Gorilla Doctors

MGVP staff (from left) Dr. Jacques Iyanya, Dr. Benard Ssebide, Dr. Magdalena Braum, Dr. Eddy Kambale and Jean Paul Lukusa at regional rounds in Rwanda.

MGVP’s veterinary staff—collectively, the Gorilla Doctors—is a unique, diverse, and interesting group of people. We differ in terms of our nationality, training, and experience, as well as in the territory we cover. The in-country field vets are stationed in their home countries, either Rwanda, Uganda, or the DRC, while the regional vets and project director move about. MGVP’s regional headquarters is located in Ruhengeri (Musanze), Rwanda for two main reasons: most of the world’s habituated mountain gorillas live in Rwanda, and Ruhengeri itself is about halfway between the border with Uganda to the east and Congo to the west.

Though a subset of the six field vets will sometimes work together on a mountain gorilla when veterinary intervention is required, this happens only a few times a year.  Typically, we are out and about alone or in pairs.  We gather monthly for regional veterinary rounds so that we can share case experiences and exchange information.  Our diverse experience and training make for a great team, where we can learn a great deal from one another, either at the table during rounds, or during the widely varied field procedures.

MGVP Executive Director Dr. Mike Cranfield also enjoys photography.

MGVP director Dr. Mike Cranfield was one of the first veterinarians to embrace the concept of one-health, or integrated, medical coverage and apply it on behalf of great ape conservation. Mike has led the project since 1999, always on the lookout for ways to build local capacity. MGVP has trained a number of in-country vets, helping several to obtain masters and PhD degrees. Mike has also expanded MGVP programs to include employee and domestic animal health. His greatest challenge these days is raising the funds to sustain all of this important work. A Canadian, Mike currently lives near the Baltimore Zoo in Maryland, where he works as a research veterinarian studying avian malaria in South African penguins. His hobbies include competitive sailboat racing, ice hockey, and squash.

Dr. Jan Ramer, MGVP Regional Veterinary Manager, during a routing health check with Titus group, Rwanda.

Dr. Jan Ramer grew up in Indiana with dogs, cats, and three sisters.  Every summer she sailed, paddled, hiked and formed lifelong friendships in the northwoods of Wisconsin where her passion for the natural world germinated and developed.  After graduating from Purdue University she was an animal keeper for 12 years – first at the Indianapolis Zoo, then in the Primate Department at the Brookfield Zoo.  In 1985, while on a trip to study lemurs in Madagascar, she came to Rwanda for the first time.  She spent several days at the Karisoke Research Station where she was lucky to meet Dian Fossey, and also encountered Beethoven’s Group.   She attended veterinary school at the University of Wisconsin, then was a clinician at the Wisconsin Regional Primate Center and taught at the Wisconsin Veterinary School.  Most recently Jan was an associate veterinarian at the Indianapolis Zoo.  She’s had her eye on the MGVP since its inception, and with her children in college it was the perfect time to apply for the position of Regional Veterinary Manager.  She began working in this position in August 2009.  She is passionate about conservation, animal well being and veterinary medicine.  In her spare time she enjoys hiking and camping, reading and spending time with family and friends.

Dr. Magdalena Lukasik-Braum on a routine health check visit to Group 13, Rwanda.

Dr. Magdalena Lukasik-Braum joined MGVP in early December 2007 as our regional field veterinarian. Originally from Warsaw, Poland, where she received her veterinary degree, Magda has been involved in chimpanzee health, ecotourism, and research in East Africa since 1998, working initially for Jane Goodall in Gombe National Park, Tanzania, and then in Mahale National Park. She has also served as head veterinarian for CROW, a busy wildlife rehabilitation clinic located in Durbin, South Africa, her husband Doug’s home city, where their daughter Kasia was born in 2003. Magda’s first year as a gorilla doctor was a busy one, thanks to the many orphans now under our care and a variety of cases in the field.  She brings warmth and enthusiasm with her to work each day.

Dr. Jean Felix Kinani, MGVP Rwandan field vet, preparing to dart a mountain gorilla, with ORTPN vet tech Elisabeth Nyirakaragire.

Dr. Jean-Felix Kinani is MGVP’s Rwandan in-country field veterinarian. Jean Felix received his veterinary degree from Check Anta University in Dakar, Senegal. He joined MGVP in 2004 and especially enjoys fieldwork with the gorillas. He is also interested in domestic animal health, and recently started an annual rabies vaccination program for domestic dogs in the region. Near the Virungas, there have been several recent cases of rabies in jackals and feral dogs; humans too have died of this disease. Jean Felix is the project’s great communicator. He speaks many languages, knows many people, and has by far the highest cell-phone bill. His hobbies include playing and watching soccer, or football as it is known here. He and his veterinarian wife have just started a family.

Jean-Paul Lukusa, MGVP regional laboratory manager, teaches basic hygiene at Art of Conservation class; photo by Julie Ghrist.

