IhirweToday Dr. Jean-Felix was able to perform a health check on the orphan and he discovered that the gorilla is a little girl! She has been given the same Ihirwe, meaning “luck” in Kinyarwanda, the native language of Rwanda. We think she was very lucky that police caught the men holding her captive!

Dr. Jean-Felix examines Ihirwe while she sits on Caretaker Fabien.

Here is Dr. Jean-Felix’s assessment: Ihirwe is looking better than yesterday although she still has a productive cough.  She weighs 7.1 kilos.

Checking Ihirwe’s teeth.I noticed the presence of two pre-molar teeth, meaning she could be around 15 months old, but I will send pictures to Shannon, the bone expert, who will confirm her age. She has one old superficial wound under the left ear that is healing well, one scar on her head, and one close to her left eye.

Examining the eyes.She likes being in the presence of MGVP caregiver Fabien and she walked around and played with him a little bit.

Taking medicine.We managed to take throats swab for viral tests and I gave her an anti-parasitic drug as we found worms in the feces we collected from yesterday.

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