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Poaching, Logging, Ebola Threaten Great Apes Modified Conservation International release September 1, 2005 
A combination of natural and man-made threats is killing gorillas and chimpanzees in Central Africa, and experts say $30 million is needed for special programs to save some of mankind's closest relatives from disappearing. Called the Regional Action Plan for Conservation of Chimpanzees and Gorillas in Western Equatorial Africa, the document seeks a multilateral response to the threats to populations of the western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) and the central African chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) that share the same habitat in six countries. The plan represents an urgent appeal to the international community for immediate action, before the damage is irreversible. While the experts were unable to establish precise population figures for the gorillas and chimpanzees, they determined that recent Ebola outbreaks, bushmeat hunting and logging have almost wiped out some populations. The action plan noted that apes reproduce slowly, with limited capacity to recover from decimated populations. "This devastating mix of threats leaves us on the brink of losing some of our closest living relatives," said Russell A. Mittermeier, president of Conservation International and chairman of the Primate Specialist Group of IUCN-The World Conservation Union's Species Survival Commission. ``Protecting gorillas and chimps is not just important in its own right. These animals are also flagship species, important symbols for vast areas of forest that are among the richest on Earth. Protecting them protects many other species as well." The continuing spread of the Ebola virus through the region is a particular threat, with devastating effects on ape populations. Ebola spreads through contact with blood and other body fluids, putting bushmeat hunters and others who might handle carcasses of infected animals at risk. "If we find ways to protect apes from the Ebola virus, we also will protect humans," the action plan concludes. The action plan designated 12 sites in five countries – Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Central African Republic, and Equatorial Guinea – that require immediate help. Seven "exceptional sites" have ape populations exceeding 2,000 in a large area (8,232 to 41,900 square kilometres), while five "important sites" have ape populations of 500 to 2000 individuals in a site covering 1,219 to 9,011 square kilometres. Two other areas labelled "priority survey sites" have known ape populations that require additional study to assess the numbers and determine boundaries to promote ape conservation. "New types of collaborations are going to be needed, as the fate of apes in Central Africa relies not only on addressing the typical issues of poaching and habitat destruction, but also the problems of the rapid spread of disease," said Christophe Boesch of the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation, an author of the action plan. According to the action plan, a series of programs needed to halt declines in ape populations will cost just under $30 million. The measures include anti-poaching activities, improved monitoring and response to Ebola outbreaks, increased training, and tourism development. "As dire as the threats are to the survival of great apes, it's important for the world to know that this is not a lost cause," said Emma Stokes of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Congo Program, another author of the action plan. "It will take a tremendous amount of work and dedication from a variety of conservation groups, government agencies and donors, but we still have a chance to save these animals." The Brazzaville meeting was organized by the Centre International de Recherches Médicales de Franceville (CIRMF), Conservation International (CI), the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation (WCF), and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). Additional funding came from the Great Ape Conservation Fund of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the UNEP/UNESCO Great Ape Survival Project (GRASP), the Cleveland Park Zoo, the Primate Action Fund, and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 
PAST NEWS ARTICLES ON EBOLA AND GREAT APES Ebola kills 100 in Congo, wipes out gorillas Wednesday, March 12, 2003 By Christian Tsoumou, Reuters BRAZZAVILLE, Congo Republic — The deadly Ebola virus has killed 100 people in the remote forests of Congo Republic and wiped out nearly two-thirds of the gorillas in a reserve. "We have reached the fateful figure of 100 dead," Congo's Health Minister Alain Moka said on Tuesday at a ceremony to accept donations to help fight the outbreak. The latest Ebola epidemic to hit the central African country struck in January in the dense forest region of Cuvette-Ouest about 440 miles north of the capital Brazzaville. Ebola is passed on by infected body fluids and kills between 50 and 90 percent of its victims. It starts with a high fever and headache and can lead to massive internal bleeding. "The government has already spent 300 million CFA francs (US$507,000) to put in place the logistics needed to help the stricken people, but the state alone cannot help," Moka said. "We must have the support of everybody and the international community." There is no known cure for Ebola, and authorities in central Africa have battled the disease by cordoning off affected areas and trying to stop locals from eating primates. Scientists believe this outbreak was triggered by the consumption of infected monkey meat. Bush meat is a staple among remote forest communities and deemed a delicacy in many cities. Monkeys, chimpanzees, and gorillas started dying in large numbers towards the end of last year, and primatologists say the impact has been devastating on the Lossi park in Cuvette-Ouest. At an Ebola conference in Brazzaville last week, primatologist Bermejo Magdalena said that gorillas had been disappearing at an alarming rate where she works in the Lossi sanctuary. "In the sanctuary of about 1,200 gorillas, we are now down to just 450 gorillas. We have recorded the disappearance of 600 to 800 gorillas," she said, adding the outbreak could spread to the nearby Odzala park and might then contaminate forests in Gabon. "If Odzala is also contaminated by the epidemic, that's nearly 20,000 gorillas under threat. That's very serious, catastrophic," she said. Ebola killed 73 people in Gabon and the same area of Congo in an epidemic from October 2001 to February 2002, but experts fear this outbreak is more virulent. The disease takes its name from a river in the Democratic Republic of Congo where Ebola was discovered in 1976. The worst outbreak was there in 1995 when more than 250 people died. Despite scientists' efforts to change villagers' eating habits and burial rites, which can involve handling the