Jean-Paul Lukusa is MGVP’s regional laboratory manager. He received his degree in microbiology from L’Institute Superior Médicale in the Democratic Republic of Congo and then worked as a professor at a medical school in Rwanda before joining MGVP in 2003. Jean Paul lives in Goma, DRC, but commutes regularly to MGVP’s main office in Rwanda. His duties range from running fecal parasite checks and bacterial cultures on mountain gorilla samples to administering the MGVP employee health program. The latter job involves coordinating doctor visits and laboratory samples for hundreds of park rangers, guides, and patrols each year. Jean Paul is MGVP’s most gifted teacher and public speaker. And as we learned when he participated in Julie Ghrist’s Art of Conservation class (www.art-of-conservation.com), he can make even brushing one’s teeth exciting!

Dr. Benard Ssebide, MGVP Ugandan in-country field vet, on a routine health check in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda.

Dr. Benard Ssebide is MGVP’s Ugandan in-country field veterinarian, and the team’s newest staff member. Benard (yes, this is the correct spelling) received his veterinary degree and masters of Science in wildlife health and management from Makerere University in Uganda. For six years, he worked for the Ugandan Wildlife Authority as veterinarian and chief park warden, based in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. During that time, he became a collaborator and friend of MGVP. He joined the project early in 2007 to concentrate on field vet work rather than administration. Benard has a keen interest in wildlife diseases and will begin work on his PhD soon. With a home in Kampala and his patients spread out among dense jungle, Benard travels more miles over rough terrain than the rest of MGVP staff combined.

Dr. John Bosco Nizeyi, MGVP research veterinarian and professor, at Makerere University in Uganda.

Dr. John Bosco Nizeyi is MGVP’s research veterinarian, and a professor in the Wild Animal Resource Management Department of Makerere University in Uganda. JBN (he’s known by his initials) received his veterinary degree at Makerere, his masters of science in recreational resources from Colorado State University, and his PhD in veterinary medicine at Makerere University in 2005. He has worked for MGVP since 1993, when he started as a field vet. His research interests include the use of fecal cortisol testing to monitor stress levels in wild animals. Because JBN lives in Kampala, a long way from mountain gorilla habitat, and his days are full of teaching and guiding students, we don’t see him often. But when we do get together for an all-staff meeting in Kisoro, Uganda, everyone looks to JBN for his historical knowledge and experience.

Dr. Eddy Kambale, MGVP DRC field vet, helps care for the orphaned mountain gorillas, in addition to field work.

Dr. Eddy Kambale is the other MGVP in-country field veterinarian based in the DRC. Eddy received his veterinary degree at the Catholic University of Graben, Butembo, in the DRC. Before joining the MGVP in 2004, he was a scholar at the Technical Institute for Agriculture and Veterinary Science in Butembo, DRC. In cooperation with Dr. Jacques Iyanya, Eddy’s duties include monitoring Grauer’s gorillas as well as mountain gorillas—and caring for the orphans. He enjoys every aspect of clinical medicine, including pathology, or the study of disease after an animal has died. Eddy performed field necropsies on the gorillas shot in the DRC last July, hoping to learn something from this tragedy. Among MGVP staff, Eddy has a wry sense of humor and can make people laugh in any number of languages. At work, however, he’s seriously quiet.

Dr. Jacques Iyanya, MGVP DRC field vet, monitoring gorillas in Kahuzi Biega National Park.

Dr. Jacques Iyanya is one of MGVP’s two in-country field veterinarians based in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He received his veterinary degree from the University of Lubumbashi in the DRC, then worked for the Department of Agriculture and Development in the eastern part of the country before joining MGVP in 2004. His duties include monitoring mountain gorillas on the DRC side of the Virungas and Grauer’s gorillas in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park. He and his colleague, Dr. Eddy Kambale, also take care of the two newest infant mountain gorillas in Goma, DRC. Jacques speaks perfect French, is exceptionally well connected and diplomatic, and understands DRC’s complicated political system. As a result, he often accepts the role of MGVP political advisor. He is rapidly learning English, and will soon be correcting me in my native language as well as in French!

Leon Ntahobavukira is the MGVP house manager.

Felicien Mulinda, Faustin Nemeye, and Samuel Nshimiyimana work as guards/grounds staff at the headquarters in Ruhengeri.  Jean-Claude Rusengamihigo, Michel Mwemezi, and Innocent Barimenshi perform a similar function at the interim quarantine facility (IQF) for orphaned gorillas in Kinigi, Rwanda.

Felicien Mulinda.

Faustin Nemeye.

MGVP employs five of the seven caretakers who work at the IQF where they care for the two mountain gorillas Maisha and Kaboko, and the six Grauer’s gorillas Serufuli, Pinga, Itebero, Ntabwoba, Dunia, and Tumaini.  The staff includes Amiel Bapfakwita, Dieu Donne Muyambabazi, Jean Baptise Bisenigamana, Innocent Kabendera, and Fabian Bahati.