The desperate, international-scale attempt to save the world's last mountain gorillas which are to be found only in Uganda, Rwanda and Zaire, has taken on a new urgency since much of the area was ravaged by war.

Now, Bermuda will join the list of countries that are supporting the work of the International Gorilla Conservation Programme, with special fund-raising events next week.

An hour-long film entitled `Mountain Gorilla: A Shattered Kingdom and a Vision of Hope', will be preceded by a short talk given by Annette Lanjouw, regional coordinator of the Conservation Programme. The film by Bruce Davidson, which was eight years in the making and first shown on Anglia Television in July, won `Best Animal Portrait Award' this weekend at the 1996 Wildscreen Awards in London.

Speaking from Washington where she has been speaking about her work on the project to the African Wildlife Foundation, Ms Lanjouw said: "I think the point we want to get across is that the mountain gorillas are threatened as never before because of the situation in Rwanda and Zaire. So it's absolutely crucial that we really concentrate on the conservation areas to protect these wonderful animals from the long-term effects of political and socio-economic influences.'' Explaining that the 1990-94 war had exacerbated the gorillas' already threatened existence, she explained: "Basically, there are up to two million refugees in Rwanda and Zaire and 750,000 of them are right on the edge of the Virunga National Park. Although the United Nations is providing food for these people in the form of uncooked beans and corn, they can only supply 30 percent of the fuel needed to cook the food, so off they go, every day, into the forest to cut down timber. That's the biggest single threat to the gorillas right now.'' The largest primates on Earth are now facing an ecological disaster, with supplies of bamboo (their main food supply) increasingly depleted. Over a period of one year an area equivalent to the size of seven soccer fields is erased each day. Bamboo is used to make mats, baskets and partitioning for the refugees' tents and when they enter the forest to collect the bamboo and timber, they also lay snares and shoot wildlife to supplement their diet and to sell for much-needed money.

Gorillas are also regularly shot, poached and, babies especially, snared. From the moment the refugees arrived, the number of snares set in the part increased dramatically from a few to hundreds each day. Although snares are set to catch other animals, the mountain gorillas are often the victims, resulting in loss of limb, or even life.

Virunga Park itself, the oldest in Africa and declared a World Heritage Site, is also obviously in great danger.

In spite of this gloomy outlook, Ms Lanjouw said there is still hope, as evidenced by the birth last year, of seven gorillas in two habituated families in Rwanda last year: "This is a very good sign. We are managing to keep the park intact and although eight of the gorillas were killed last year, we are having a great deal of success with our 24-hour patrol guards, who have been kitted out with bullet-proof vests. We are paying them salaries and that has made a huge difference, with the protection now being really stepped up. Of course, all of this takes money!'' Andrew Bickham, who has organised the fund-raising for the mountain gorillas in conjunction with the Bermuda Zoological Society and American Airlines, has been visiting these areas of Africa for several years now. A member of the Diane Fossey Foundation who, he says, has done perhaps more than anyone to raise public awareness about these beautiful, threatened creatures, Mr.

Bickham last visited Rwanada and Zaire in May.

"I drove right past the refugee camps, and when you see 750,000 people all living out in the open, life suddenly takes on a whole different meaning.

These are many of the people who committed genocide and, fearing reprisals, fled from Rwanda into Zaire. They are literally only a few miles from the gorillas and the pressures on the animals are obviously terrible.'' He points out that the future survival of these gentle beasts who have so fascinated humans since they were first discovered by European scientists back in 1847, depends, ironically enough, on humans. Mountain gorillas have become a very popular tourist draw -- so popular, in fact, that official visits to their habitats are now restricted to one hour each day.

"They are quite used to humans now, very trusting and allow you to sit quietly with them -- even though some humans kill them. We tend to say, `they look so human' and probably, they're thinking that we look quite gorilla-like.

They are amazingly gentle and very lovable. Films like King Kong certainly did their cause a lot of harm but, thankfully, people have quite a different concept now, thanks to people like Diane Fossey. So if the Gorilla Conservation Programme can continue to train and employ guards, guides and park wardens, the people will become part of the solution.'' Or, as Ms Lanjouw puts it, "It is always human activity that destroys the natural balance, so it's up to us to restore it! Of course, it would be a lot easier if we hadn't wrecked it in the first place.'' Thanks to additional sponsorship by Ernst & Young, Ms Lanjouw will also be visiting three of the Island's schools during her visit to Bermuda.

The prize-winning `Mountain Gorilla' will be shown at the Bermuda High School for Girls on Tuesday, October 29, at 7 p.m. Tickets ($10 and $7 for students) are on sale at the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo, and from the City Hall Box Office on Friday, October 25, from 12 noon to 2 p.m.

HITCHING A RIDE -- Bermuda will join the rest of the world in an effort to save endangered mountain gorillas with a special fund-raising event next week.

Pictured is a baby gorilla, riding on its mother's back and one of only 620 of these creatures now left in the world.