Rushenya silverback wound

Silverback Rushenya’s wound

This summer our Gorilla Doctors Uganda team has made multiple forest calls deep inside Bwindi Impenetrable National Park to treat silverback gorillas for wounds sustained during fights between adult males jockeying for control.

Silverback Rushenya, leader of the Bikingi group, was first observed with extensive wounds on May 24th after a severe fight with a wild (unhabituated) mountain gorilla. Dr. Ricky trekked into the park on May 25th to perform a veterinary assessment, and observed that there were many wounds, many of them already showing signs of infection. One laceration on Rushenya’s left wrist was so deep that Dr. Ricky could observe bony tissue. With the permission of the Uganda Wildlife Authority’s Chief Park Warden,  Dr. Ricky administered a dose of antibiotics to the silverback via dart,  hoping that this treatment would hasten Rushenya’s recovery.

In the evening after treatment, the silverback was attacked again and sustained more severe wounds. A week later on May 31st, Rushenya was attacked for the third time by another solitary silverback, Mucunguzi, and he sustained a fresh set of many new and severe wounds. When Dr. Fred trekked into the forest again to check on his patient, Rushenya was still in his night nest surrounded by his family members, serious wounds were visible over his entire body, and his abdomen was flat, suggesting that he had not been feeding normally. His wounds were clearly infected, and he was not using his left forelimb during travel and feeding. Again, with permission from park authorities, Dr. Fred administered a second dose of antibiotics.

Three days later Dr. Fred returned to check on Rushenya: he found his patient still in his night nest mid-morning, not feeding with his family, and looking poorly. Dr. Fred could smell that some of the wounds were still infected, so he administered a third dose of antibiotics, and also an anti-inflammatory to reduce the discomfort that Rushenya was likely experiencing, and that was probably contributing to his lethargy and poor appetite.  Two days later when Dr. Fred checked on Rushenya, he was still moving slowly, but was occasionally feeding himself, suggesting that his condition was gradually improving.

Unfortunately, on June 9, Rushenya was found dead in his night nest. Dr. Fred performed a complete post-mortem examination, and confirmed that Rushenya had sustained numerous traumatic wounds from other gorillas, some of them extremely deep and affecting underlying tissues. A final diagnosis will be obtained when Gorilla Doctors’ pathologist Dr. Linda Lowenstine can review sampled  tissues under a microscope.

On a much more positive note, antibiotic treatment administered by Gorilla Doctors usually helps a gorilla recover quickly and well. Not long after Rushenya died, another adult male gorilla, the second silverback Kirungi from Nkuringo group, was reported by gorilla  trackers with severe and infected wounds on August 14th. Apparently he had been in a fight earlier in the month with the dominant silverback, Rafiki. Kirungi was likely making a move to assume the position as dominant silverback in the group, but Rafiki reigned. Kirungi’s wounds were severe, including a very deep back wound that was exuding a lot of foul-smelling discharge and was covered with flies. Kirungi was spending a lot of time swatting the flies away, which was interfering with normal feeding behavior. Dr. Ricky administered a dose of antibiotic via dart; when Dr. Fred followed up four days later, some wounds were still infected, so he administered a second dart. Ten days after first checking on Kirungi and making the decision to treat his injuries, Dr. Fred  observed that Kirungi’s wounds were healing and he was moving and feeding well.

Silverback Kirungi wound

Silverback Kirungi’s back wound

Gorilla Doctors’ mission is to conserve endangered mountain and Grauer’s gorillas with life-saving veterinary medicine and science using a One Health approach. Philosophically, we are obligated to treat gorillas when their injuries or illness is or may be life-threatening or human-induced.

Rushenya and Kirungi were wounded in severe fights with other adult male gorillas: this is a natural behavior and normal life history strategy in mountain gorillas. So why did Gorilla Doctors step in to help Rushenya and Kirungi recover from their wounds with medical treatment? These decisions can be difficult ones. For example, in the case of Rushenya, because he was in charge of a 22-member family group, most of them adult females with babies (12 infants!), the decision was made with park authorities to treat Rushenya, because his wounds were life-threatening, and because so many family members depended on him for their survival.

These kinds of life and death decisions are routinely faced by our Gorilla Doctors and partners, and are always made keeping in mind our ultimate goal: conserving wild eastern gorillas.

Bwindi Silverbacks Rushenya and Kirungi

L-R: silverbacks Rushenya and Kirungi