gorilla.cd

Late Thursday evening a very small, frightened infant gorilla arrived at the park headquarters. She was dehydrated, hungry, and weak, and like any baby in that condition, she whimpered and cried. For this female baby, only 4 to 5 months old, it was the end of a 2-week trauma of captivity from her home in the forest to the city of Goma where she was rescued by Virunga and ICCN authorities.

The operation began when our Gorilla Sector warden, Innocent Mburanumwe, received a tip-off from local community members saying there might be a baby gorilla or chimp at a house in Goma. The sting operation went into effect. Posing as a buyer, a park contact went to the house to see what information he could gather. A man produced a small backpack with a baby gorilla inside that he was hoping to sell. His father-in-law, from the Walikale  mining region west of the park, had captured the baby and brought it to Goma on a motorbike.

The park officials immediately went into action. Following legal procedures, Virunga’s deputy park warden Norbert Mushenzi was accompanied by ICCN lawyer Mathieu Cingoro in order to confiscate the gorilla and arrest those involved in the poaching who were transferred to the court authorities. Gorilla poaching is considered a serious crime in Congo and can lead to a lifetime prison sentence.

Dr. Eddy and Dr. Martin with the Gorilla Doctors examined the baby in Goma, finding her to be quite dehydrated and hungry. He gave her a banana, an oral rehydration solution, and subcutaneous fluid. In the two hours that followed she ate 4 more bananas and later some baby formula and seemed more stable. She was then taken to the sanctuary at Virunga park headquarters.

This is the second baby gorilla to be confiscated and brought to the park headquarters in less than a week. The two gorillas will stay together in the lower enclosure to complete a 3-month quarantine with 24-hour care from 3 caretakers who are trained and experienced at taking care of orphan gorillas in both Congo and Rwanda. The newest baby has been named Baraka, meaning “blessing” in Swahili.

The two gorillas showed some interest in each other when they first met, but for the older gorilla, it seems as if she considers the younger one a competition for food and milk, often trying to grab the milk bottle or banana from the younger gorilla, and even throwing a tantrum once when she didn’t get a bottle too.

Both gorillas are Grauer’s, also known as eastern lowland gorillas. They live exclusively in eastern Congo, and their numbers have seen an incredible drop since 1995, placing them on the endangered list. Although no one knows for sure, estimates say they have dropped from 17,000 to as few as 4000. Walikale, where the gorillas were captured, is an insecure region where numerous armed groups compete for control over mines.

Keeping two new baby gorillas is an unforeseen expense for the park. If you would like to help us care for these gorillas over the next few months, please contribute in the One-time Open Donation section to the right of this blog.

Here are a few photos of the newest baby gorilla:

Dr Eddy Kambale with Gorilla Doctors, holding the 4-month old baby gorilla.

The caretakers each sleep with one of the gorillas at night and during naps.

Caretaker Kakule with the new baby.

The baby weighed 4.5 kilos on Friday.

Isangi (right), the 9-month old, saw Kakule feeding bottled milk to the baby and climbed to try to grab it.

Veterinarian Dr. Dawn Zimmerman with the Gorilla Doctors takes baby Baraka’s temperature. The vets will examine the baby more thoroughly when she is less stressed and comfortable with her environment.

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