Quest: Mountain Gorillas: Discovery Channel

Gorilla Video Clips

Lucy captured these short video clips with her digital camera during routine health checks on Pablo group, Beetsme group, Shinda group and Group 13.

Grooming Gorillas

Gorilla Health Check

Snare Scare

Okapi (left) watches Magayane (right) eat.

I'd just started out on a hike near Visoke with friends when I got a call from Elisabeth (the ORTPN vet tech) saying that a young female gorilla in Kwitonda group had been snared and was still attached to a tree. Having just returned from international travel, I'm officially in quarantine for several weeks, forced to avoid close contact with the gorillas in case I've been exposed to an illness during my travels, but David (Dr. Gardner-Roberts) and Jean Felix (Dr. Kinani) had gone to Kigali for the day to examine a confiscated chimpanzee.

I hesitated for maybe 30 seconds, then decided I couldn't not go. We might be able to dart the animal quickly and get the snare off before it did any damage. I'd wear a mask and gloves (we do that anyway) and minimize my contact with the patient; Elisabeth could do most of the hands-on work. With luck, the gorillas might have removed the snare themselves by the time we got there. Unfortunately, Elisabeth said this one was made of wire.

Lucy and Elisabeth, ORTPN vet tech, arrive at the parking lot on their way to check on Magayane.

Explaining the situation to Julie and her visiting friend, Virginia, I urged them to continue with their hike and started running down the mountain. My friends would have none of that, so they ran, too. (Virginia remarked later that this had been a unique form of exercise.)

Julie drove me to the office to pick up the darting kit and medical bags, then to Kinigi to pick up Elisabeth and then to the meeting point near the park border. As Julie and Virginia drove away, I apologized for ruining their peaceful excursion. No problem, they said; they were glad to help the gorillas.

The Kwitonda group's home territory includes the slopes of Sabinyo Mountain with a view of Gahinga and Muhabura mountains.

At the park wall we were joined by Leonadas (ORTPN), Bosco (a member of the Karisoke patrolling unit) and several other trackers. The silverbacks — first Kwitonda and then Akarevuru — had just intervened and set Magayane free from the tree by gnawing on the wire cable until they broke it. She'd run quickly into the forest, the snare cinched tight around her middle finger.

We followed the group's trail, hoping they'd calm down enough so that we could at least get a good look at Magayane. The sooner we got the snare off the better, but it wasn't worth pushing the group if they remained nervous. Magayane was traveling at the front — we never saw her. Kwitonda brought up the rear instead of leading and hooting often, a clear indication that he was upset. Just after noon, the trackers advised leaving the group and going after them again first thing the next day. Things would be easier then and we could also assemble a full team.

Magayane, a 6-year-old female mountain gorilla with a wire snare on her left hand.

When we reached the nest site the next morning, the Kwitonda group had just begun to move about and look for food. Not only were the gorillas calm and behaving normally, as if nothing had happened the day before, but we also had a clear view of our patient. We watched Magayane climb into a tree to eat favoring her left arm. I saw a flash of silver — the end of the wire snare protruding from her middle finger. Though she moved before I could focus the camera it didn't matter, we had the information we needed.

Dr. Jean Felix Kinani prepares an anesthetic dart for Magayane.

Jean Felix prepared the anesthetic dart while Elisabeth and David readied the bags. My job was to be both photographer and videographer for this intervention. We had enough trackers and vets, the weather was good and by documenting the procedure, I could contribute while also remaining a tourist's distance away from the gorillas. The only trouble with this plan was that I was too far away to hear the ongoing discussion and subsequent translation about who was who among the gorillas.

It's still very hard for me to identify every individual unless the group is stationary and together, but I do know the silverbacks. And that's important. The No. 1 rule during an intervention is to know the location of the chief and his second in command. They are the ones who can, and will, attack human intruders.

MGVP's field medical kits are carried up the mountain for the intervention to remove Magayane's snare.

For nearly three hours the team followed the gorillas as they foraged for food. Finally, Magayane lay down under a tree. We'd already passed Kwitonda, who'd stopped to rest earlier on the trail — exactly what we'd been waiting for. Akarevuru (the second silverback) was ahead of us — out of sight, but not far away. A half-dozen gorillas rested near Magayane — they'd have to be moved after the dart hit its mark.

