The silverback gorilla, named Rafiki, was killed after it went missing on June 1.

Wildlife authorities in Uganda have arrested four men connected to the killing of a 25-year-old male gorilla, the leader of a group and hugely popular with tourists in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

The silverback gorilla, named Rafiki, was killed after it went missing on June 1. Its body was found the next day.

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One of the arrested men, who had been found in possession of wild hog meat, rope and wire snares and spears, “confessed to killing the gorilla in self-defence”, the state-run Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) said in a statement on Friday.

He claimed the gorilla had charged at him while he and a colleague were hunting.

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