Mountain gorillas are conservation success stories but face ongoing welfare challenges from disease, habitat pressure, and the complex dynamics of human presence in their range.
The welfare of habituated mountain gorilla groups involves inherent trade-offs: close monitoring enables rapid response to disease and injury but introduces stress and disease transmission risk from human proximity. Silverback males injured in snares set for other animals suffer significant pain and sometimes death. Inter-group conflicts over territory and females result in infanticide and serious injuries. Despite conservation success in numbers, individual gorillas face real welfare challenges including parasitic infections, respiratory illness, and injury.