Tshiaberimu

Category: Gorillas, Tshiaberimu, Virunga National Park | Date: Sep 02 2008 | By: tshiaberimu

This is Jean Claude. It is with great pain that I have to announce the death of Musangania, a 5 year old gorilla from the Lusenge Family. Musangania was found dead near the camp of Burusi at 9 am on Saturday morning by the head of the monitoring team.

This came as a complete shock to everyone at Mount Tshiaberimu. Since the death of two adult females in February and May this year we have been monitoring the health of the remaining gorillas extremely closely. In addition to daily health monitoring, MGVP vets visited the Lusenge family three weeks ago, and just last week CTPH vets visited the family also. Both vets’ reports confirmed that the family was healthy and well, and we had absolutely no cause for concern.

So when Musangania’s body was found with an inflated belly, traces of blood in the mouth, lesions on the lips and foamy saliva coming from the mouth - I felt sick to my stomach.

It was an extremely sad moment to find Musangania dead. He was such a young and lively gorilla and had been seen the previous day playing up in a tree, at a height of 9 meters, with his companion Mukokya and his father Nzanzu.

Musangania’s body was carried by rangers to the Gorilla Organization’s base at Kyondo. The body was refrigerated overnight and on Sunday an autopsy was carried out by MGVP, CTPH, the Gorilla Organization and ICCN.

The autopsy revealed that Musangania died from a brain hemorrhage and deformation to the front, right side of the head. We are still waiting for the results of samples taken during the autopsy, but based on the post mortem, the recent health monitoring and the sightings of Musangania up the tree the day before - we believe that the gorilla fell from the tree, whilst playing, and hit his head badly on the way down.

This is a devastating moment for everyone here. A gorilla falling from a tree is rare, but unavoidable. Though with the very small population of Mount Tshiaberimu gorillas, it is a very big loss.

Here is a picture of young Musangania’s body, the burial service, and Nzanzu, Musangania’s father.

13 responses so far

Category: Gorillas, Rangers, Tshiaberimu, Uncategorized, Virunga National Park | Date: Aug 26 2008 | By: tshiaberimu

Hello, this is Jean Claude. Muramba is a village at the foot of Mount Tshiaberimu, found on the west coast of Lake Edward. Sadly, Muramba has many problems and is a big threat to the survival of the gorillas. The population density of this village is growing and growing and is having a negative impact on the ecological corridor.

Encroachment in the forest has been a problem in this area for a long time now. Since 2004 we have worked hard with the local community to raise awareness to environmental issues and provide alternatives to the forest wherever we can but this work has had little success.

We recently carried out another visit to Muramba but again it was not successful. We will now concentrate on intensifying the patrols in the corridor between the coast of Lake Edward and the gorilla habitat, and also continue to work with the local communities to find a solution. Please see some pictures below taken by Vhosi during the recent mission to Muramba. In the first photo you can see the growing village between the lake and the forest of Mount Tshiaberimu. The next two photos show the meeting we held with the local community, and the final picture shows ICCN’s patrol boat.

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Category: Gorillas, Research, Tshiaberimu, Uncategorized, Virunga National Park | Date: Jul 31 2008 | By: tshiaberimu

Hello this is Jean Claude. During the last few days we have carried out a gorilla health monitoring visit at Tshiaberimu. Dr Jacques Iyanya and Dr Eddy Kambale from the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project (MGVP) led the mission and were joined by Dr Mavisi, a local vet who has been working with the project for some time, and Mr Odilon, our research coordinator.

Three habituated gorilla groups were observed - Lusenge, Kipura and Kanindo - from the patrol posts of Burusi, Kalibina and Kikyo, respectively.

During the health monitoring visit, three individuals were checked from Lusenge group (Nzanzu, Musangania and Mukokya), four individuals from the Kipura group and two from the Kanindo family. Faecal samples from each night nest were taken and close observations of the individuals health and behavior were recorded. It is very rainy here now at the moment but thankfully the rain started after the fecal samples were collected.

I am very happy to tell you that no apparent health problems were recorded for any of the observed individuals - great news!

In addition to the vet’s visit, ICCN trained rangers are collecting health data daily for some habituated gorilla group. They are using the MGVP IMPACT system (IMPACT = Internet-Support Management Program to Assist Conservation Technologie) This system gives the rangers guidelines to observe the gorillas health and helps them to identify any health problems.

Please see some pictures below taken during the gorilla health monitoring visit. I am sorry that some of them some of them are not very clear.
Thanks for all your support and I will write again soon.

