Crazy week

Here's the rundown:

On Sunday John, Molly and I went to a lake just north of Ruhengeri. We drove about 30 minutes on the paved road, then about 90 minutes on a windy dirt road through the mountains until we found the lake. It was lovely, and HUGE. We drove to the top of the lake, stopping to take pictures now and then, and found a great waterfall. There are small towns dotting the mountains, and people everywhere. Here are some of the pictures from that trip (I ran out of battery before we got to the waterfall - rats!). It was a fun day off - the first full day off I've taken in a while!











Monday I went to the forest for a health check on Kwitonda group. It was wonderful to be in the midst of a healthy family group. Kwintonda is the silverback, massive and young and healthy. There are several juveniles, and we caught them during a play session. Rough and tumble wrestling, twirling, punching, laughing and grunting. The whole visit was reguvinating for me. Here are a couple pictures from that adventure - an adult female who was munching on bamboo shoots and a curious baby in the bamboo.


Tuesday several of us went to Rumangabo, DRC to check out a new facility for the two mountain gorilla babies in Goma, DRC. Long, long drive over bumpy roads, and a long, but productive day. I'll tell this story at length soon.We also had to examine a baby Red-tailed monkey (used to be called Spot nosed guenons) that had been confiscated. VERY cute.

Wednesday I had to go back to DRC because there was a sick 3 year old gorilla. Eddy (one of our veterinarians in DRC) and I visited the group and found that this little girl had a terrible cold - runny nose, coughing, lethargic and not eating much. We treated her with antibiotics, hoping to help her get over the hump. Molly went with us and photographed the procedure - her story will be on the MGVP blog in the next week or so, along with her pictures. Here's a preview - I found another chameleon - this time a Jackson's. Molly took this picture. Pretty cool!


That same day there was a newborn gorilla in Pablo group, one of the Rwanda research groups, researchers reported had cried all day yesterday. Magda went to that group and the female and her infant could not be found, even after a 3 hour search. We were pretty worried. Then we got a call from Benard, the MGVP veterinarian in Uganda. There had been a fight in one of the groups and 2 silverbacks had injuries that needed to be evaluated. But Benard was sick, so Jean Felix had to go. Turns out the injuries are not major - trackers will monitor them until Benard does a recheck next week.

So we had sick or injured animals in all three countries on the same day. In vet school I was sort of an emergency magnet. I sure hope that ability has not followed me here....

Thursday the mom and baby in Pablo group could not be found again. Now we were really worried. But got good news from Congo - the juvenile we treated yesterday was looking better today. So it was a bit of a quite day at the office. I used the day to catch up on my desk work - after 3 days in the field I was SWAMPED!

Today we learned that the newborn has died, and the mother is very weak. We are making preparations to go into the forest tomorrow to assess, and immobilize her for diagnostic and treatment procedures if necessary. I hope we can help her. We also got a call that a golden monkey was weak and near death right near Hirwa group. Magda went up and by the time she got there the monkey had died. At necropsy his liver was the size of Texas - lets hope it is not infectious disease... Many, many samples were taken....

So it has been a crazy week. I'm pooped! But, I got a PACKAGE today from Megan and Kyle!!! Thank you!!!! I had salt and vinegar chips and mac and cheese for dinner!!!