By Gaspard Nzayisenga, senior field veternarian, Rwanda

At Gorilla Doctors we are on call 24/7, ready to respond to a gorilla health emergency, rain or shine. On this particular Sunday, January 19, we received an urgent call from Volcanoes National Park trackers who discovered an infant mountain gorilla caught in a snare. Dr. Adrien and I raced into the forest and up the mountain to an elevation of more than 8,500ft (~2,600m).

Dr. Gaspard examines Intare’s ankle and begins removing the snare. Janaury 19, 2025. © Gorilla Doctors

The infant’s family, Hirwa group, had moved nearly 1,000ft (~300m) away and the infant was languishing in the snare, cold and exhausted.

Drs. Gaspard and Adrien arrived to find Intare still trapped in the snare, exhausted and stressed. January 19, 2025. © Gorilla Doctors

Using nose print ID cards, trackers identified the infant – Intare (name translating into “Lion”), the 3.5-year-old male infant of adult female Umuteguro. We immediately anesthetized Intare and got to work removing the rope snare from his left ankle. He had also suffered serious injuries to both arms, likely from his family attempting to free him from the snare. We cleaned the wounds and applied topical antibiotic ointment. We also administered antibiotics, pain medication, and vitamins.

Drs. Gaspard and Adrien work to remove the rope snare around Intare’s left ankle. January 19, 2025. © Gorilla Doctors

Dr. Adrien carries Intare over to their forest ‘hospital’ – ready to provide emergency veterinary care. January 19, 2025. © Gorilla Doctors

Drs. Gaspard and Adrien race to treat Intare in the pouring rain. January 19, 2025. © Gorilla Doctors

It was cold and there was a heavy rainfall, increasing the urgency with which we worked. When a gorilla is anesthetized, we must be very sensitive to decreasing body temperature, so we work quickly, and reverse the anesthesia as soon as we are done with procedures. In this case, because Intare’s family had moved away, we had to keep him anesthetized while transporting him back to his family.

Intare strapped to stretcher and ready to be returned to his family. January 19, 2025. © Gorilla Doctors

Once we were close to the group, while he was still in the stretcher we reversed the anesthesia. Intare woke up, cried out for his family and all the gorillas came running. While they watched him with interest, no gorilla – including his mother – was willing to touch him or pick him up until he moved off the stretcher.

The gorillas of Hirwa group curious but wary of Intare on the stretcher. January 19, 2025. © Gorilla Doctors

It took about 10 minutes but then his mother carried him away and the entire group disappeared into the vegetation. While we were packing up the medical kit, the group started screaming aggressively for a prolonged period. Instantly worried about Intare, we rushed back to the group. The drama for Hirwa group wasn’t over yet!

Hirwa group fights off a lone silverback! January 19, 2025. © Gorilla Doctors

Intruder Alert!

The group was fighting with a lone silverback and they were succeeding: in the short time it took us to locate the group, the lone silverback had sustained several wounds. To our great relief, Umuteguro and Intare were away from the fighting, with Intare looking quite relaxed while sitting with his mother and occasionally breastfeeding.

Intare and his mother staying away from the fighting. January 19, 2025. © Gorilla Doctors

Intare Recovering

Given the seriousness of Intare’s injuries, I conducted a follow-up monitoring visit on 21 January. While he was more alert than the day of the snare rescue and his wounds were visually clean, it was clear that he was in pain and his movement was affected by his injuries.

Intare showing visual signs of pain during follow up monitoring visit, January 21, 2025. © Gorilla Doctors

Intare remaining close to the silverback. January 21, 2025. © Gorilla Doctors

Intare was able to ride on his mother’s back, using all but his left foot to grip. January 21, 2025. © Gorilla Doctors

He remained close to either his mother or the silverback during my observation. As you can see from the above images, he is able to hold on while riding his mother’s back but not yet able to grip with his left foot. In a video captured by park trackers on January 23, I was happy to see Intare making good progress. We are always grateful to our park partners who serve as our eyes and ears on the days between our visits.

We will continue keeping a very close eye on Intare over the coming days and weeks to ensure a full recovery.

Read More about Hirwa Group

Here are some of our past stories about this remarkable group –

Lightning Strikes Mountain Gorillas in Uganda – February 2020

Gorilla Doctors Treat Lead Silverback of Hirwa Group – April 2020

Update: Intervention to Treat Lead Silverback of Hirwa Group – May 2020