In the gorilla clinic we carry out laboratory analysis
on faecal samples collected from mountain gorillas once a week
and it's only from the habituated mountain gorillas
that the rangers are able to follow on a daily basis.
The health benefits for habituated groups
are that it's much easier to monitor them and follow them.
If gorillas are showing abnormal appearance
or abnormal behaviour, we can tell and make a follow-up and treat them.
Whereas with unhabituated groups, you can't get that close to them
and it's very hard to treat them.
Gorillas are very susceptible to our diseases
because we share 98.4% genetic material.
So we can easily get diseases from them
and they can easily get diseases from us.
And they can easily get very sick.
In 1996 I got a report that the gorillas were losing hair
and developing white, scaly skin.
So we wondered what it could be.
It could be ringworm, scabies.
So we went out and looked at the clinical signs.
Darted a juvenile gorilla
who was scratching even during the anaesthesia,
and that's a very common sign in scabies.
And they all looked terrible, especially the young ones.
We gave him a treatment for scabies
and a week later the mother dropped the infant
and the infant was crawling with mites, she was dead.
And we were able to prove that it was scabies.
The vets were able to compare those samples
with samples of the people around the area
and were able to tell that the genetics are very similar
and most likely the scabies came from people.
He pushed you out of the way.
If you have a bad cold or anything that's airborne,
such as measles, and get close enough to them
at a distance of less than five metres,
they can get diseases from us.
Another way is through direct contact.
Come behind. Come this way.
Let's keep the distance.
The park staff have to be very strict.
I know they feel tempted to let the gorillas go close
because they can get tips the tourists are so excited.
But we are spending a lot of time explaining to them
that it's not a good thing to do
because if they lose the gorillas through disease,
they've lost a sustainable source of income for an area
which doesn't really have many other alternatives.
So we're trying to get them to become stewards
and want to protect the gorillas, want to protect their health.
What they need to do is if the gorillas get close
you have to frighten them back so that they keep away.
Basically, keep the gorillas back and keep the tourists back.
If a gorillas licks a tourist's clothing
they will pick up bacteria, viruses or even parasites from the tourists,
depending on how hygienic or clean they are.
And that will be very detrimental because once that gorilla gets it
they can easily spread it to the rest of the group.
He licked my trousers and my hand.
- So gentle as well. - Yeah, they are.
You have to keep a distance of seven metres
but sometimes I have visitors who I can see are stubborn -
you tell him to do this, he does this.
But they are very few.
I try to explain to the visitor what he is doing,
that it's not good but most of them accept the rules.
They said that we would be around seven metres away from them
but if they approach you there's not much you can do about it.
What did they say about this close contact that sometimes can happen?
I guess I missed that part.
But I'm glad I did.
Why do you think there is the seven-metre rule?
I understand that our DNA is so similar
that if we have some kind of illness,
then it could be transferred to those guys and they might get sick
but given that they approached me, I wasn't too much in the wrong.
The first time I had it from Brazil.
Somebody came to me and said, 'You're from Uganda, I came and saw gorillas
and I touched them.'
I said, 'You touched them? How could that be?'
'You're not supposed to have touched them.'
Then I have had it again here recently.
This is something that we definitely will have to address very seriously.
I agree with you that it is a responsibility of all of us,
the guides, the rangers, the staff on the ground.
And the tourists and the tour operators.
It is something that we definitely will continue to try to stop.
We won't allow this kind of scenario to happen.
We mustn't stress the animals.
We mustn't be driven by actions that could further endanger
the existence of the mountain gorillas or their habitat.
What did you think about how close they came?
It makes them more accustomed to humans
which makes them more vulnerable which made me a little nervous.
But I was also jealous they touched other people and didn't touch me.
The advantages of habituation is that there's more income for the park,
more income for the communities and all these other benefits
but they have to be weighed against the fact that these gorillas
could end up being so compromised
and could end up dying as a result of too much human contact.
Then they'll lose the resource for ever. So it's a big balance
between what is needed now and what is needed for the future.