The mountain gorilla is the only great ape whose population is increasing, and Rwanda's conservation model demonstrates what intensive protection can achieve.
Mountain gorilla conservation in Rwanda represents a remarkable welfare achievement — a species pulled back from near-extinction through intensive protection. Yet individual gorillas still face significant welfare challenges. Human respiratory diseases transmitted by tourists and rangers have caused outbreaks that kill gorillas with no natural immunity to human pathogens. Snares set for other animals maim and kill gorillas regularly — veterinary teams conduct dangerous field operations to remove snares from living animals. Habitat compression forces gorilla groups into closer proximity than natural, increasing inter-group conflicts. The extraordinary success of the population recovery masks ongoing individual welfare costs. Rwanda's model — combining strict protection, tourism revenue, and veterinary care — is now being applied in other great ape conservation programs.