For further information, please contact the DFGFI office at 404-624-5881.
Communications Director, Erika Archibald
President and CEO, Clare Richardson
For the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project, Lainie Contreras 443-552-5275; Public Relations Manager, Maryland Zoo, Baltimore
The health of the mountain gorillas is of critical importance to the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International (DFGFI) We monitor on a daily basis the physical condition of each of the 105 gorillas living in the three research groups in the Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda. This information is shared with the Rwandan Office of Tourism and National Parks (ORTPN) and the veterinarians of the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project (MGVP), who use it to make decisions about the need for health-related interventions. On the rare occasion that a mountain gorilla is anesthetized by MGVP veterinarians to treat an illness or injury, blood samples are collected and screened for a number of diseases – including Ebola. There has never been a positive antibody titer to the Ebola virus among the mountain gorillas tested, nor have clinical signs of this disease been observed in this species. In addition, DFGFI & MGVP participate in other global ape health efforts, such as the Great Ape Health Monitoring Unit, aimed at further understanding factors affecting ape health and minimizing disease risk to apes.
Ebola has affected populations of the western gorilla species living in West/Central Africa. There is currently no threat of Ebola to mountain gorillas, which are a different species and separated from western gorillas by approximately 750 miles (950 miles from the western most point where Ebola has been identified).
DFGFI and MGVP will continue to work with National Park Authorities and various ape health groups to monitor the Ebola situation in western Africa and assess potential risks to the mountain gorilla population. Vaccinating the mountain gorilla population at this point in time would be premature given the lack of an immediate threat and given that the vaccine’s efficacy and safety has yet to be tested in apes.
