Louna

Western lowland gorillas face extinction in the wild, making every birth in managed care precious for the species’ future. At Port Lympne Wild Animal Park, Foufou and Djala’s son would become part of an ambitious conservation effort that few captive-born gorillas ever experience.

Raised by his mother at the Kent wildlife park, Louna spent his early years learning the social behaviors that would prove essential later in life. The Western Lowland Gorilla subspecies he belongs to carries the IUCN classification of Critically Endangered, with wild populations under constant pressure from habitat loss and hunting.

In 2013, he made the journey to the Gorilla Protection Project at Bat’eke Plateau in Central Africa. This marked the beginning of a reintroduction process designed to prepare captive-born gorillas for life in their ancestral habitat. After a year of acclimatization at the facility, he took the extraordinary step into Bat’eke Plateau National Park as a free-ranging gorilla.

His time in the wild lasted just over a month before his death in June 2026. Though brief, his release represented one of the few successful transitions from European captivity to African wilderness that conservation programs have achieved with his subspecies.