The Snare Rescue that Never Happened!

The Snare Rescue that Never Happened! By Gorilla Doctors Staff on Thursday, May 22nd, 2025 in Blog.

By Nelson Bukamba, field veterinarian, Uganda Last Friday as I was trekking through Bwindi on my way to administer deworming medication to silverback Kabukojo of Rushegura group, I received an urgent call from trackers. Six-year-old juvenile Bigorogoro in Mubare group was caught in a snare. Trackers said he was visibly distressed and emitting high-pitched screams […]

Gorilla Doctors First Snare Rescue of 2025

Gorilla Doctors First Snare Rescue of 2025 By Gorilla Doctors Staff on Friday, January 24th, 2025 in Blog.

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 […]

When Gorillas ‘Rescue’ Themselves

When Gorillas 'Rescue' Themselves By Gorilla Doctors Staff on Tuesday, March 12th, 2024 in Blog.

On the morning of February 19, Dr. Lina hiked out from our Tshivanga field station at Kahuzi-Biega National Park, DR Congo. It was a little before 9:00AM, and she was planning a routine health check of Bonane group, a family of nine critically endangered Grauer’s gorillas led by silverback Bonane. Not far into the forest, […]

Gorilla Doctors Rescue Infant Mountain Gorilla from Snare

Gorilla Doctors Rescue Infant Mountain Gorilla from Snare By Gorilla Doctors Staff on Wednesday, August 16th, 2023 in Blog.

Field Report: By Dr. Gaspard Nzayisenga The last couple of weeks have been stressful for 2.5-year-old infant Ingabire of Isimbi group in Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda. On August 8 we received a report that Ingabire had been trapped in a wire snare. The trackers were able to successfully detach the wire from the bamboo stake, […]

Busy Boy Bonane – A Newborn Grauer’s Gorilla

Busy Boy Bonane - A Newborn Grauer's Gorilla By Gorilla Doctors Staff on Wednesday, March 22nd, 2023 in Blog.

We are thrilled to announce a newborn Grauer’s gorilla in Bonane group at Kahuzi-Biega National Park, DR Congo. On Monday, Dr. Lina conducted a routine health check of the group and was delighted to see adult female Mukono holding her newborn (2-3 days old). Silverback Bonane has been busy! This is the second infant born […]

Snare Rescue in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

Snare Rescue in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park By Gorilla Doctors Staff on Wednesday, May 4th, 2022 in Blog.

On Wednesday April 27 Gorilla Doctors received an emergency call from Bwindi Impenetrable National Park rangers reporting that a sub-adult male mountain gorilla in Bitukura group had a wire snare around his left forearm. This is the second snare in Bwindi this year: in early January 2022 a blackback in Kahungye group was snared and […]

Gorilla Doctors Rescue Grauer’s Gorilla from Snare

Gorilla Doctors Rescue Grauer’s Gorilla from Snare By Gorilla Doctors Staff on Thursday, July 22nd, 2021 in Blog.

On the evening of Thursday, July 15, Dr. Eddy Kambale Syaluha, Gorilla Doctors Head Veterinarian in DR Congo, received a phone call from Kahuzi-Biega National Park: a 3.5-year-old male Grauer’s gorilla, Wilungula, was caught in a wire snare. Wilungula’s mother, Mukono had separated the wire from the stake in the ground, but the wire was […]

Gorilla Guardians: How We Treat Wild Gorillas

Gorilla Guardians: How We Treat Wild Gorillas By Gorilla Doctors Staff on Monday, February 1st, 2021 in Blog.

Have you ever wondered how we provide veterinary care when our patients are wild and our hospital is the forest? In this post we take you step-by-step through a real intervention from 2019 when Dr. Fred, a true guardian of gorilla health, trekked deep into the forest to rescue a mountain gorilla from a snare […]

UPDATE: Infant Theodore Thriving after Snare Removal

UPDATE: Infant Theodore Thriving after Snare Removal By Gorilla Doctors Staff on Wednesday, October 7th, 2020 in Blog.

Back in July, Dr. Eddy and Jean-Paul successfully removed a snare from Theodore, a two-year-old infant mountain gorilla from Humba group in Virunga National Park, DR Congo. On September 23rd, Drs. Eddy and Fabrice (our newest Gorilla Doctor) conducted a routine health check of Humba group and found Theodore thriving. According to Dr. Eddy’s field […]

Growing Up Gorilla Part 2: Kwita Izina

Growing Up Gorilla Part 2: Kwita Izina By Gorilla Doctors Staff on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2020 in Blog.

Kwita Izina –  “to give a name” – is the annual Rwandan ceremony for naming each of the infant mountain gorillas born in the previous year. The celebration first began in 2004, inspired by the ancient Rwandan tradition of families gathering friends to welcome a new baby. The annual celebration honors not only the new […]