Silverback Kabirizi's Role as King of Virunga Threatened

Kabirizi eating with his family.This Blog was written by Dr. Eddy from Virunga National Park, DRC.

On the morning January 20, I left the Bukima patrol post with a group of trackers to find Kabirizi group. Along the way we encountered the night nest of the silverback Mukunda, who still stays by himself in the forest. About 30 minutes later we met a wild or unhabituated gorilla group, a very rare occurrence. The group was quiet initially but later they moved away, with the silverbacks charging and screaming at us. We know from the 2010 census that there are several large unhabituated groups in Viurnga.

Almost 3.5 hours after starting our trek, we found Kabirizi group. The weather was sunny and almost all of the gorillas were sitting under shade in the bushes which made our observation quite long and difficult.  We counted 33 individuals, including Kabirizi himself.

Kabirizi's injured foot.I realized that Kabirizi was quieter than usual. He was not charging, hiding, or running, and was eating out in the open with his family members. Normally Kabirizi does not like being observed by people, and stays hidden in the vegetation, keeping the group’s babies close to him for protection.  I noticed that Kabirizi has many healing wounds on his left shoulder and thigh and a large cut (about 7cm) on his right heel which was healing but not allowing him to walk properly. He was limping on the right side and using his left leg a lot while walking.

Kabirizi is missing his canines.Some time ago, Kabirizi lost his upper and lower canine teeth during a fight with another gorilla. I think that his lack of canines, his defensive weapons, is one of the reasons why it is easy for the other silverbacks in the group to take advantage of him in fights. The younger silverback Bagheni  been fighting with Kabirizi on a regular basis now, and Kabirizi most often loses the battles. Another young silverback in the group, Mugeni, is also starting to challenge Kabirizi.

While the other gorillas in the group appear healthy, Kabirizi is declining due to a combination of aging and frequent fighting with the other silverbacks. It will be very interesting to see how the dynamics in the family change this year.

Research Notes:  Kabirizi has been one of the most successful silverbacks in Virunga National Park, having sired dozens of babies during his 14-year reign as leader of Kabirizi group. Famous for his aggressiveness towards people and other gorillas, Kabirizi has killed a number of other male gorillas while defending his family.

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Mountain Gorilla Dunia Treated for Snare in DR Congo

By Molly Feltner, MGVP Communications Officer

On December 13, the Chief Park Warden of Virunga National Park, Emmanuel de Merode, called Dr. Eddy to report that rangers had found a mountain gorilla caught in a poacher’s trap in the Jomba region of the park. The gorilla, Dunia, a four- or five-year-old female belonging to the Mapuwa family, had a rope snare around her right wrist and the wrist appeared swollen and possibly lacerated. Ranger Desire Sekibibi was able to cut the long end of the rope from the vegetation where it was tied. While Dunia was free to move with the rest of the group, the actual snare remained tight around her wrist. Ensnared gorillas can lose limbs and possibly die from infections in the snare wounds, so Dunia’s situation was an emergency.

Drs. Jan, Eddy, and Jean-Felix.Emmanuel asked the Gorilla Doctors for help, and an intervention team was quickly formed to travel to DR Congo. Dr. Jean-Felix joined Dr. Eddy at the MGVP headquarters in Rwanda and Dr. Jan, who thought she had finished her final day of work with MGVP last week, was called out of retirement for one last intervention. Because Jomba is on the far northern end of the Virunga Massif in Congo, it was fastest to travel through Uganda reach the group’s location. The Gorilla Doctors spent the night in Kisoro, Uganda, and planned an intervention for early the next morning. Silverbacks are usually extremely agitated and aggressive the day a member of their family is caught in a snare, so it is considered safer to give the group a night to calm down before intervening. 

Trekking to find the group.On the morning of the 14^th, the Gorilla Doctors met a team of Virunga National Park rangers at the Congo border and drove to Jomba to begin the trek near the base of the Sabyinyo volcano. An advance team of trackers and rangers found the group eating wild banana trees inside a narrow crater on the side of the mountain.

Dunia hides behind Mapuwa.The Mapuwa family has 15 members, including two silverbacks, Mapuwa and Nvuyekure, and blackback Mambo. The team found most of the group feeding on banana trees with Nvuyekure. However, Mapuwa and Mambo were about 75 meters from the rest of the group guarding Dunia. At first it was difficult to see Dunia clearly, as Mapuwa and Mambo kept her hidden the dense vegetation.

Mambo.After a few minutes, Mambo sat down within 3 meters of the intervention team and blocked their access to the trail so that Mapuwa and Dunia could return to the rest of the group. 

Dunia walks by Mambo.The Gorilla Doctors were able to get a good look at Dunia as she passed by and the snare was gone! She was clearly limping in pain and had a small wound on her wrist, but with the snare off, so she was no longer in immediate danger.

