“With mountain gorilla visitation re-opening to tourists in the region in the wake of the novel coronavirus, it is now more important than ever to observe all precautions against disease transmission,” states Anna Behm Masozera. “Park staff and managers need your support in their important job to ensure the health and safety of the endangered mountain gorillas, and the Gorilla FriendlyTM Pledge is a great first step.” The Gorilla Friendly™ Pledge is an online awareness raising campaign aimed at encouraging all those planning to visit the mountain gorillas - and even those who are not! - to pledge to observe gorilla tourism rules during treks and to share feedback on their trekking experience after the visit through the Gorilla Friendly™ Pledge website - gorillafriendly.org. Tourism brings people and great apes into close contact, and, because of their closely matched DNA mountain gorillas are susceptible to human diseases like coronaviruses. There is abundant evidence indicating that mountain gorillas can contract COVID-19 with specific stories of captive gorillas in zoos contracting COVID-19 from asymptomatic keepers. There is therefore urgent need to protect the endangered primates for should a novel disease like COVID-19 circulate in their fragile populations it can cause significant loss. Among great apes in the wild, mountain gorillas are perhaps uniquely exposed to the emerging coronavirus as a majority of mountain gorillas are habituated to humans for the purposes of tourism and research. Adherence by tourists and everyone visiting the great apes to the IUCN Best Practice Guidelines for Great Ape Tourism is therefore critical. Based on the IUCN best practice guidelines for great ape tourism, there are ten key things that you can Pledge to do to help including not trekking gorillas if you feel ill, keeping your distance from gorillas at all times, and wearing and disposing of a face mask properly. You can choose to be a responsible tourist today and contribute to the safety, protection and survival of mountain gorillas by pledging to comply to the gorilla visitation rules and regulations. Be Gorilla FriendlyTM, take the pledge - gorillafriendly.org Also, whether you took the Pledge or not, share your tracking experience using the After Your Visit and help conservationists and park managers to strengthen measures that safeguard and secure the future for mountain gorillas as well as improve the tourism experience. The Gorilla FriendlyTM Pledge campaign was initiated in 2014, re-launched in 2020, by International Gorilla Conservation Programme and Wildlife Friendly Enterprise Network, endorsed by sixteen (and counting!) other institutions as a way of raising awareness and willing compliance of established gorilla visitation rules and regulations. To learn more about the Gorilla FriendlyTM Pledge initiative, write to info@igcp.org
