Quest: Mountain Gorillas: Discovery Channel

Ururabo Five Days Later

Elisabeth and I trekked up to Susa Group again the morning after the intervention for Ururabo and her sick baby. Magda and Jean Felix had gone to Kigali for an important meeting on the topic of gorilla visitation rules, a timely subject. My job today was not only to check on our patient but to send regular updates by phone text to all those who'd helped yesterday. Everyone wanted and deserved to know the outcome.

Ururabo's Baby: The Intervention

The gorillas had moved into a bamboo thicket by the time we were ready to treat Ururabo's infant. The dense vegetation offered plenty of good hiding places for darting, but the trackers felt the place wasn't safe enough for an intervention, especially given a 39-member group that includes five silverbacks. As they explained, the tall stalks give aggressive gorillas more confidence. We'd be safer in a clear area, where the four trackers could more easily surround the vet team and scare away any challengers.

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Ururabo's Baby Is Very Sick

Ururabo's baby seemed to recover completely after his two-day episode of runny nose and soft cough. We'd been checking him daily, along with all of the mothers and infants. Magda had seen him the day before, and he'd looked normal compared to the infants of both Ruvumu and Rwandarushya, who were now coughing along with their mothers. Dufatayne had recovered and her baby had yet to show any symptoms. When I arrived to check on the group, the mothers and infants were again the priority.