Gorillas

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is one of the only organizations in the world working to protect all four gorilla subspecies- each of which is threatened by extinction. For nearly half a century WCS has initiated and supported gorilla research and conservation projects throughout their range in Africa. 

•In the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), years of war have threatened the Grauer’s gorillas. Throughout this dangerous period, committed WCS staff remained on the ground, ensuring the protection of these populations despite great risk. As a post-war DRC faces the challenges of rebuilding, WCS is assisting in restoring its famed Kahuzi-Biega National Park to its former glory.   

•Throughout the Congo Basin, we are working to conserve the Western lowland gorilla, currently the most numerous and wideranging of the gorilla subspecies. However disease, such as Ebola, and the bushmeat trade threaten to  decimate these populations. WCS is working closely with the WCS Field Veterinary Program to understand the paterns of disease transmission and promote protective measures from the ground up.

•We are also working to protect the extremely rare Cross River gorillas found in the Cameroon-Nigeria Highlands. With only 250 Cross River gorillas remaining, we currenly face a crisis in conserving this poorly known subspecies . Yet, our state of the art research shows that it is still possible to save these remnant populations and it is crucial that the conservation community intensifies its efforts to save the elusive Cross River gorilla.  

•In the Albertine Rift, we are working with the world-renowned Mountain gorillas on the eastern edge of gorilla range. Falling as low as 230 individuals as recenlty as the 1970s, the mountain gorilla population is making a dramatic recovery due to decades of conservation effort involving sustained research and monitoring, innovative ecotourism development, and strong collaboration with local managers and communities.


Threats
The dawn of the 21st century has presented formidable challenges for conserving one of mankind’s closest living relatives. Large human populations surround "islands' of forest which are the last stonghold of the remaining populations of Mountain gorillas and Cro ss River gorillas. Grauer’s gorillas have been drastically reduced due to poaching, which has become facilitated by war and the increase of small-scale mining of Coltan, an ore essential to today’s cell phones, and personal computers. Commercial logging has opened up remote areas of Western lowland gorilla habitat. This has resulted in a transportation infrastructure that enables vast networks for the illegal sale of wildlife as “bushmeat” for human consumption, gorilla parts included.  Finally

Bwindi NP, Uganda remains an island of gorilla habitat surrounded by farmland

, outbreaks of the devastating hemorrhagic fever, Ebola, have swept through and critically reduced gorilla populations in Gabon and the Republic of Congo.       

WCS Activities
Working with local partners, WCS is developing practical solutions to the threats faced by gorillas, based on protected area management, local capacity building, and applied research. 

• WCS is working closely with the governments and communities in Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda to train staff and manage protected areas vital to the long-term survival of gorillas.
• In extraordinarily volatile conditions of post-war DR Congo, WCS field staff are reassessing the status of Grauer’s gorilla populations, while at the same time working with local communities and national park service staff to develop innovative strategies for their long-term conservation within and outside protected areas.  
• WCS is expanding upon its successful model of conservation collaboration with a timber company in the Republic of Congo to combat gorilla poaching and the bushmeat trade.
• WCS is researching and monitoring gorilla health in Gabon, Republic of Congo, and the Central African Republic with special attention to infectious diseases such as Ebola.
• With the aim of improving conservation strategies, WCS is studying the impacts of tourism, human-gorilla conflict, as well as basic ecology and habitat requirements of gorillas.

Important Next Steps
• Continue to build and reinforce training of staff in national protected areas.
• Increase our understanding of the impact of human disturbance on gorilla populations, including logging, increased exploitation of non-timber forest products, disease interfaces, and tourism.
• Continue long-term monitoring of population dynamics and ecological changes in gorilla forest habitat.
• Develop Western lowland gorilla ecotourism opportunities, as appropriate, with regional and international partners, to stimulate economic incentives.