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, […]
By Gorilla Doctors Staff
on Friday, July 7th, 2023
in Blog.
Notes from the Field: By Dr. Gaspard Nzayisenga, field veterinarian, Rwanda For their effective conservation, mountain gorillas in Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda are monitored on a daily basis by park trackers and rangers as well as researchers and Gorilla Doctors’ veterinarians. Tourists from around the world also visit gorillas daily. Gorillas are susceptible to human […]
By Gorilla Doctors Staff
on Tuesday, May 30th, 2023
in Blog.
Monday, May 8 started out as a quiet day at the Gorilla Doctors regional headquarters in Musanze, Rwanda. Drs. Gaspard and Adrien worked at their desks catching up on field reports and Dr. Julius was off-site at a meeting. Then the call came in… When the Call Comes Umwari, an adult female mountain gorilla in […]
By Gorilla Doctors Staff
on Monday, January 16th, 2023
in Blog.
By Dr. Gaspard Nzayisenga, field veterinarian, Rwanda During my health monitoring of Muhoza group on January 5, I was surprised to find Inkundwa, a lone silverback mountain gorilla, interacting with Muhoza group (led by silverback Muhoza). Apparently, there had been a fight early that morning before our arrival, which resulted in a couple of minor […]
By Gorilla Doctors Staff
on Thursday, October 1st, 2020
in Blog.
Gorilla Doctors’ mission is to conserve wild mountain and eastern lowland (Grauer’s) gorillas using veterinary medicine, science and a One Health approach. One Health recognizes the intrinsic connection between people, animals and the environment – especially when the environment is shared, as is the case with people and wild gorillas in East-Central Africa, one of […]
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 […]
By Gorilla Doctors Staff
on Friday, August 28th, 2020
in Blog.
This month we launched Meet the Gorilla Doctors: Guardians of Gorilla Health to introduce you in more detail than ever before to our dedicated team of Ugandan, Congolese and Rwandan veterinarians working to protect the health of endangered mountain gorillas and critically endangered Grauer’s gorillas. Their internationally-recognized work in conservation medicine, and infectious disease research […]
By Gorilla Doctors Staff
on Monday, August 3rd, 2020
in Blog.
“The mountain gorillas will be extinct by 2000. We need a veterinarian on site.” According to mountain gorilla lore, Dian Fossey said this to Ruth Morris Keesling at the international symposium, ‘What We Can Learn about Humankind from Apes,’ held in California in May 1981. The genesis of Gorilla Doctors began with those six words […]
By Gorilla Doctors Staff
on Tuesday, July 28th, 2020
in Blog.
On Sunday July 26th, Gorilla Doctors received an emergency call at 12:20PM from Volcanoes National Park staff – two-year-old infant Ineza of Igisha group was caught in a snare. Despite the time constraints (it was a minimum 90-minute hike after a 50-minute drive to reach the park entry point from Gorilla Doctors headquarters), Drs. Noel, […]
By Gorilla Doctors Staff
on Thursday, July 23rd, 2020
in Blog.
Sabyinyo group had been out of range for about 10-days when Volcanoes National Park rangers first spotted their return to the area on May 25th. Dominant silverback Gihishamwotsi had clearly been in a fight, with wounds all over his body, so rangers immediately reported his condition to Gorilla Doctors. We mobilized for a veterinary monitoring […]
