9781422284803

his feet. Cranfield had shot the mother with a dart carrying a safe tranquiliz- er that put her to sleep. That allowed Cranfield to approach the baby gorilla safely. They were on a misty hillside in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable Nation- al Park. The vet was there as part of a mission by the Gorilla Doctors. The Gorilla Docs, as many people know them, take care of sick and injured gorillas that live in the national parks of Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the only three countries where mountain gorillas live. The Gorilla Docs believe that the health

Good News for Gorillas

Although they are still endan- gered, the number of mountain gorillas in the wild is growing. One recent study of the popula- tion living in the Virunga National Park in the Democrat- ic Republic of Congo showed a remarkable leap of more than 25 percent over the previous few years. Scientists believe that much of the increase is due to the veterinary care provided by the Gorilla Docs.

and well-being of every single mountain gorilla is extremely important because there are only about 800 of them alive today in the entire world. At least twice a week, the Gorilla Docs go out into the bush to see the gorillas and monitor their condition. Does everyone look healthy? Do any of them have visible skin problems or wounds? Sometimes the gorillas get caught in snares or traps set by poachers . When that happens, the vets and their helpers must release the trapped gorillas. One gorilla living in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park was even caught in a snare twice, once when he was four years old and once when he was seven. Zirikana, as he had been named, was fortunate to escape serious injury, but other gorillas have not been quite as lucky; the Gorilla Docs have been forced to amputate if an arm or leg is too badly mangled.

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