Mountain gorillas are the only great ape whose population is growing, but welfare challenges from tourism, disease, and habitat pressure remain significant.
Wild gorilla welfare is embedded in one of conservation's great success stories, but welfare considerations extend beyond population numbers to individual animal experiences. Disease transmission from human tourists represents a genuine welfare risk — gorillas have died from human respiratory viruses. Snare injuries cause significant acute pain and long-term disability that can prevent effective foraging. Habituation to tourism, while enabling the revenue that funds conservation, involves repeated close human contact that may cause stress for non-habituated individuals encountering tourist groups. Veterinary intervention for injured gorillas involves capture stress that must be weighed against the benefit of treatment. The Gorilla Doctors program, which provides veterinary care to injured mountain gorillas, provides direct welfare benefit alongside conservation function.