Pictures: Orphan Baby Gorillas Rescued From Poachers

Close-up

Photograph courtesy LuAnne Cadd, Virunga National Park

Nine-month-old Isangi poses for a shot.

"[The first day] Isangi looked much stressed, screaming when handling her ... and appearing tired, dehydrated, with a very dirty hair coat, covered with lice eggs," said Eddy Kambale, a veterinarian with the group Gorilla Doctors who examined the baby. But she was healthy, with no evidence of illness or injuries.

Two days after she had been delivered to the Virunga sanctuary, Isangi was eating, playing, and exploring her new surroundings, Kambale reported. (Related pictures: "Baby Gorilla Rescued in Armed Sting Operation.")

Published October 2, 2012

A Blessing

Photograph courtesy LuAnne Cadd, Virunga National Park

Her name, Baraka, means "blessing" in Swahili. "We fed her crushed bananas, giving small amounts, and then she slept in my arms," said one of Baraka's handlers at the Virunga sanctuary.

The five-month-old—at first dehydrated, weak, hungry, and crying like a human baby—was rescued on September 20. Wildlife officials, acting on a tip from local community members, undertook a sting operation and confiscated the gorilla from her captors, who were attempting to sell her in the city of Goma, just outside Virunga.

The poachers claimed to have taken the baby from the Walikale area, an insecure and mine-rich region some 85 miles (135 kilometers) west of Goma. The men were arrested and transferred to court authorities in the city.

(Read about another baby gorilla rescued in the Congo.)

Published October 2, 2012

Formula for Survival

Photograph courtesy LuAnne Cadd, Virunga National Park

Human baby formula takes the place of mother's milk for Baraka (pictured) and Isangi at the Virunga sanctuary.

In the past four years, ten Grauer's gorilla orphans have been confiscated from poachers in volatile eastern DRC. Wildlife officials fear that adult Grauer's gorillas have been lost as well: Poachers typically kill mothers—and any other gorilla trying to protect juveniles—to obtain babies to sell in the illegal pet trade. (See pictures: "Gorilla Mother 'Mourns' Dead Baby.")

Grauer's gorillas are closely related to the more famous mountain gorillas, also living in Virunga National Park. Poaching, wildlife trafficking, and habitat destruction are key threats to the survival of both species (more on Virunga gorillas).

Published October 2, 2012

In This Together

Photograph courtesy LuAnne Cadd, Virunga National Park

A caretaker holds Baraka while Isangi stands by. The two gorilla babies are under the 24/7 supervision of three caretakers.

Baraka is very mellow, said LuAnne Cadd, information officer for Virunga National Park. The baby sleeps a lot, whimpers, and cries when she's scared or hungry. Isangi is feisty. The handlers say she is trying to behave as a chief, sometimes trying to steal Baraka's food.

"It's helpful," Cadd said, "to imagine these gorillas as human babies of the same age, which means they can't just be let out in the enclosure to play while you walk away." (See how orphan gorillas recently escaped the Virunga sanctuary.)

They can also catch human diseases, which may prove fatal. Humans who enter the gorilla enclosure must dip the soles of their shoes in water with bleach and wear gloves and masks.

Published October 2, 2012

Night Shift

Photograph courtesy LuAnne Cadd, Virunga National Park

Two caregivers take turns sleeping with Baraka, trying to mimic the care she would have gotten from her mother in the wild.

"Gorilla mothers are very attentive toward their babies," Eddy Kambale said. "The mothers feed them, sleep with them, carry them on their chest or back, groom and clean them, watch them, and protect them against predators, and even rain, at all times."

In the sanctuary, the orphans spend time outside in the forest yard, but mostly their caretakers carry them, as their mothers would. The caretakers use gorilla vocalizations to calm the infants.

"If no one will try to imitate their mothers' behaviors, the infant gorillas can shortly die from stress, as they are very fragile," Kambale said.

(See pictures of a baby mountain gorilla rescued near Virunga in 2011.)

Published October 2, 2012

Army Tanks Retreat

Photograph by Phil Moore, AFP/Getty Images

Congolese army tanks retreat through the village of Rugari after an alleged ambush by rebels who currently control parts of the eastern DRC, including the Virunga National Park's gorilla sector, home to more than 200 mountain gorillas and a small population of Grauer's gorillas.

It was a rebel group, in fact, that delivered Isangi to a conservation group at the DRC's Kahuzi-Biega National Park headquarters, which in turn brought her to Virunga.

Park rangers have been shut out of the gorilla sector since the rebels took over the area this past spring, but the park headquarters at Rumangabo, where the gorilla orphanage is located, has so far remained a safe haven. (See "Inside the Gorilla Wars: Rangers on Risking It All.")

Emmanuel de Merode, the park's director, has warned that the fighting appears to have provoked a surge in illegal trade in endangered species across the DRC's eastern forests.

Published October 2, 2012

Facing the Future

Photograph courtesy LuAnne Cadd, Virunga National Park

Once Isangi (pictured) and Baraka are released from quarantine they will move to another sanctuary in the DRC, currently home to 12 other Grauer's orphans rescued from poachers in the past few years. Named GRACE (Gorilla Conservation and Rehabilitation Education Center), the sanctuary provides 350 acres (140 hectares) of natural habitat.

Juan Carlos Bonilla, the vice president of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, which operates GRACE, explained: "Being highly social animals, gorillas shall not be reintroduced to the wild alone.

"Because it may be complicated to integrate habituated gorillas into existing wild families," Bonilla said, "GRACE's orphans are being integrated as new family groups, so they can eventually be reintroduced as one or several groups to the eastern DRC forests where they came from."

Published October 2, 2012

More Orphan-Gorilla Rescue Pictures

Photograph courtesy LuAnne Cadd, Virunga Gorilla Park

Published October 2, 2012