Posted by Oteil Burbridge on January 29, 2013 Gorilla Doctors
Oteil’s wife, Jess Shouse Burbridge, is the Communications Officer for Gorilla Doctors, an organization that provides life-saving medical care to the critically endangered mountain and Grauer’s gorillas of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Their Mission
Gorilla Doctors is dedicated to saving the mountain and Grauer’s gorilla species one patient at a time.
Overview
Gorilla Doctors is dedicated to saving the mountain gorilla species one gorilla patient at a time. Our international veterinarian team provides hands-on medical care to sick and injured mountain gorillas living in the national parks of Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). With only 780 mountain gorillas left in the world today, the health and well being of every individual gorilla is vital to the species’ survival.
In addition to providing mountain gorillas with healthcare, our veterinary team monitors the health of DRC’s Grauer’s, or eastern lowland, gorillas and intervenes to help sick individuals when possible. The Gorilla Doctors also help rescue and treat mountain and Grauer’s gorillas orphaned by poachers.
The Gorilla Doctors healthcare program includes:
- Monitoring the health of mountain gorilla groups to ensure the early detection of disease and injury.
- Staging medical interventions to dart sick animals with antibiotics or anesthetize and treat gorillas suffering from human-induced or life-threatening trauma.
- Rescuing and providing veterinary care to gorillas orphaned by poachers.
- Documenting and studying health trends to better predict disease outbreaks.
- Conducting post mortem examinations on dead gorillas to learn all that we can about the health problems that contributed to their deaths.
- Preserving tissue and fluid samples to be used by researchers investigating primate health issues.
- Providing preventive healthcare to the dedicated park personnel who protect the gorillas, and to the people and their animals that live near gorilla habitat, in order to reduce the risk of inter-species disease transmission.