Saving gorillas from the brink of extinction

WEDNESDAY, JULY 6: Performing complex surgery on an injured 400lb mountain gorilla in the middle of dense jungle would be nerve racking enough for most people.

For the Gorilla Doctors of central Africa there is the added pressure of knowing the future of the species is at stake.

Bermuda nature lovers were given a fascinating insight into the fight to protect one of the world’s most critically endangered species during a series of lectures last week.

Only 780 remain in the world, spread between the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest of Uganda and the Virunga masif, which straddle the Congo, Rwanda and Uganda.

Dr Mike Cranfield, the director of Gorilla Doctors told audiences on successive nights at Bermuda Uunderwater Exploration Institute, that he and his team have a tough and complex job.

Their efforts spread beyond operating on gorillas in the field to broader initiatives, including preventing the spread of human diseases from tourists and residents.

Surrogates

The charity even has an ‘orphanage’ where local men are employed to be surrogate moms to infant gorillas.

The surrogates are required to spend every minute of every day with the gorillas, sleeping with them and bottle-feeding them for the first three years of their lives. This is ‘extreme conservation’.

But Dr Cranfield sees the fact that his team have been forced to adopt such measures as a bad sign.

“The project has been a success but as a society we have failed because we have pushed these animals to the point where we have to be this extreme to save them.”

The concept of tracking endangered animals in the wild and providing medical care is almost unique.

But the plight of the giant silverbacks that roam this small portion of African forest was considered so severe that extreme measures were necessary.

The threat comes primarily from poachers, from deforestation and from human diseases, including the Ebola Virus, as well as from fights among rival gorillas.

The vets’ remit is to intervene when a gorilla that is ‘demographically important’ (ie: one that is capable of reproducing) is threatened.

At times it can be dangerous work. Dr Cranfield and his team trek for hours through dense jungle (its called the Impenetrable Forest for a reason) to find the injured gorilla.

Guides armed with darts loaded with Ketamine subdue the patient. Then Dr Cranfield, or one of his vets has around 40 minutes to operate, before the gorilla wakes up.

“When there are 10 or 12 adult gorillas hanging around it can be pretty tense. The individual we are working on has to be back with its group that night, so time is important.”

On occasion a tense situation can develop into a dangerous one.

On his last trip before departing to Bermuda, Dr Cranfield was part of a team coming to the aid of a gorilla that had been caught in a hunting snare.

“Normally they are fairly passive. Sometimes they try to establish dominance with bluff charges and displays. “On this occasion the gorilla just came charging straight at us, screaming with its mouth open and bit one of the trackers. We had to abort for the day.”

Ultimately the vets returned — minus the injured tracker — and completed the operation successfully.

A less dramatic but more troublesome issue is the spread of infection from local villagers and tourists, who flock to gorilla-watching trips.

“Imagine if I brought eight people from the airport to sit in your office for an hour every day and watch you. First of all you’d probably get pretty annoyed, secondly you would very likely pick up some of their infections.

“Gorillas are 98 per cent the same as us. They are susceptible to human diseases.”

Compounding the problem is the fact that, in medical terms, the gorillas have better health plans than the local population.

Surrounding the Virunga national forest is one of the most densely populated and impoverished areas in Africa. “There is no great medical system. You’re talking about 390,000 people in the area surrounding the park and only a handful of doctors.”

The gorillas have a team of 12 vets on hand to look out for them. But Dr Cranfield says the health of these animals is vital to the health of the community.

“The tourism that surrounds them is an important industry. If that goes away conditions are only going to get worse.”