The Vet Who Stitches Gorilla-on-Gorilla Fight Wounds
Dr. Ricky Okwir Okello works behind the scenes at the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest so that tourists can safely trek alongside its great apes.
Each day at the crack of dawn, Dr. Ricky Okwir Okello hikes deep into Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, so named for its steep, mountainous ridges and dense vegetation. But he’s not one of the many tourists who pay $800 an hour to meet the charismatic mountain gorillas that live there. He’s a vet—one who makes the arduous trek to help monitor the health of the national park's 26 habituated groups. Travelers on a gorilla trek booked through the Uganda Wildlife Authority or licensed tour operator might even spy Dr. Ricky, as he calls himself, at work following alongside the trackers who find the gorillas.
In addition to scanning for snares and stitching gorilla-on-gorilla fight wounds, Dr. Ricky must check for human-borne illnesses. Because gorillas and humans share more than 98% of our DNA, we are susceptible to catching the same diseases. But even a common cold can kill a gorilla. Despite the risk inherent to human-and-gorilla contact, Dr. Ricky believes that it’s a necessary part of conservation. As part of the team at Gorilla Doctors—a non-profit in Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)—it’s his job to help manage that risk.
In Uganda, Dr. Ricky focuses exclusively on mountain gorillas—which, though still endangered, are the only great ape species whose numbers in the wild are growing. In fact, research shows that vets like him could be responsible for up to 40% of the difference in growth rates between habituated versus unhabituated gorillas. It’s one of the reasons, alongside community collaboration and habitation protection, that Uganda’s conservation-based tourism has been so successful. Currently, the estimated mountain gorilla population stands at 1,063 individuals across the two island populations in Bwindi and the Virunga Massif—a miraculous recovery from their lowpoint of 242 in 1981.
It’s challenging work filled with physical risk (gorillas are not the most willing patients) and harsh conditions. Getting from one side of Bwindi to the other requires a six-hour drive over rocky, unpaved roads or a grueling three-hour hike. But Dr. Ricky jokes that for him, the hardest part of the job is missing out on something many animal lovers can relate to. “I love dogs so much, but because of my long hours, I can’t have one,” he says. “The first day I retire I’m going to get a dog of my own.”
During a recent visit to Volcanoes Bwindi Lodge in Uganda, where travelers can book a fireside chat to meet with the Gorilla Doctors team in-person, Thrillist spoke with Dr. Ricky about his daily routine, gorilla casts, and the tension between conservation and tourism.
Thrillist:Why did you want to join Gorilla Doctors? It sounds like you had your pick of really cool animals to work with in Uganda, from chimpanzees to lions.
Dr. Ricky Okwir Okello: Of course I had seen gorillas in movies and documentaries, but before my internship with Gorilla Doctors in 2010, I had never seen one in person. During my first week, I watched a veterinarian treat a gorilla who had been trapped in a wire snare. I could see the gorilla was in a lot of pain. After they cleaned the wound and released it, the gorilla was visibly relieved. The way they look at you is very special. You feel like you are part of them. I like working with Gorilla Doctors because I’m able to help animals that are suffering. It feels so good to have saved a life.
Describe what you do during a "typical" day at work, if there is such a thing.
Normally in the evening before I sleep, I plan to visit one of our habituated groups for a routine health check. By 6:30 in the morning, I’m already heading into the field with the trackers. I look at the gorillas for signs of sickness. Do they have any wounds that need monitoring? What is their skin color? If they’re all healthy, I come back to write my report, select photos, and share my assessment with park authorities and other team members. Actually, yesterday I calculated that I have tracked gorillas over 3,500 times and have about 25 terabytes of photos.
Anyone who has gone gorilla trekking even once will appreciate how exhausting that sounds. What happens if the gorilla turns out to be sick? How do you treat them?