6 responses so far

Category: Communities, Tshiaberimu, Uncategorized, Virunga National Park | Date: Jul 30 2008 | By: tshiaberimu

Hello this is Jean Claude. Working with the local communities living around Mount Tshiaberimu is an extremely important part of our work to protect the gorillas and the forest. We help to build the capacity of the local people so that they can live in harmony with the forest and protect the habitat for the gorillas.

I frequently visit local villages to keep them informed of our conservation work and raise awareness for the protection of the forest. Last week I visited the village of Kasundi not far from the ranger patrol post at Burusi and on this occasion I was able to deliver 30 iron roofing sheets to help the village construct a health clinic.

The population of Kasundi is very much involved with the protection of the forest and appreciative of the conservation work that we are doing. When we arrived last week with the new roofing sheets the population welcomed us with dances to thank us for our work.

I will write again soon with an update on the health of the gorillas.

2 responses so far

Category: Gorillas, Rangers, Tshiaberimu, Virunga National Park | Date: Jul 24 2008 | By: tshiaberimu

This is a message from Rebecca, a 23 year old ranger who has recently arrived at Tshiaberimu from ICCN’s local headquarters in Mutsora.

I am Rebecca. I have a love of nature. I decided to become a park guard as I saw how the ‘rebellion’ was widely destroying the Virungas National Park. I have just finished my ranger training and when I heard about Tshiaberimu my boss thought I would do well and be able to help in this sector.

But unfortunately, shortly after I arrived at Tshiaberimu, two female gorillas died. It was a very sad time for me at the beginning of my career.

I am determined to fully immerse myself with conservation and to take part in all the patrols to protect the gorillas. I hope to show other women that the gorillas are our close relatives; our cousins and we must help to protect them. When I see how the female gorilla Kitawite cares for her baby Musomboli, I remember how my mother cares for me.

The job is not easy as I am the first girl to stay in the northern sector of the Virungas and particularly at Tshaiberimu. I do not yet earn any wages but with the support of the project I have everything that I need.

I think that I will be among one of the first and few female conservationists.

5 responses so far

Category: Gorillas, Tshiaberimu, Uncategorized, Virunga National Park | Date: Jun 16 2008 | By: tshiaberimu

Hello, this is Jean Claude. We have just received the results from the initial analysis done on the tissue samples taken during Molo’s autopsy. The results show that Molo was suffering from Shigellosis, an infection of Shigella bacteria that causes dysentery. She was also suffering from a relatively high parasite load. While Shigellosis is not necessarily a killer, if contracted by an animal that is weakened by worms, then the bacteria can cause death.  Shigella is spread by the faecal-oral route so the remaining gorillas in this tiny population are in grave danger. (here is a photo of one of our precious gorillas during happier times).  Dr Mavisi, the vet who carried out the autopsies, and everyone at the Gorilla Organization would like to thank Dr Gladys Kalema from Conservation Through Public Health (CTPH) who has responded so rapidly to our distress call from Tshiaberimu following the death of two gorillas.Dr Gladys has been able to quickly arrange some advanced training, and last week myself, Dr Mavisi and Safari (the head monitoring agent) went to Uganda to learn how to identify even the slightest signs that a gorilla is unwell. When we returned to Mount Tshiaberimu we trained all the other monitoring agents here. The training was extremely useful and will help us protect the remaining gorillas. We do not have all the equipment we need here but Dr Gladys has been able to come to Mount Tshiaberimu to look after the gorillas during this difficult time. Dr Gladys will not be able to stay long so when she leaves it is important that we get equipment we need so we can carry out advanced checks ourselves. My colleague Vhosi has also been sending out messages on the radio about health and wellbeing to ensure that all the local communities are healthy, and that we minimise any spread of disease. We are doing all we can to protect our gorillas. 

9 responses so far

Category: Research, Tshiaberimu, Virunga National Park | Date: Feb 21 2008 | By: admin

The birdsurvey at Tshiaberimu:

I have conducted a bird survey in Mount Tshiaberimu in collaboration with other colleagues from the Kisangani University and the CRSN/Lwiro. Before we publish the final report, let me inform you that the Tshiaberimu ecosystem showed 145 birds species with 10 endemic of the Albertina valley and one rare bird.

Cryptospiza shelleyi

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9 responses so far

Category: Gorillas, Tshiaberimu, Virunga National Park | Date: Feb 19 2008 | By: admin

Death of Mughole

I’m sorry to announce the death of Mughole, a female adult from Tshiaberimu on February 8th. Mughole belonged to Kipura family and the mother of Mwavita baby died last year too. She died from intestinal obstruction caused by the taenia. We tried to get her in life. Because it is the first time we observe this type of diseases, it is urgent to establish an epidemiological program. More details in the post.

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9 responses so far