By Daniel Wallis

NAIROBI, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Conservationists appealed on Thursday for urgent donations to support rangers guarding mountain gorillas in a war-torn corner of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

The rangers and their families fled Virunga National Park in September 2007 after the area was occupied by rebel fighters loyal to renegade General Laurent Nkunda.

They returned to Africa's oldest reserve in November last year, but found their headquarters had been looted or destroyed. The government cannot pay their salaries and the rangers desperately need funds to resume their work.

"Now is a critical time for Virunga Park," said Andrew Plumptre of the U.S.-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

"Individuals can make a big difference in helping to save mountain gorillas, elephants, lions and hippos by supporting the guards who protect them," he said in a statement.

The park is home to 200 of the world's last 700 mountain gorillas, who live in thickly forested hills on the border with Uganda and Rwanda. It suffered repeated attacks last year during which 10 of the endangered primates were slaughtered.

Nkunda launched an offensive last August that drove a quarter of a million civilians from their homes in mineral-rich North Kivu province, bringing to more than 1 million the number of people displaced by two years of conflict in the region.

Plumptre said that was an immense human tragedy.

"At the same time, preserving protected areas that are experiencing poaching and warfare means keeping a constant conservation presence on the ground," he said." It's the only way to ensure parks like Virunga survive periods of conflict."

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