It is our favorite day of the year – World Gorilla Day. As we love to say here at Gorilla Doctors, every day is gorilla day for us, so today we are choosing to celebrate our friends at Columbia Sportswear whose generous support of rain gear and waterproof boots does so much more than keep our field teams dry…  But first, let’s go back to the beginning…

Saving a Species…One Gorilla at a Time

Since 1986, Gorilla Doctors has worked every day, rain or shine, monitoring the health of our wild eastern gorilla patients. When a gorilla is ill or injured, we race into the forest to provide life-saving veterinary care, never removing the gorilla from its home environment, and always while surrounded by our patient’s gorilla family.

Treating one gorilla at a time has contributed to one of the greatest wildlife conservation success stories of a critically endangered species in the last century. In 2018, mountain gorillas were reclassified by IUCN from ‘critically endangered’ to ‘endangered,’ and today are the only great ape in the wild whose numbers are increasing. But their total number is just over 1,000 and Grauer’s gorillas face significant decline. Existing threats to gorillas have intensified and novel threats are emerging. So, our work out in the forest monitoring the health of our gorilla patients continues…

The Journey of the ‘Gorilla Outfits’

Our team needed new field gear. They requested Columbia rain jackets, pants, and boots because they said it is the only brand strong enough to tackle all the elements they encounter in their forest hospital – rain, mud, steep, rocky slopes, biting insects, stinging vegetation, and so much more.

From that request, Chief Communications Officer Amy Bond reached out directly to Columbia Sportswear and they delivered! Less than two months later, the ‘gorilla outfits’ arrived at our U.S. offices!

Columbia donated rain jackets, pants, and waterproof boots not just for our field veterinarians – for every person on our team in Rwanda, Uganda, and DR Congo (even our interns!). That added up to 111 jackets and pants and 47 pairs of boots.

The six large duffle bags traveled more than 9,000 miles to arrive at the Kigali International Airport in Rwanda. The bags then breezed through customs thanks to the Greater Virunga Transboundary Collaboration (GVTC) and their leadership in facilitating so much of the critical behind-the-scenes logistics involved in mountain gorilla conservation.

Time to Get Outside

From Kigali, it was another 2.5 hour drive across the land of a thousand hills to arrive at Gorilla Doctors regional headquarters where the team was eager to get outside and test their new gear…

Saving a Species…One Step at a Time

As it turned out, Drs. Fred and Ricky had a chance to test their new gear the very next day after they received it. Malaika, an adult female gorilla in Katwe group, was critically ill and required their life-saving care. At 7:00AM they began the nearly three-hour trek to find the gorilla group who happened to be moving and feeding among dense vegetation in a steep ravine.

“It is called Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, and it is such a hard place to go to. But the boots are very strong and can match Bwindi Impenetrable Forest very well…” -Dr. Ricky, Field Veterinarian, Uganda

Several hours later the group had wandered into more favorable terrain and Dr. Fred was able to successfully dart Malaika with an anesthetic drug. Drs. Fred and Ricky worked quickly, providing medication, fluids, and vitamins while also performing a full physical exam and collecting biological specimens for future analysis.

As an ominous thunder cloud rolled closer, Dr. Ricky reversed Malaika’s anesthesia and she rejoined her family, including her older infant who had remained with one of the group’s silverbacks during the intervention. Once the intervention team was done observing Malaika’s recovery, they took a quick group photo before trying to outrun the rain…not that it really mattered since they were in their waterproof Columbia gear…

Twice the Impact

Every single day we work in a rugged forest environment where we must be prepared for anything. Having the best field gear is as essential as the medicines we administer to our wild gorilla patients We are grateful to Columbia for outfitting Gorilla Doctors with our field gear. It does so much more than rain protection. It helps us keep gorillas healthy and in the wild.

Thank you, Columbia Sportswear!

Saving a Species, One Step at a Time

 

 

 

 

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