The 2008 IUCN Red List assessment classified P. coquereli as Endangered (EN). Its restricted distribution makes this sifaka particularly susceptible to habitat loss and hunting. Slash-and-burn agriculture and annual burning to create new pasture for livestock are the principal causes of forest loss in northwestern Madagascar, but trees are also cut to produce charcoal. All of these practices threaten even officially protected areas. In some areas local traditions place taboos on hunting sifakas, but immigration to this region continues to change such long-held customs, and hunting of this species does take place (Nicoll and Langrand, 1989).
The only two protected areas in which P. coquereli is known to occur are the Ankarafantsika National Park and the Bora Special Reserve (Nicoll and Langrand, 1989; Randrianambinina et al.,
2003c). Unfortunately, hunting
pressure on sifakas is significant in Ankarafantsika (Garcia and Goodman, 2003) and Bora has become seriously degraded. Populations of P. coquereli have also been reported from the forests of Anjiamangirana, Anjajavy, the Narinda Peninsula, and Mariarano, which should be considered for protected area status (N. Garbutt, pers. comm.; E. E. Louis Jr., pers. obs.).
As of 2010, there were 48 P. coquereli reported in various zoos in the United States, along with a few pairs in the Lemurs’ Park near Antananarivo, Madagascar (I. J. Porton, pers. comm.; C. Schwitzer