If one of the gorillas is not feeling okay, it means my day will be longer than usual. I spend more time monitoring them and try to get a non-invasive sample, like the saliva they leave after chewing on a plant, to investigate in the lab. The next day we have what’s called an intervention. No gorilla is treated outside the forest. Whenever they fall sick, I dart them and we treat them right there. We even have a portable X-ray machine if we suspect there is a fracture. The only difference with humans is we can’t use a cast made of plaster of Paris—gorillas will rip it off. So we use fiberglass and paint it black to match their fur. Then after two months, we can cut it off of them.
Are the gorillas good patients?
When you treat a gorilla, they often want to fight back. One of the silverbacks in Gahinga even recognizes my dart gun now. Once a gorilla is darted, it takes them about ten minutes to fall asleep. While I’m working, I have a group of porters and rangers to protect me and scare the other gorillas away by shaking their [walking] sticks. There are many social dynamics involved, so we always have to assess the individual situation, and may have to dart another gorilla so we can work safely. Treating a baby is one of the hardest things to do, because the mother and dominant silverback think you are trying to take the baby away.
What are the biggest threats to the gorillas? What are you treating them for most often?
Gorillas have four main health threats. The first one is disease, which can be from other gorillas, but also from humans. That’s the reason we always require people to wear masks around the gorillas. If you’re sick, please wait to visit. We’ve found respiratory infections like human metapneumovirus that don’t usually have a very big impact on people, but can kill a gorilla. We also see a lot of parasitic infections, some of which we suspect to be from the gorillas coming into contact with human waste. So we ask people trekking in Bwindi to please make sure you use the restroom before entering the forest. If you have to go, tell the ranger guiding you so they can dig a hole for you to use.
The second threat to gorillas is wire snare injuries. When people set illegal traps in Bwindi, they are targeting other animals like duiker and bushpig. The gorillas are accidental victims. Fortunately, we track the habituated gorillas every day, so if a snare injury is reported we can release and treat them. But if the accident is not seen soon enough, we’ll have to amputate due to the infection, or the gorilla may die. We also see other types of human conflict. If you stand on the road by Bwindi, you’ll notice a very sharp line between the forest and the community. There is no buffer zone, meaning people have crops planted at the park boundary. Occasionally people will unknowingly hurt gorillas when chasing them away from their gardens. Finally, we see gorilla inflicted injuries. Gorillas don’t elect their leaders—they fight. In that process, they’ll injure each other and themselves.
Do you feel like gorilla habituation and tourism actively contributes to their conservation?
I personally think that in order for us to conserve any species, the people living around that species need to be happy and invested. There are many benefits that the people of Bwindi get from tourism. Part of the money from the gorilla permits and park entry fees go directly back to the community. The porters, rangers, and hotel workers—most of those jobs are for the local community. People know this, and want to protect the gorillas. Gorilla human conflict has become very minimal. If the gorillas come to the community to raid crops, the community themselves have been trained to herd the gorillas back into the forest without the intervention of the wildlife authority. I've seen other situations in Uganda where people are poisoning elephants and lions that eat their crops and cattle because they don't see any bigger, direct benefit from them.
As you mentioned, being around humans can actually be dangerous to gorillas from a medical standpoint. Do you ever feel like tourism endangers gorillas?
We always try to strike a balance. It’s very important to monitor the ways tourists interact with gorillas, to wear masks, to maintain a proper distance of ten meters, and to enforce the rules. You can’t say tourism is a threat to the gorillas. Without tourism, we wouldn’t have the gorillas. If you look at the western lowland gorillas [across the Congo Basin] for example, tourists don't visit them. Therefore the local people don't bother about them. They go into the forest, do a lot of poaching, do this and that. There is no veterinary care and the gorillas are more prone to illnesses. Their population has been going down, while the mountain gorilla population has been steadily increasing since 1983.
What’s the best part of being a Gorilla Doctor?
It’s special to watch a newborn gorilla that weighs about three kilograms grow up. I have several gorillas I’ve taken photos of since they were babies that now have offspring of their own after nine or 10 years. I would like to see a gorilla I’ve known since they were a baby become a grandparent. That is my dream.