Rwanda’s Mountain Gorillas are safe from Ebola

There have been a number of news reports on the international broadcast media and websites stating the Ebola virus is threatening to wipe out the gorillas in Africa. The report comes as a result of a research study conducted by Magdalena Bermejo of Barcelona University in Spain.  Ms. Bermejo conducted the research in 2002-2003 among the western lowland gorillas of Congo Brazzaville and Gabon during the Ebola outbreak in that region. Her report was published in the Journal Science issue of 8th December 2006 ref volume 314, no. 5805 pp. 1564.

The Director General of Rwanda Office of Tourism and National Parks (ORTPN), Rosette Chantal RUGAMBA expressed concern and would like to assure the general public that despite the report,
the mountain gorillas in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park are safe and tourism activities are going on normally. Speaking to the media in Kigali, she clarified that;

• The research which was conducted during the 2002-2003 Ebola outbreak was limited to the western lowland gorillas found in Congo Brazzaville, Cameroon, Gabon, Central African Republic
  and the Congo Basin yet Rwanda is home to Mountain gorillas. The mountain gorillas is limited to two territories that were not even studied; Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and the Virunga Massif.
• At no time during and since the outbreak has the wildlife or the people in the Virunga region been under any Ebola threat. Samples of Mountain gorilla serum are periodically screened for
  antibodies including for the Ebola Virus and results have always been negative, which means they have never been exposed to the virus.

Incase of any outbreak, ORTPN has measures in place like a health contingency plan of gorillas and a daily health monitor system for the primates and in particular the gorillas. Such health policies alongside sound conservation initiatives have led to a 17% increase in the Rwanda’s mountain gorilla population.

The Office would like to calm all tourists and the Rwandan citizens hoping to visit Rwanda’s mountain Gorillas and other primates, not to be alarmed by the report or any inaccuracies that may result from interpretation of this report. If there was such potential health threat, ORTPN would be the first to report any danger on the wildlife and visitors to the parks.