Mountain gorillas are one of the only great ape populations increasing in number thanks to intensive conservation. The welfare of this critically endangered species involves complex human-wildlife interface management.
Mountain gorilla welfare demonstrates what intensive, well-resourced conservation can achieve for critically endangered species. The decision to actively veterinarily treat wild gorillas is itself a welfare policy choice that acknowledges these cognitively exceptional animals deserve individual welfare consideration alongside population conservation. The success of mountain gorilla recovery is inseparable from the welfare-compatible approach of tourism that generates conservation revenue while maintaining strict health protocols that protect the gorillas from human disease. The welfare lesson is that conservation programs that treat individual animal welfare as integral rather than peripheral to population goals can achieve both simultaneously.