internal organs of corpses, many believe occult forces are at work. Four teachers accused of casting a spell to cause the latest Ebola outbreak were stoned and beaten to death in February. Source: Reuters + + + + + + + + + + + + Massive Great Ape Die-Off in Africa -- Ebola Suspected source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com National Geographic News Updated February 6, 2003 A catastrophic die-off of lowland gorillas and chimpanzees at the very heart of their range in central Africa has been reported by scientists. Scientists working with the ECOFAC program (an EC-funded regional forest conservation program for central Africa) in northern Republic of Congo said today that they were witnessing what appears to be a massive decline in ape populations in the Lossi Gorilla Sanctuary (about 100 square miles/250 square kilometers) situated about 10 miles (15 square kilometers) to the southwest of the famous Odzala National Park (5,250 square miles/13,600 square kilometers). The region is thought to contain the majority of central Africa's lowland gorillas because of its isolation, the presence of several protected areas, and large undisturbed areas of habitat types particularly favored by gorillas. "Spanish primatologists Magdalena Bermejo and Germain Ilera, who have been studying gorillas at Lossi for the past nine years, report that the eight families (139 individuals) they have been monitoring since 1994, have disappeared from their study area of 40 square kilometers (15 square miles) in the sanctuary," ECOFAC said in a news release today. The first deaths were reported on November 26, and in mid-December scientists from Gabon's Centre International de Recherches Medicales de Franceville (CIRMF) collected samples from four gorilla and two chimpanzee carcasses and confirmed the presence of Ebola virus in all six cases. Since then Bermejo and Ilera and their teams of trackers have been combing the area for signs of great apes and have found only one gorilla group of six individuals on the eastern edge of their study area. Two of the missing gorilla families were habituated for tourism viewing. They were the first lowland gorillas ever to be habituated in central Africa and generated much needed revenue for the local villagers, ECOFAC said. The Lossi Gorilla Sanctuary was created at the request of the villagers when they realized that the long-term benefits from gorilla viewing far outweighed any short-term benefits from hunting. The disappearance of these families is an enormous setback for the villages, ECOFAC said. "This most recent outbreak at Lossi suggests that the devastating effects of the Ebola virus on great ape populations appears to be moving eastwards. The forests in and around the Odzala National Park are known to contain the highest known density of lowland gorillas in Africa." Scientists from Rennes University working with ECOFAC have documented up to 47 families of gorillas visiting a single three-hectare (7.4-acre) forest clearing in the north of Odzala. The epidemic appears be spreading from west to east. Scientists from the World Wildlife Fund working in Minkebe National Park in northern Gabon documented the disappearance of great apes from an estimated area of 20,000 square kilometers (7,700 square miles) sometime between 1990 and 2000, and suspected that the Ebola virus might have been the cause. Three Ebola epidemics were recorded in villages in the Minkebe area between 1994 and 1996. Between November 2001 and June 2002 at least 80 people died during an outbreak of the disease in the cross border area of northeastern Gabon and northwestern Congo (Mekambo-Ekata-Mbomo-Kelle). During this epidemic, scientists from ECOFAC, CIRMF, and WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) also documented deaths of great apes in the same area and the Ebola virus was confirmed from one carcass. In several cases it was established that handling fresh ape carcasses that they had found in the forest had contaminated humans. No one knows how the disease entered the first human or ape, said William Karesh, head of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Field Veterinary Program. "But we do know that the virus is subsequently spread from infected animals to other animals and from infected people to other people." Karesh said that there was no known way to contain the epidemic among animals. "When people are infected we can educate them about the risk of touching or consuming dead or sick animals, and if they are sick, to immediately let authorities know so they can be isolated before they infect other people. "But for animals, at this time, we have to let the disease run its course in the forest because there are no known treatments besides supportive care for infected humans." Karesh said it was not known whether infected humans could be spreading the disease to apes. "This has not been the case as far as we know, but sick individuals who refuse to remain in quarantine and move to other areas will take the disease with them and infect the people they come in contact with. "There is a chance that if they were seriously ill and unable to continue traveling through the forest, in theory they could be found by chimpanzees or gorillas who could, again in theory, contract the disease from the infected human or their body fluids. "Humans definitely are the major source of spreading the disease among humans. The typical Ebola outbreak involves one or maybe two or three people contracting the disease from some source in the forest and then infecting family members and neighbors in a chain that can grow to hundreds of people. "Similarly, our understanding of the social nature of chimps and gorillas suggests that the same happens to them. One or a few chimps or gorillas become ill and then infect the other members of their family group. As the group is dying, some individuals infected later may be left to wander off and join another group or may be found dead by a member of another family group, allowing this cycle to continue." Named after the Ebola River, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the site of an outbreak of the virus in 1976, Ebola is an RNA virus of African origin that causes an often fatal hemorrhagic fever. Copyright 2003 National Geographic. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Find this article at: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/ ARTICLE CONTENT COPYRIGHT National Geographic and Reuters. THIS CONTENT IS INTENDED SOLELY FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES. mongabay.com users agree to the following as a condition for use of this material: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available in an effort to advance understanding of environmental issues. This constitutes 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. If you are the copyright owner and would like this content removed from mongabay.com, please contact me. 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