Mountain and lowland gorillas face severe habitat pressure from deforestation, mining, and human encroachment. The welfare of these highly intelligent great apes depends on protecting adequate wild habitat.
Gorillas are cognitively and emotionally complex great apes whose welfare depends on intact social groups, adequate territory, and freedom from human persecution. Habitat fragmentation forces gorilla families into smaller, less productive territories where food competition increases and disease exposure from human contact intensifies. Gorillas caught in snares suffer severe injuries and prolonged pain. Orphaned gorillas — produced by bushmeat hunting that kills mothers — require years of intensive rehabilitation and rarely integrate fully into wild groups. The welfare of individual gorillas is inseparable from the conservation of their habitat and the protection of their family groups. Conservation programs that protect both are simultaneously conservation and animal welfare interventions.