Mountain gorillas have made a remarkable recovery but western gorillas face severe threats from bushmeat hunting and Ebola virus disease causing mass mortality.
Gorillas killed in bushmeat hunting die from snares, spears, or shooting, with juveniles often surviving to be sold as pets after their mothers are killed. Snared gorillas suffer prolonged suffering until death or rescue. Infants separated from mothers in bushmeat hunts experience acute trauma and often die without specialist care. Ebola causes haemorrhagic fever with extreme acute suffering in affected individuals. Respiratory disease transmission from tourists to habituated gorillas causes illness in animals that lack human pathogen immunity.