Save the Gorillas!

photo by Julie Larsen Maher ©WCS

The United Nations has named 2009 the Year of the Gorilla, in an effort to raise awareness about gorillas and the threats they face.

photo by Julie Larsen Maher ©WCS

Gorillas share 98.4 percent of their genes with humans, and have been shown to possess self-awareness, remarkable intelligence and an ability to communicate with signs and symbols as well as use some basic tools. They express emotions such as joy and distress in a way similar to humans.

The main threats to gorillas are habitat loss, poaching, and disease, such as ebola.  Already ebola has killed one-third of the world’s gorillas and tens of thousands of chimpanzees.  The western lowland gorilla population has declined more than 60 percent over the last 20 to 25 years, which has led to the species being moved from endangered to critically endangered on the IUCN Red List.   A large portion of this decline is due to ebola outbreaks and the transmission of the disease from group to group through social contact.

photo by Julie Larsen Maher ©WCS

Ebola is reducing once healthy populations to a level where they are no longer resilient to other threats, such as poaching.  Between ebola and poaching, it is estimated that the existing world population of gorillas could become extinct in the wild in the next 10 to 20 years.

Ebola in gorillas and other great apes may actually be preventable through vaccination, which has already been proven effective in monkeys.  At least six experimental vaccines have protected laboratory monkeys from ebola virus.  It takes a significant amount of funding to adapt the current ebola vaccine into one that will be safe and effective for great apes.  People may be intimidated by the cost of vaccination, but one year of ebola vaccination could save as many apes as decades of anti-poaching.

“When people look back 100 years from now, most won’t even remember Iraq. One thing they will remember is that we sat by and did nothing while our closest relatives slipped away,” says Peter Walsh of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Antropology in Germany.  ”This is a case where one wealthy individual could have an enormous impact. He or she could quite literally save gorillas from ecological extinction.”

photo by Julie Larsen Maher ©WCS

…and so, I am asking for your help. On Saturday, April 25 I will be participating in the 5K Run for the Wild, hosted by the Wildlife Conservation Society, one of the United Nations Great Apes Survival Partnership (GRASP) partner organizations.

The Wildlife Conservation Society saves wildlife and wild places worldwide. By joining the Run for the Wild, my goal is to help assist with the fundraising efforts of the organization and make a difference for the future.

Please donate to protect gorillas on my fundraising page. Every little bit adds up!

photo by Julie Larsen Maher ©WCS

photo by Julie Larsen Maher ©WCS