of the Congo. However, gorillas remain vulnerable to Ebola, deforestation and poaching. In 2002 and 2003, there was an Ebola outbreak in the Lossi sanctuary population, and in 2004, there was an Ebola outbreak in the Lokoué forest clearing in Odzala-Kokoua National Park, both in the Republic of the Congo. The Ebola outbreak in the Lokoué forest clearing negatively affected the individuals living in groups and the adult females more than the solitary males, resulting in an increase in the proportion of solitary males to those living in groups. This population decreased from 377 individuals to 38 individuals two years after the outbreak and to 40 individuals six years after the outbreak. The population is still slowly recovering, even today, it is hoped, towards a population that has the same demographic structure as an unaffected population, because of new births and breeding groups. This Ebola outbreak also affected the Maya Nord population (52 kilometres northwest from Lokoué) from 400 individuals to considerably fewer. Because of these outbreaks, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) updated the status of western lowland gorillas from "endangered" to "critically endangered". In the northeastern part of the Republic of the Congo, even though poaching is illegal, western lowland gorillas are still being hunted for their bushmeat and the young for pets; five percent of the subspecies is killed each year because of this. Deforestation of this area allows for the trade of bushmeat and even more poaching. Commercial poaching of chimpanzees, forest elephants and western gorillas in the Republic of the Congo resulted from the increased amount of commercial logging and infrastructure. Deforestation and logging allowed for the creation of roads which allowed hunters to hunt deeper into the forest, increasing the amount of poaching and bushmeat trade in the area. The Republic of the Congo has put in place a conservation effort to conserve different species such as chimpanzees, forest elephants and western gorillas from poaching and deforestation. This conservation effort would allow these species to benefit from vegetation and ecologically important resources. Bush meat hunting and timber harvesting in the western lowland gorilla’s habitat have negatively affected the probability of its survival. The western lowland gorilla is considered to be critically endangered by the IUCN. The western lowland gorillas, like many gorillas, are essential to the composition of the rainforest due to their seed distribution. The conservation of the western lowland gorilla