No snare!The Gorilla Doctors and park rangers consulted with Emmanuel de Merode by phone to determine the best course action. Dr. Eddy recommended that Dunia be darted with antibiotic and anti-inflammatory drugs to reduce her pain and the possibility of infection rather than sedate her for a full examination. A full examination would allow the doctors to inspect the wounded wrist up close and determine if Dunia had other injuries, but using anesthesia always carries risks for the gorilla. Having one of its members sedated and inspected by humans also greatly disturbs gorilla groups. The silverbacks may become violent or the whole group might flee and leave the sedated animal behind. It is challenging to make such veterinary decisions when working with wild animals in an uncontrolled environment, so it was important to consider the options for Dunia carefully. Eventually, the group decided to follow Dr. Eddy’s recommendations.

Discussing the options.

Once Dunia had joined the rest of group, the silverbacks relaxed and Dr. Eddy and Ranger Desire were able to approach her. Hiding the dart gun behind Desire so that Dunia would not see it and flee, Dr. Eddy shot a dart into her thigh. Dunia quietly pulled the dart out and walked away.

After the darting.

Thanks to the snare coming off on its own and the easy darting, the day proved a great success. The Gorilla Doctors and rangers are still concerned for Dunia’s recovery, so rangers will monitor her closely over the next few days. If she continues to limp or shows signs of infection, the Gorilla Doctors will return to perform another intervention.

Here is a video of the intervention:

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New Confiscated Grauer's Orphan in Good Hands

Ranger Christian Shamavu and Dr. Jan Ramer with the orphan.By Molly Feltner, MGVP Communications Officer

On the evening of October 6, Emmanuel de Merode, the Chief Park Warden of Virunga National Park, called Dr. Jan and reported that his rangers had successfully rescued a baby Grauer’s gorilla from poachers and were bringing the infant to the Senkwekwe Center. After hearing rumors of a captive baby gorilla being held in the Walikali area of the Democratic Republic of Congo, a team of rangers led by Christian Shamavu conducted a two-week sting operation that resulted in the arrest three poachers and the confiscation of the baby.

Drs. Eddy and Jan examine ShamavuDrs. Jan, Eddy, and Jacques headed to Virunga National Park early the next morning to assess the infant’s health. The doctors found the infant with Christian in an enclosure at the Senkwekwe sanctuary. Mountain gorilla orphans Ndeze and Ndakasi watched the new orphan from a tree in their adjacent enclosure. The baby was curled into a tight ball in Christian’s arms and was looking fearfully at his new surroundings. Christian explained that the gorilla had been kept inside a small backpack for a month.

Shamavu and Dr. Jan.Despite being visibly stressed, the infant appeared to be in good physical condition except for some dry, flaking skin and lice. Dr. Eddy took a skin sample for testing and gave the infant ivermectin for internal and external parasites. He appears to be about 1.5 years old and weighs 6.3 kilos.

Dr. Jan holds Shamavu.After the exam, Dr. Jan held the infant quietly and he began to relax. She was able to give him some juice and feed him bits of wild celery. He spent the night with Patrick, one of the mountain gorilla caretakers, and two new caretakers arrived today to begin looking after the infant for the next 30 days while he undergoes a quarantine period. The Gorilla Doctors will return in a week to perform a full health exam.

The gorilla was named Shamavu, after Christian Shamavu, the ranger who rescued him.

Here is a video of Drs. Eddy and Jan examining Shamavu:

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Gorilla Orphan Emergency at Senkwekwe

The call came in at 5:40pm -  Ndakasi, one of the 4-year-old orphan gorillas at Senkwekwe Center in Rumangabo, was in serious condition.  The network was horrible as I tried to communicate with Dr. Eddy and with Emmanuel de Merode, the Director of Virunga National Park.  When the caregivers called the gorillas back into the night house that afternoon, Maisha, Kaboko and Ndeze came in, but Ndakasi was nowhere to be found.  Caregivers Richard and Patrick called and called but she did not come in.  They then went to the observation platforms to look over the yard from above, and saw no movement at all.  Finally entered the yard and began a one-hour search. 

Torn vines on the tree indicate where Ndakasi lost her footing.They found her at the base of a tall tree in the middle of the yard, disoriented and barely able to move.  The caretakers carried her back into the night house and her condition deteriorated.  This was clearly an emergency, and even though it was getting dark and the 1.5 hour drive from Goma to Rumangabo could be insecure at night, Dr. Eddy immediately headed to Rumangabo.

Ndakasi in the fetal position.When Dr. Eddy arrived Ndakasi’s condition was very serious.  She preferred to stay in fetal position, but if stimulated she could only circle to the left, she could not focus her eyes, and could not use her right arm properly.   The most likely scenario was that she fell from a tree and sustained a serious concussion.  Dr. Eddy administered some powerful anti-inflammatory drugs hoping to reduce the inflammation in her brain, and caregivers stayed by her side all night. 

