August 7, 2017
The Rare Species Fund has provided tents to help create a mobile health clinic for our partner, Conservation Through Public Health, in western Uganda. By monitoring the health of villagers living near the national parks, their livestock, and the health of the gorillas, CTPH is able to mitigate the transmission of diseases between these groups.
Mountain gorillas are highly endangered. They only exist in the wild and just over 900 mountains remain. Mountain gorillas are found in a small region of central Africa in Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Currently the biggest threat to mountain gorilla survival is no longer poaching, but rather their susceptibility to human diseases. Due to biological similarities, and the fact that they are living in one of the poorest regions of the world, mountain gorillas often contract diseases from villagers surrounding the national parks as well as their livestock.
The RSF has been working for a number of years with CTPH to help study the problems and implement projects that help increase the welfare and hygiene of local peoples and improve farming techniques, which in turn reduces the rate at which mountain gorillas are contracting human and livestock born illnesses. By providing CTPH with the necessary equipment and resources to address this challenge head-on, the RSF is helping to protect an endangered species and helping a brighter and more sustainable future to local people sharing a territory with these amazing animals.
About TIGERS: The animals of Myrtle Beach Safari are not only important ambassadors for their species, they inspire individuals to become proactive in conservation and take responsibility for the impact of their own daily choices. In addition, funding raised from the animal encounters at the Myrtle Beach Safari goes directly to help support the conservation of the world’s most vulnerable biological hotspots. To date, more than $1 million has gone directly from wildlife interactions to help support gorillas, chimpanzees, elephants, rhinos, tigers and orangutans in their natural habitats.
The TIGERS Myrtle Beach Safari is home to more than 130 wild animals, including 60 big cats. The animals here are center stage in this fully interactive, hands-on experience, where you can cuddle up to tiger cubs, join the wolf pack, share a laugh with our apes, witness adult tigers running at full speed, and feed Bubbles, our African elephant. Plus, this is the only place in the world where you can meet the liger, the world’s largest big cat weighing in at more than 900 pounds. Go ahead, reach out and touch the jungle and create a lifetime of memories.