Mountain gorilla ecotourism has funded remarkable conservation success, but tourist habituations expose gorillas to disease risk and behavioural disruption that carry real welfare costs.
Mountain gorilla ecotourism illustrates the complexity of conservation-welfare trade-offs. The economic model has unambiguously saved the species from extinction, funding protection that would otherwise be impossible. But habituated gorillas pay welfare costs: disease exposure from human proximity, behavioural modification to accommodate monitoring, and chronic low-level stress from daily human presence. Individual welfare is somewhat compromised to save the population. Minimising these costs through strict health protocols (masks, distance requirements, health screening of visitors), limiting habituation to the minimum necessary, and maintaining large unhabituated populations balances conservation and welfare imperatives more effectively than abandoning ecotourism entirely.