Gorilla Doctors

Category: About MGVP, Inc. | Date: Oct 27 2007 | By: admin

This blog is just to give you some more background about MGVP. There’s lots more at mgvp.org

Gorilla Doctors work for the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project (MGVP, Inc.)–one of few conservation programs in the world to provide health care for an endangered species in its natural habitat. MGVP’s mission is to improve the sustainability of Mountain Gorilla populations using an integrated, or “one-health,” approach that combines health care, research, capacity building, information sharing, and strategic partnerships.

MGVP employs 21 people in Africa, including 8 professionals: one regional vet manager, Dr. Lucy Spelman (American); one regional field vet, Dr. Magdalena Lukasik-Braum (Polish, joining MGVP Dec 2007); four in-country field vets, Dr. Jean Felix Kinani (Rwandan), Dr. Eddy Kambale and Dr. Jacques Iyanya (Congolese) and Dr. Benard Ssebide (Ugandan); one research vet, Dr. Jean Bosco Nizeyi (Ugandan), and one regional lab manager, Jean Paul Lukusa (Congolese). Fieldwork is done in all three countries and our staff meets regularly for clinical rounds to discuss recent cases and exchange information.

MGVP’s international headquarters and its director, Dr. Mike Cranfield, are based in Maryland, USA, though the focus of the project is Central Africa. Leading scientists from around the world also provide their expertise on topics ranging from infectious diseases to pathology-subjects that relate to mountain gorillas, and the people and other animals that share their forest ecosystem. Together this team helps provide vital information needed to protect the world’s few mountain gorillas.

MGVP works in the Virunga Massif mountain range — the Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda (Parc National des Volcans), the Virunga National Park in the DRC (Parc National de Virunga) and the Mgahinga National Park in Uganda– and the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park in Uganda. And all of our work is done in close partnership with the regional protected-area authorities: the Office Rwandais du Tourisme et des Parcs Nationaux (ORTPN), the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN), and the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) in Uganda.

The health of the gorillas is inextricably linked to that of the entire ecosystem-the local people, tourists, domestic animals, and other wildlife, as well as the soil, air, plants, and water they rely on. The movements of people and animals in and out of the park create countless opportunities for the exchange of diseases or pollutants. So we work together to provide health monitoring and care for park rangers, guides, scientists, and other animals as well as for the gorillas.

We consider diseases carried by any animal-whether humans, cows, or other species-potential threats to the fragile mountain gorilla population of just 740 animals. The threat of tuberculosis, for example, is the main reason commercial farms pasteurize milk. But many local people dislike like the taste of boiled milk. Our DRC vets have done some screening of cows living in or near the Virungas park and, fortunately, their tests show there is no TB in the these animals yet, but it may just be a matter of time.

On a routine basis, our six field visits monitor the mountain gorillas habituated for tourism. We also respond to problems reported by park staff. Recently, these visits have not been possible on the Congo side of the Virunga Massif mountains, though we hope they will resume soon. While we make hundreds of visits to check on the gorillas, we provide hands-on care very rarely-a dozen or less times a year. We intervene only in the case of a human-induced or life-threatening problem. Unfortunately, snares continue to entangle and endanger the lives of mountain gorillas each year.

Orphaned infant gorilla infants also fall under our care. With so few mountain gorillas, every individual is potentially valuable. In partnership with the protected area authorities, MGVP has designed strict health care protocols for infant gorillas orphaned as a result of poaching. As of October, 2007, MGVP helps care for four mountain gorilla orphans and six Grauer’s gorillas, another subspecies of gorilla found in the eastern DRC. These orphans either saw their mothers shot, or they were captured for the wildlife trade.

The schoolchildren in a village near the park may never see a real mountain gorilla, but their lives are connected nevertheless. In order to maintain a healthy population of gorillas, MGVP staff strive to create an umbrella of health for all species that encounter them. Our activities thus include health care for other animals, relevant research studies, employee health programs for rangers, guides, and scientists who work closely with habituated mountain gorillas, teaching and training other veterinarians, and community outreach designed to share information about the one-health concept.