Last Sunday afternoon I got a call from Joel at Karisoke Research Center. The 2 week old baby of Imvune in Ugenda group was crying a lot, and may have had some blood on his feet. Trackers were worried. I put my pack in the truck and headed up to Bisote, the place where I would pick up trackers to take me to the group. But when I got to Bisote, Dr. Katie Fawcett, director of Karisoke Research Center, called me with horrible news that changed all plans for the day.

Pablo group had not been seen for the past 2 days because it had been raining so much that the rivers were too deep and fast for trackers to safely cross. They were also still very high on Karisimbi. When trackers finally found the night nests on this Sunday, they found adult female Intwali dead in her nest. And her 1.5 year old infant Mutesi was clinging to her dead mother, barely alive. I was stunned. Trackers found no evidence of foul play.

More information trickled in over the next hour as I scrambled to get intervention equipment for the infant. Trackers struggled through steep ravines, dense vegetation and pouring rain to find the rest of the group. Three hundred meters from the night nests they found another dead gorilla – an infant. By 3:00 they found the rest of the group and everybody was accounted for except Intwali, Mahane, and their babies. We feared the worst – we knew we had 2 dead gorillas and a critically ill infant, but since Mahane could not be found we were quite worried that she was dead too – it is unusual for mothers to drop their infants even when they are dead.

Intwali and Mutesi last October.

There were many decisions to be made in a short time – we were running out of daylight hours and the weather was horrible in the mountains. A collective decision between Karisoke Research Center, Rwanda Development Board (the country’s wildlife authority) and MGVP was made to do whatever we could to save the infant. She was likely hypothermic (very, very cold) and dehydrated, so this meant being with her all night at the very least. We headed up to the forest edge at dusk – it was an eerie walk up through a misty rain and low clouds. By the time we got to the edge of the forest it was fully dark. All I could see was the porter with our gray gear bag in front of me as I carefully place one foot in front of the other, trying not to trip. While trackers and rangers set up tents I got out the medical equipment I would need for first aid – someone held a flashlight as I unpacked stethoscope, thermometer, fluids, antibiotics, steroids…. And we waited in the dark, misty cold.

By 7pm the trackers made it to the edge of the forest with Mutesi. She was barely alive – completely soaked from the rain and so cold she didn’t register on the thermometer. Her gums white and she was not responsive to sound or touch. She had been with her dead mother for at least 24 hours and was near death. I estimated her weight at 10 kg and gave fluids, antibiotics and steroids, then shoved her into my jacket next to my body and climbed into a sleeping bag in a desperate attempt to warm her. Trackers were warming sugar water to put on her gums. I rocked and made comforting gorilla noises and rubbed and rubbed her back. Here musky smell filled my nostrils. Her little freezing body could not even shiver she was so cold.

After about an hour she began moving a bit, even holding on to me with her hands. She also started to try to vocalize. Her breathing became more regular. I allowed myself to become a little hopeful that we could pull her out of this, if I could only get her warmed up. But an hour later she took a deep breath, shuddered, and died in my arms. I knew it was a long shot that we could save her, but my heart was broken. Now we had 3, and maybe 4 dead gorillas from one group in one day.

At 9pm we started the one hour walk down the mountain. A slow procession of people with weak flashlights, trying vainly not to trip as we made our way down through potato fields, eucalyptus groves, river beds and past people’s homes. I was mostly lost in my own thoughts as I heard the low murmur of male voices and the occasional thud as someone slipped on the mud or a rock. Thankfully it had stopped raining, but it was still rough going. I got home after 11 and fell into bed, exhausted. But I couldn’t sleep right away. I was worried….what would we find tomorrow? Would we learn anything when we did the necropsies? How was Imvune’s baby – the one I was originally supposed to assess?

The next morning Dr. Magdalena and Dr. Noel did Mutesi’s necropsy (the animal form of autopsy). There was no evidence of infectious disease or trauma – as expected she likely died from exposure. Then we got more bad news – Imvune’s baby, only 2 weeks old, was dead. We really needed this body to determine cause of death, but Imvune would not give him up. Trackers would follow her daily and try to recover the body if she put him down. We were waiting for news from Pablo group, but it would take several hours before trackers could reach them because they were so high on the mountain and it was still pouring rain on Karisimbi. We were also waiting for the bodies of Intwali and Mahane’s baby, which would take nearly 20 people to bring down the mountain. In early afternoon we got the first good news in 2 days – Mahane was alive and well, and all gorillas in Pablo group were behaving normally and looked healthy.

Tuesday morning Dr. Magdelena, Dr. Noel and I shoved our emotions aside and did the necropsies on Intwali and Mahane’s infant. Intwali was in good body condition with food in her stomach. Once again, no significant signs of infection or trauma were found on either gorilla. All indications were pointing to exposure, but we would not know for sure until the tissues were examined under a microscope by MGVP pathologist Dr. Linda Lowenstein.

This has been a terrible rainy season. Many people in Rwanda and Congo have died in mud slides and in swollen rivers. Our guard Felicien lost his 10 year old son last week in a raging river. I helped transport his little broken body to the family home. He was wrapped in a bamboo mat while Felicien held him with a look of shock, resignation, pain and confusion. They held the funeral the next day, as is the custom here. He was buried in the garden behind the family home. My heart aches for Felicien and his family. Life is difficult and raw here.

It has been a week now since the deaths on Pablo group, and so far all other gorillas remain healthy and normal in behavior. Let’s hope this rainy season is over soon, and life can return to some form of normal for gorillas and people.

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