Drinking milk.

Finally, at 1am, there was a hopeful sign of improvement.  Ndakasi seemed hungry, and drank a cup of milk.  Dr. Eddy was relieved and able to get a little sleep for the next few hours.

Feeling worn out the next day.The next morning Dr. Jacques and I left Goma early to join Dr. Eddy at Senkwekwe. We found Ndakasi to be even more alert than the night before, but still very quiet and weak, still not using her right arm/hand normally.  She had regained her eyesight though, and was moving more normally in general. 

Maisha keeps an eye on Ndakasi as Drs. Jan and Eddy examine her.We all still felt it important to do a complete examination, which she would not allow us to do while she was awake (even in her weakened state she tried to bite us!), so we gave her some drugs to sedate her and were able to check her whole body and get blood samples. 

Drs. Jan and Eddy examine Ndakasi.We found no obvious injures, and her bloodwork was normal.  This also supported our diagnosis of concussion.  We gave her another powerful anti-inflammatory injection and waited and watched for more improvement.

Ndakasi and Ndeze eating together.Fortunately, by the end of the day Ndakasi was acting nearly normally!  She was hungry, ate almost a normal amount of food, and even grunted at Ndeze when Ndeze tried to take food from her! She was still not using her right hand completely normally, but she was clearly on the road to recovery.   We were all so very relieved.  By the next morning caregivers felt Ndakasi was completely back to her normal self, and she was reunited with Maisha, Kaboko and Ndeze, and went back into the yard for a normal day.  Let’s hope she learned  her lesson about how to climb tall trees!  

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Infant Infura Freed from Snare by the Gorilla Doctors

This blog was written by Dr. Mike.

On May 24, Karisoke Research Center (KRC) reported that the infant Infura of Pablo group was caught in a rope snare in Volcanoes National Park. The next morning, a team from MGVP and KRC trekked to Pablo group, prepared for an intervention. Unfortunately the group was highly agitated and KRC tracker John Boaco Twahirwa was bitten by the silverback Gicurasi. We called off the intervention for the day so that John Bosco could receive medical care. We decided to give Pablo group some time to calm down. Thankfully the snare was not tight around Infura’s foot so there was time.

Drs. Mike and Jean-Felix treat wounded KRC tracker John Boaco Twahirwa.On May 27, Drs. Jean Felix, Eddy, and I headed back to Pablo group with a KRC team for a second intervention attempt. Infura still had the complete rope snare around his leg, which other gorillas were pulling at to try to remove. This elicited a painful reaction from the infant. Infura, however, was using the leg better than when we last saw him.

We made up two sedative darts—one for Ishema, the mother, and one for Infura. It was difficult terrain and it took hours to get the mother and baby into a good position to dart. Finally the mother and baby were darted with excellent shots. They wandered off without making a noise. We waited 5 minutes and recovered the darts, both of which had discharged. However, neither Ishema nor Infura showed much effect from the drug injection. They gathered with the rest of the group were surrounded by silverbacks. It was raining and the vegetation dense, so observation was difficult. When the trackers approached, the silverbacks became aggressive. It then started to hail and the group started to disperse. It was approximately 4 pm and so the day was called off. We decided to try again in 2 days.

On May 29, the team left early in the morning and reached the group at about 9 am. The group was settled and quiet. We made up two more sedative darts. After about 45 minutes, an opportunity came with the Ishema feeding and facing away from us, and Infura on her back, also intermittently with his back turned. We easily got two great shots. This time there was more commotion, but Ishema separated out from the group. We found the darts and the mother’s dart had fired but the baby’s had not.

Dr. Jean-Felix with the rope snare.The mother went down and the infant was clinging to her. Dr. Jean-Felix cut the rope off Infura’s leg and then gave the infant a 100 mg injection of straight ketamine to sedate him.

The infant was taken to flat ground and Drs. Eddy and Jean-Felix performed a medical exam. The rope had been on the upper thigh and the tissue between the snare and the knee was edematous.  The right foot was considerably cooler then the left, but not swollen. When pricked with a needle, the leg bled normally. Blood samples and swabs (nasal, oral and rectal) were taken. The baby’s vitals stayed normal during the procedure.

Infura with his mother.The mother had blood and the same swabs taken. After about 40 minutes the mother started to stir but the exam on the baby and anesthesia were still being carried out, so I gave the mother another 100 mg of ketamine.

The mother was carried to a higher flatter space as was the baby. After approximately 20 more minutes the baby was stirring and able to hold the mother. The mother was given a reversal drug and both gorillas recovered uneventfully and moved off to the group.

Infura and Ishema wake up together.Trackers continued to monitor the animals and no further problems were noted.

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