Ebola Pushes Western Gorillas to Brink of Extinction
September 13, 2007
By Erica Bulman, Associated Press
GENEVA — The most common type of gorilla is now “critically endangered,” one step away from global extinction, according to the 2007 Red List of Threatened Species released Wednesday by the World Conservation Union.
The Ebola virus is depleting Western gorilla populations to a point where it might become impossible for them to recover.
Commercial hunting, civil unrest and habitat loss due to logging and forest clearance for palm oil plantations are compounding the problem, said the Swiss-based group, known by the acronym IUCN.
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