Jean Felix readied the air-powered pistol while David and the trackers formed a human screen to hide the darting barrel from the gorillas. I managed to position myself just in time to get the darting on film — a perfect shot. The next few minutes were the riskiest for the intervention team, yet we had to feign nonchalance. Magayane pulled the dart out, looked at it and dropped it to the ground. She moved away but began to act sleepy within minutes. Akarevuru arrived and checked out the dart, but left it on the ground. As soon as our patient fell deeply asleep, the trackers lined up in a row, ready to force the other gorillas to move away by waving big sticks and yelling at them.

Close up view of the snare around Magayane's left finger.

I turned the cameras off at that point with an eye to my own safety. Everything happened quickly and just as we had hoped. A few of the gorillas bolted upright and turned to offer aggression, but the moving wall of loud humans was too scary. Frightened, they ran off. My guess is they didn’t recognize the stick-waving figures as the trackers they know so well. Oddly enough, Kwitonda did not come to investigate the commotion. Nor did any of the other gorillas return to check us out.

Elisabeth, ORTPN vet tech, monitors Magayane's anesthesia during the intervention.

Elisabeth, David and Jean Felix worked quickly to remove the snare, collect blood samples and give Magayane an injection of antibiotics. Her anesthesia went smoothly; even the portable (in-home) blood pressure unit I'd bought at a CVS drugstore in Washington, D.C., worked perfectly. Just as the vet team finished, about 40 minutes after the darting, Magayane raised her head. She was given her anesthetic reversal while we packed away the gear. On cue it seemed, the skies opened and rain poured down.

Magayane receives a complete physical exam under anesthesia after the snare is removed.

Still favoring her left arm, Magayane sat up a few minutes later, then stood and wandered off in search of her family. She appeared tipsy and a bit confused, so for the next 10 minutes we stayed with her, forming another line of people — a quiet one this time — to push her in the direction of the group. As Magayane recovered her senses more fully, she picked up the trail and found her way quickly. We heard Kwitonda beat his chest as she rejoined the group.

Everyone felt good at that moment, but as we hiked back to the truck, a wave of frustration and sadness hit me. Yes, we'd helped a wild gorilla and saved her from suffering the loss of a finger or even a hand. But how is it that we've had two snared gorillas in Rwanda over the course of one month, when there hasn't been a case like this here in years?

We'd also heard earlier in the day that the decomposed body of another gorilla had been found in the DRC, a fifth victim of the shooting at the end of July. At least the gorillas in Uganda are OK. So while we (MGVP and our partners) have saved two wild mountain gorillas from snares, we've also lost seven mountain gorillas from the wild — five dead, two orphaned. Right now, it feels like one step forward, two back.

[Rwanda, Aug. 16, 2007. Pictures: Lucy Spelman/MGVP]

Gorilla Slaughter: A Personal Account

These four mountain gorillas were shot dead
in the Democratic Republic of Congo on July 24, 2007.

Most of the MGVP staff were in Kigali for Rwanda's first-ever scientific biodiversity conference when we heard the horrible news: Four or more gorillas had been shot in the DRC, inside the Parc Nationaux de Virungas, and there was at least one new orphan clinging to a young male gorilla.

The baby's mother and the group's silverback had been killed, along with several others. Equally disturbing, these deaths were the result of an ongoing feud between a number of individuals vying for control of the resources around the park, like charcoal production and mining. Ndakasi's mother had been kiilled for the same reason.

We gathered to discuss what to do about the baby. This was a life-threatening, human-induced problem; it was well within our mandate to intervene. But was it safe? David, Jacques and Eddy left right away for Goma, but not before I convinced them to slow down a bit and make proper plans. They needed to make sure the local officials in the DRC were supportive of the rescue effort and would provide security. Simon and the staff of the Diane Fossey Gorilla Fund International in Goma would be ready to help care for the infant. If possible, we also wanted to do necropsies on the dead gorillas.

Dushishoze with a rope snare wound around his wrist.
[Photo courtesy of Veronica Vecellio of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International (DFGFI)]

Soon after, we heard more bad news. Dushishoze, a four year old in Pablo Group, had reportedly been caught in a snare. I debated whether or not to continue with my plan to leave that afternoon for the United States for a break and a much-needed visit to my dentist. "Why does everything happen at once?" I thought. On the other hand, we've got a good team and this is a chance to build everyone's experience.

