Silverback Kongomani of Rugendo group in Virunga National Park.Airing May 10 at 8pm GMT on Animal Planet, the season finale of the UK TV series “Wildlife SOS” spotlights the efforts of the Gorilla Doctors and the Congolese Wildlife Authority to protect the critically-endangered mountain gorillas of Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Wildlife SOS is a long-running documentary series that follows the work of Wildlife Aid, a nonprofit dedicated to the rescue, care, and rehabilitation of sick, injured or orphaned animals in the UK.

Series host Simon Cowell travels to Africa to follow the Gorilla Doctors’ veterinary team and Virunga National Park rangers as they trek across the rainforest-covered slopes of the Virunga volcanoes to make sure the park’s gorillas are safe and healthy. Intimate shots of mountain gorilla family life, interviews with the Gorilla Doctors and Virunga National Park staff, and breathtaking gorilla rescue and aerial footage reveal what’s at stake and how the gorillas are protected against a host of threats to their survival.

There are just 786 mountain gorillas left in the world, with about 480 animals living in the Virunga Volcanoes Massif, which combines Virunga National Park in the DRC, Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda, and Mgahinga National Park in Uganda. The only other population lives within the boundaries of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda. Mountain gorillas face numerous threats including habitat loss, poaching, infectious disease, and human conflict inside and outside the national parks.

Gorilla Doctors, powered by the U.S.-based nonprofit Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project and University of California, Davis, is dedicated to saving the lives of mountain gorillas through health care. The organization’s international veterinary team is the only group providing these animals with direct, hands-on care in the wild. Gorilla Doctors partners with the national parks where mountain gorillas live, including Virunga National Park, to coordinate conservation efforts.

Virunga National Park, Africa’s oldest national park (established in 1925) and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is home to about 200 mountain gorillas. The park is managed by the Congolese Wildlife Authority, known in French as L’Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN).

Gorilla Doctors Press Contact:

Molly Feltner, Communications Officer

mollyfeltner@gmail.com

+1-857-719-9258

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