Vaccination

In 2002, while analyzing wildlife survey data for a World Bank Funded National Park planning process in Gabon, I found evidence that Ebola had caused a roughly one third decline in the world gorilla population, with a smaller but still substantive impact on chimpanzees. The first effective Ebola vaccines had just been successfully tested. So, several other prominent ape conservationists advocated using these vaccines to protect wild apes, which were already endangered by poaching and habitat loss. Habituated gorillas and chimps in research and tourism programs are much easier to approach for darting than unhabituated apes. And they play a disproportionate role in conservation efforts, acting as flagship and umbrella species. Thus, I proposed that these habituated gorillas and chimps should be vaccinated first, before tackling the much thornier issue of vaccinating unhabituated animals. I spent thirteen years trying to get this done, including two Ebola vaccine trials on captive chimps and one measles vaccine trial on wild gorillas. These were respectively the first controlled vaccine trial on wild gorillas or chimpanzees and the first conservation related vaccine trials on either species in captivity.