Conservation experts have called for the suspension of all great ape tourism to protect the species from Covid19. They have also called for other protective measures for the great apes.
The experts recommend that innovative measures are needed to reduce the risk of wild gorillas, chimpanzees and orangutans from encountering the virus.
SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus responsible for the current COVID-19 pandemic, is also a threat to our closest living relatives, the great apes, conservationists reveal in a letter in Nature.
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“As leading experts in the conservation and health of these animals, we urge governments, conservation practitioners, researchers, tourism professionals and funding agencies to reduce the risk of introducing the virus into these endangered apes,” the letter co-author by Thomas Gillespie, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, and Fabian Leendertz, Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany.
“They can do this by applying the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s best-practice guidelines for health monitoring and disease control in great-ape populations.”
It is yet unknown if morbidity and mortality associated with SARS-CoV-2 in humans are similar in apes. However, transmission of even mild human pathogens to apes can have severe negative effects on the apes.
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Many great apes are already facing difficult situation due to habitat loss and poaching.