Wildlife Health Monitoring
The WCS-Congo veterinary/wildlife health team, which is a collaboration between WCS' International and Field Veterinary Programs and the Government of Congo, conducts systematic surveillance and rapid response missions to great ape and other large mammal mortality across the landscape.
This surveillance network gives WCS-Congo a greater chance of predicting and ultimately preventing potential wildlife disease epidemics, and is essential in the fight against diseases such as Ebola.
A laboratory at the Bomassa headquarters of the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park allows us to undertake parasitological analysis of great ape populations from Trinational ape field research sites as part of the great ape health baseline monitoring program. The results from these tests can be used for wider comparison with similar studies conducted in other labs across the Congo basin, while also enabling us to assess the impact of human activities, specifically logging and ecotourism development, on great ape populations in order to improve preventative guidelines.