t e V l Lo ca Go r i lla s & Q
Virginia Dean
much arm waving and shouting,” said Murrell. uechee – Four years ago, local veterinarian Dr. Lynn Murrell found himself in one of the most unique When the post-mortem was completed, the body was bursituations of his professional life. ied in a deep grave which had been dug during the surgery. The place was the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park “I never heard what was learned from the examination of the samples taken from the dead gorilla, but found that in southwestern Uganda. The bamboo and thick ground they had been sent to labs in Europe and the United States cover of ferns, vines and other plant growth interspersed to take advantage of this rare chance to study the parasites, among larger forest hardwoods made the forest extremely bacteria and viruses of this species,” said Murrell. difficult to access by foot. The forest is also known as the “Place of As he and the others hiked out of the Darkness” and is one of the most biologicaljungle in the dark to the ranger station, ly diverse areas on the planet, a region Murrell was fascinated by the calls where half the world’s population of of the nearby chimpanzees and the highly endangered mountain other jungle creatures. gorillas live in its jungles. “Gentle giants” is how Murrell describes the pre Murrell, who founded the Kedron Valley Veterinarian dominantly herbivorous apes that inhabit the Clinic in 1978 in South forests of central SubWoodstock, had travSaharan Africa. The eled there with his wife, physician Dr. DNA of the primates Judith Hills, as he is highly similar to that of humans, had done every year since 2007 but, this from 95-99 percent, time, under unusual and are the next closest living relacircumstances. He and the memtives to humans after bers of his group chimpanzees and had received a call bonobos. that a silverback Murrell had joined gorilla had been his wife who is the struck and killed by president of Friends lightning and had been of Hospice Africa, USA discovered by rangers and had arranged to go to the following morning Uganda twelve years ago when they noticed that he to work there. was missing from his group. “I went along to see if Mother mountain gorilla in Bwindi So, along with members of his there was something I could do, National Park, Uganda group called Conservation Through utilizing my veterinary medicine - Lynn Murrell experience,” said Murrell. Public Health (CTPH), Gorilla Doctors and other veterinarian technicians, Murrell Not long after, Murrell was introduced to hiked into the impenetrable forest at sunset to Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka a Ugandan veterinarobserve and assist in the post-mortem. ian who, after receiving her veterinary training at the “Everyone was attired in full hazmat suits since no one Royal Veterinary College in London, had become the first knows what viruses these animals carry and no one wants veterinarian with the Uganda Wildlife Authority. to be the first case of the next HIV disease,” said Murrell. After becoming aware of the plight of the endangered Guards were posted in the dark around Murrell and the mountain gorillas in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, she founded CTPH with a mission of improving public health other groups because a younger silverback was detected, trying to approach. Male gorillas become silverbacks around in the villages surrounding the Bwindi National Park to the age of 13 when the hair across their shoulders and down reduce the risk of human disease transmission to the goriltheir back becomes grayish or white in color. las and to monitor the health of these creatures to reduce the chance of disease transmission to humans. Silverbacks can be dangerous as the dominant males who control several females and youngsters and fend off “The villages share in the ecotourism income from other males. people who track and observe the gorillas and thereby “We were able to scare away the young silverback with have learned to respect the value of them in improving the 12 4 Legs & a Tail
Spring 2020
