National Geographic Society

Post by Molly Feltner

After weeks of rumors about captured baby gorillas for sale in eastern Congo, the Gorilla Doctors (MGVP) successfully followed bits of fragmented news to its source and found and confiscated a year-old gorilla. The tiny female eastern lowland gorilla, now named Ndjingala, was being held in Walikale, a "red zone" 120km north of Goma where rebel fighters and government soldiers regularly clash over control of the area's rich mineral deposits. The Gorilla Doctors and caretakers with Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International (DFGFI) are nursing the traumatized orphan gorilla back to health at a facility in Goma.

When reports of a captive gorilla in Walikale surfaced on March 5, Gorilla Doctor Eddy Kambale flew to the region after obtaining permission from the Congolese Wildlife Authority (ICCN) and support from Union of Associations for Gorilla Conservation and Community Development (UGADEC) to confiscate the baby. With the help of local chiefs and UGADEC officials, Ndjingala was taken from a poacher, who most likely killed multiple gorillas, including Ndjingala's mother, in order to snatch the baby from her family group in the forest.

Dr. Eddy spent a tense night in a Walikale hotel with Ndjingala before he was able to fly with her back to Goma. Gorilla Doctor Jan Ramer and Sandy Jones, the MGVP/DFGFI Manager of Confiscated Gorilla Care, met Dr. Eddy and the baby in Goma to assess her health and begin the long process of habituating her to life in captivity. Without her mother and family, Ndjingala will have to rely on humans caretakers for the foreseeable future. Three other juvenile eastern lowland gorillas reside at the same facility, but Ndjingala will not be able to interact with them until she has completed a month of quarantine.

When Dr. Eddy removed the baby from her travel crate, she curled into a tight ball and clung tightly to a shirt she had been given as a security blanket. Dr. Jan explained what happened next in her Gorilla Doctors blog:

Maternal instincts kicked in, and I scooped her up into my arms. She didn't understand at all, and immediately began biting and struggling, but I sat quietly making gorilla calming noises. I groomed her arms and head, and within minutes she quieted. Still quite tense and clutching her shirt, but beginning to calm down... Slowly the little gorilla relaxed, although any slight move or sound and she tensed, clutching the shirt and holding her hands and feet tight to her body. We rocked and rocked, groomed and talked. She finally unwound enough and reached for a bit of pineapple - that small victory felt wonderful.

An exam showed the gorilla to be suffering from dehydration and superficial wounds where ropes had been tied, but otherwise she was in respectable condition. Later she was introduced to two Congolese caretakers, who will act Ndjingala's guardians 24/7. Sandy Jones will also stay with the baby until she is comfortable in her new surroundings.

Since her confiscation several weeks ago, Ndjingala has suffered from bouts of nausea and respiratory disease, but the Gorilla Doctors report that she is getting stronger. From their experience working with confiscated gorillas in the past, the Gorilla Doctors know that they and the DFGFI caretakers will face many challenges in ensuring Ndjingala has a happy, healthy life in captivity. It is uncertain when or if Ndjingala and the other orphan gorillas can be released in the wild. Nevertheless, all stakeholders in Ndjingala's future are dedicated to ensuring her safety and well-being.

Post by Molly Feltner

The Gorilla Doctors (Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project) suffered a terrible blow last week when an infant mountain gorilla in Virunga National Park died from wounds sustained while trapped in a poacher's snare despite interventions and careful monitoring by the Gorilla Doctors and ICCN park rangers. Baby Sekenabo, a two-year-old male in Kabirizi group which resides in the Democratic Republic of Congo, was buried at the gorilla cemetery at Virunga National Park headquarters after his death on February 8.

Virunga National Park rangers discovered Sekenabo caught in a snare on Friday, February 5, and a call was put in for the Gorilla Doctors' help. Poachers in the Virunga Massif hide snares in the vegetation to catch antelopes but mountain gorillas are often victims of these cruel traps. ICCN Warden Innocent Mburanumwe and other rangers were able to cut the infant free of the snare late Friday, but he had sustained serious wounds that required attention from the Gorilla Doctors.

The Gorilla Doctors and ICCN trackers were unable to locate the infant on Saturday , even after searching through the forest all day, but found him Sunday morning with his mother Tumaini and the rest of the Kabirizi group. Dr. Magda observed Sekenabo's terrible injuries--the snare was still tight around his leg and somehow in the struggle to get free from it, the skin of his upper lip and nostril had been torn off--and decided a medical intervention was essential.

A team of park rangers helped kept the others gorillas at a safe distance while Dr. Eddy darted Tumaini, who was holding Sekanabo tightly, with a sedative, and then Dr Magda moved in to sedate Sekanabo. Once both were asleep Dr. Magda put in two layers of stitches to hold the baby's skin in place but was concerned about the poor condition of Sekanabo's facial tissue. The snare was cut and Sekanabo was given an strong, long acting antibiotic. Mother and son received reversal drugs and slowly awakened and moved back to the rest of the group.

The Gorilla Doctors hoped for the best but realized the young gorilla's chance of survival was not certain because of the severity of his wounds. Sadly, the next day, Sekanabo was found dead. Rangers retrieved the baby's body and the Gorilla Doctors performed a necropsy to determine Sekanabo's exact cause of death. His wounds were very serious, and the snare caused more damage than initially thought. They suspect that when the snare was removed from the baby's leg, toxins may have been released causing cardiac or renal disease. Test results are still pending.

Sekanabo's death was a tragedy, but the Gorilla Doctors and ICCN park rangers hope they can learn from this experience so that hopefully such deaths can be prevented in the future.

To help Gorilla Doctors, make a donation online.

On 18 February 2009, Tuver, writting in the Tshiaberimu blog at WildlifeDirect announced the death of two gorillas. The first death was of a tiny baby that had just been born while the second was of an elderly silverback who'd been around for ages.

While it is sad for the Tshiaberimu rangers and the world as a whole to lose two valuable gorillas in close succession, it is however comforting to see that they died naturally other than by being shot by bushmeat poachers.

The elderly silverback, Nzanzu, who had lived with his son, Mukokya, until his death was part of the original Kipura family, which split in 2002 allowing Nzanzu to form the Lusenge family with adult female Mwengesyali and their son. In 2007 however 2007 Mwengesyali had left Nzanzu and gone to form a new group, the Mutsunga group.

Nzanzu had been reported by rangers to have been looking quite old and frail in recent days. An outopsy is being carried out to determine the cause of death but rangers at Tshiaberimu believe that he was just old.

RIP Nzanzu.