I checked in with project director Dr. Mike Cranfield in Maryland. He agreed the team should go ahead with our plan. Eliisabeth would check on Dushishoze the next day while Jean Felix gave his presentation at the meeting. They'd both go into the field the following day, accompanied by David on his return from the DRC, to remove the snare if necessary.

Tired and depressed, I got on the plane a few hours later. If the team found the new orphan, it would be the third mountain gorilla removed from the forest in the seven months I've worked for the vet project. The plan all along has been to reintroduce the orphaned gorillas back to the wild when they reach reproductive age. Is this really feasible? I wish we didn't have to try.

Dr. David Gardner-Roberts holds the newest orphaned mountain gorilla, Ndeze,
in the Parc Nationaux de Virugnas, Democratic Republic of Congo.

I checked in with the team as frequently as I could over the next 36 hours as I made my way to Washington, D.C. From the Brussels airport I learned that officials in the DRC had organized a team to go with MGVP staff to look for the infant. They might not allow the necropsies, however because the ICCN park staff wanted to have a mass burial of the dead gorillas. Distressingly, it appeared that other gorillas were missing from the same group.

In Rwanda, the snare around Dushishoze's wrist did indeed need to come off. Since he didn't seem to be in great discomfort, though, the team decided to wait a day in the hope that his mother or the other gorillas might remove it on their own. From the Dulles airport, I learned that the snare was still in place; Dushishoze would have to be anesthetized the next day.

Meanwhile, the new orphan had been rescued, identified as Ndeze, and put in Andres' care. Andres has a magical touch with infant gorillas. Though officially a park ranger, he seems to be spending most of his time these days raising babies. A skilled tracker, he normally works inside the park for the ICCN (Institute for the Conservation of Nature) in the DRC. Fortunately, both he and the ICCN officials have said yes every time we've asked for his help in raising orphans.

Andres Bauma offers Ndeze her first bottle in the field.

Andres had brought a bottle for the baby with him into the field and she took to it right away. This was good news. What would or should happen to her and Ndakasi down the road was a question that kept floating in and out of my mind. It's a decision that really should be made by the ICCN and DRC government officials. Maybe it — and the increasingly urgent matter of the safety of mountain gorillas inside the park — will finally get the attention it deserves. My blackberry was buzzing with emails from friends who'd heard about the recent killings, asking if I was okay.

Though the news about Ndeze was good so far, I worried that she'd suffered considerable stress and might be at risk for a health problem. It was agreed that she would have her own room, separate from Ndakasi's, in the Goma house. Andres and the other caretakers would have to be very careful not to introduce any sort of infection to her. The next few days would be critical.

Unfortunately, Ndeze began to refuse her bottle at the end of the next day. She appeared to weaken as well. Simon, who knows the behavior of the orphans very well, felt she was still adjusting and nervous. David, who'd been in Rwanda helping Jean Felix with Dushishoze (all went well with the anesthesia and the snare was off), rushed back to Goma. He and I exchanged e-mails.

On physical exam, the new orphan appeared normal. We agreed to try something very simple: administer subcutaneous fluids with a little dextrose. Sometimes baby animals, whether mammal, bird or reptile, just need a little boost as they are transitioning to new food and a new environment.

Dr. Eddy Kambale with Andres Bauma and the newest orphan, Ndeze, on July 27, 2007.

Thankfully, the subcutaneous fluids seemed to make a big difference. Ndeze began to take her bottle again within a few hours and continued to improve the next day. She clearly began to bond to Andres, settling down and beginning to play. Eddy returned from the field, where he and Jacques had finished the sample collection from the dead gorillas, and took over the orphan care.

David returned to Rwanda for a rest — we hoped — and I planned to stop reading my blackberry e-mail like a madwoman. Luckily, my dentist understood. We agreed that my job was actually a pretty good distraction for just about anything, including my sore mouth.

[DRC, Rwanda, July 27, 2007. Pictures: Jacques Inyanya, Simon Childs/MGVP | Veronica Vellocellio/DFGFI ]