Coronavirus: tourists would infect mountain gorillas

A little over a month ago, a group of gorillas from the San Diego they tested positive for coronavirus and this sounded the alarm of the health authorities and experts in environmental conservation, as it is believed that the tourists could be the causes of contagion among these animals.

With this hypothesis, a group of researchers from Oxford Brookes University decided to study thousands of social media posts to analyze the distance that tourists take between themselves and gorillas in order to take “the best photo”.

After an exhaustive examination of these means, the experts determined that tourists would be infect these animals coronavirus when the chinstrap is removed take pictures, so endanger health of these specimens.

The same situation would repeat itself in Uganda, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo, where tourists take off selfies with wild animals without taking safety and hygiene measures necessary to prevent contagion.

“The risk of disease transmission between visitors and gorillas is of great concern. It is vital that we strengthen and enforce hiking rules to ensure that gorilla walking practices do not further threaten these great apes, ”he said. Gaspar Van Hamme, main promoter of the initiative and conservation expert from the University of Oxford Brookes.

“On the photos we analyzed, we found that tourists visiting gorillas rarely wore face masks And that carries the potential for disease transmission between people and the gorillas they visit. We hope that in the future, the use of masks will become standard practice on game drives to spot gorillas, ”he added. Magdalena Svensson who is part of the team behind the investigation.

The images that the experts analyzed refer to the mountain tourism that those who choose these destinations tend to practice, so they would put the gorillas in danger of extinction, as they pointed out.

THE NATION