 9 chimpanzees—a highly abnormal volume that cannot be dismissed as coincidence. Meanwhile, seized animals are kept in garages, infants die of malnutrition, sanctuaries are ignored, and the ICCN maintains a double game that undermines all environmental governance.
Faced with what resembles an institutional collapse, the Environmental Civil Society has issued 16 urgent recommendations. These include: an immediate moratorium on all wildlife-related contracts, particularly those signed with Vantara, Qatar, and the European Union; an independent investigation into the disappearance of the chimpanzees; publication of the memorandum of understanding between ICCN and Vantara; clarification of responsibilities between ICCN and the Corps PPN; full transparency over exports; suspension of implicated officials; creation of a national traceability commission; establishment of a secure electronic system for CITES permits; legal prosecution for trafficking protected species; and mandatory transfer of animals to accredited sanctuaries. A full audit of ICCN and its partners is also one of the key demands.
The position note specifies that without a swift response and concrete action from the Government, civil society will refer the matter to the CITES Secretariat and initiate legal proceedings against the Congolese State for inaction. The conclusion is unequivocal: this correspondence is not an ordinary denunciation. It is a national alert, a red flag warning against the silent disappearance of the DRC’s natural heritage. The scandal of the missing chimpanzees is not an isolated incident, but the revelation of an entire system now exposed—and for which those responsible will have to answer.
By Kilalopress
