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.

Guest post by Molly Feltner

A new alternative fuel project recently launched in Rwanda promises to combat the deforestation of national parks where mountain gorillas live. The Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project (MGVP) and Art of Conservation, have partnered together to introduce the new alternative fuel technology--fuel briquettes composed of recycled materials that can be made easily with simple wooden presses--to the communities living near mountain gorilla habitat.

The project's main objective is to help wean Rwandans off charcoal. Charcoal is a vital fuel source for most Rwandans, but the environment pays a heavy price. Much of the wood used to produce charcoal in the region is harvested illegally from the Virunga rainforest, which combines Volcanoes National in Rwanda, Virunga National Park, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Mgahinga National Park in Uganda. About 450 of the world's remaining 750 mountain gorillas live in the Virunga rainforest, so protection of this forest habitat is essential to the species' survival.

Fuel briquettes pose a potential anecdote to the charcoal problem. The technology was first championed in DRC by Virunga National Park, where the problem of illegal deforestation is most severe. Now, MGVP, which works with mountain gorillas in Rwanda, DRC, and Uganda, and Art of Conservation, a conservation education project, are seeking to replicate this effort in Rwanda.

At MGVP's invitation, Virunga National Park's briquette expert came to Rwanda in early December to train a group of 20 Rwandans to make fuel briquettes. The trainees were all either participants in MGVP's agriculture partner farm program or members of a community living near Volcanoes National Park sponsored by Art of Conservation.

Typically a team of six people works together using a briquette kit, which costs about $300 USD to make. When a team becomes practiced they will be able to make 1,000 briquettes per day--enough fuel to supply a typical Rwandan family of eight for a month.

Immaculee Uwimana, one of MGVP's agriculture partners, is using a briquette press donated by Virunga National Park to start the initial production of briquettes in Rwanda. MGVP recently purchased Uwimana's first batch of 500 briquettes to use at the MGVP headquarters in Musanze. Art of Conservation Director Julie Ghrist bought six additional 100-kilo sacks of briquettes for her staff to use.

Much effort is still necessary to ensure the success of fuel briquettes in Rwanda. In addition to building more presses, MGVP and Art of Conservation will coordinate future trainings and marketing and help Rwandans to develop of successful business model for briquette production. We hope they'll find the right model and get the funding they need to support their project.

To help, make donations to MGVP and Art of Conservation

Children living adjacent to the Virunga Massif in Rwanda have been invited to perform in this year's annual gorilla naming ceremony, Kwita Izina. The 150 primary school children will be performing the Mu Birunga song which refers to the home of the Mountain Gorilla, the Virunga Massif, and seeks to deepen the relationship between humans and gorillas.

The Kwita Izina ceremony has grown from a small local event to an event with global reach as it celebrates Rwanda's most treasured natural asset, the Mountain Gorilla. During the event, all baby gorillas born since the last ceremony are given names in the midst of pomp and fanfare characteristic of human name giving in this part of the world.

This year, eighteen (18) mountain gorillas will be given names during the ceremony at the Volcanoes National Park. Since it coincides with the "International Year of the Gorilla," the theme for this year is "Celebrating the Year of the Gorilla". Under this theme, they shall celebrate the efforts of all those that have contributed to the welfare of their wildlife and its conservation and give opportunity to everyone to contribute to the sustainability of conservation for Gorillas.

This will be the first time the Art of Conservation group - whose core mission is helping the people who live near the gorillas to live healthier lives so that both the human and animal populations can be healthy - will be sending a performance in this prestigious event. The AoC group want to stress the interconnectedness of the gorillas and the Rwandan people at the Kwita Izina.

The schoolchildren have been practicing hard for their performance as the date of the ceremony, 20 June 2009, draws near. We wish them the best of luck.

You can donate here to support these young children as they go out to educate the world about these rare majestic great apes.