Community Based Organizations Around Volcanoes National Park Sensitized on Mountain Gorilla Protection in The Wake Of COVID-19 | International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP)International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP)

Following the increasing number of COVID-19 cases globally, the International Gorilla Conservation Programme has embarked on sensitizing Community Based Organizations (CBOs) around Volcanoes National Park on how they can contribute to protecting mountain gorillas against the pandemic and other diseases that could be transmitted between wildlife and humans.  IGCP on 3^rd December 2021 trained over 46 CBOs’ members including porters on zoonotic diseases that are transmissible between humans and wildlife, how these diseases can affect wildlife especially the mountain gorillas, gorilla visitation rules and disease prevention.

“The community are stakeholders in conservation. They spend most of the time around the park and in case of any emergency, we rely on them for timely information,” says Janvier Kwizera, Community Conservation Warden at Volcanoes National Park.

The trainees were called on to practice hygiene and sanitation around the mountain gorilla home range, to avoid close contact with mountain gorillas and immediately report to the authorities in case the primates have escaped from the park into the community and to avoid illegal entry into the park since it puts mountain gorillas at risk.  Participants pledged vigilance towards adherence to strict measures that will keep the mountain gorillas safe.

“I now observe that protecting the mountain gorilla habitat is our role as well. On several occasions, we would play a dormant role incase gorillas escaped from the park but with this new information we will always watch over the gorillas to avoid any close human contact until the authority sends them back to the park,” says Claude Bimenyimana, a Porter.