NewsWatch: 2009: Gorilla Study

[Narrator:] From the University of California at Davis, this is NewsWatch.

[Paul Pfotenhauer:] The world's estimated 740 remaining Mountain Gorillas are found in Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The number one killer of these animals is illness.

[Kirsten Gilardi, UC Davis Wildlife Veterinarian:] They are threatened by diseases that are transmissible between humans and livestock and gorillas. We're very closely related to gorillas so the diseases that humans have can be transmitted to gorillas and that is one of their biggest threats.

[Paul Pfotenhauer:] So UC Davis has joined the battle to save these animals by creating a new "One Health" program that will provide health care for the whole ecosystem. A veterinarian who has worked closely with these animals for years says the biggest need is education.

[Michael Cranfield, Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Director:] There is a huge educational component. I mean I think we have the gorilla medicine down well, the treatment but I think there is lot of research to be done to get more answers, more definitive answers in what we call critical control points and those are points where diseases are going between the populations.

[Paul Pfotenhauer:] Veterinarian Laurie Harris, who is now earning her Ph.D. at UC Davis in epidemiology will be joining this UC Davis team in Africa this summer to study the specific diseases among mountain gorillas.

[Laurie Harris, UC Davis Graduate Student:] The next biggest threat to gorilla health is respiratory disease. We can work on methods to prevent the transmission of those diseases between people and gorillas.

[Paul Pfotenhauer:] The goal is to create a buffer around this gorilla population by protecting them from humans and livestock — and the diseases. Paul Pfotenhauer, reporting from UC Davis.

[Narrator:] For more information please log on to broadcast.ucdavis.edu.