Emergency veterinary care for a life threatening illness or injury in a wild mountain gorilla remains a core function of MGVP field veterinarians and the park staff.

The field vets are notified of mountain gorilla health problems by park staff.  The next step is a “monitoring visit” to observe the  gorilla or gorillas in question and evaluate the situation. B ut they intervene with treatment or anesthesia for examination only in cases of human-induced or life threatening injury or illness.

“Health Interventions” occur only if a consensus decision is reached amongst all of  the field veterinarians, park officials, and other staff of relevant organizations.

The decision to intervene is difficult, and the procedure itself is dangerous and the health care team may spend hours tracking the gorilla in need.  The veterinarian then anesthetizes the gorilla using a dart gun.  Meanwhile, the rest of the health care team plays a dual role: they assist with the procedure and divert the attention of the remaining gorilla group members.

Mountain gorillas are highly susceptible to human diseases, so setting protocols for human interaction is critical.  Tourists follow a 25 foot/7 meter "distance rule" to avoid transmission of diseases that can be passed through the air, insects, indirect or direct contact.

Veterinarians working to protect the mountain gorillas have successfully managed several disease outbreaks that could have severely reduced the entire population.  In 1988, a widespread respiratory outbreak, suspected to be measles, led to the immunization of 85 gorillas.

The mountain gorillas' natural curiosity also makes them prey for poachers' snares, illegally set to trap antelope in the national parks.  The snares, an example of a human-induced injury, cause deep lacerations often leading to gangrene and possibly death if they are not removed.

As part of the one-health approach, MGVP field vets make routine health check visits to habituated gorilla groups, in addition to visits for reported problems. The field veterinarians include two regional field veterinarians, Dr. Lucy Spelman and Dr. Magdalena Lukasik-Braum - they are based in Rwanda but work in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as needed. The in-country field veterinarians include Dr. Jean Felix Kinani in Rwanda, Dr. Benard Ssebide in Uganda, and Dr. Jacques Iyanya and Dr. Eddy Kambale in the DRC.

The routine health check visits give the field vets the opportunity to observe healthy animals and establish normal parameters. All of this work is done in partnership with park rangers, guides, patrols, monitoring agents and scientists from various organizations (ORTPN, ICCN, UWA, DFGFI, ITFC, and IGCP).

The data is recorded using a standardized set of criteria and a records program known as IMPACT. This program was designed both to foster collection of health data in the field and to help identify a disease outbreak situation. Complete post-mortem examinations (necropsies) are performed on all deceased mountain gorillas, unless the tissues are severely decomposed. These exams are an important aspect of monitoring gorilla health as they help determine the cause of death and represent an important opportunity to collect biological samples. This information is extremely important, especially in cases of infectious diseases or in criminal cases such as poaching. Other wildlife species found dead may also be examined because the results may inform the veterinarians about potentially problematic infectious diseases transmissible to gorillas. MGVP field vets perform the gross examination; formalin fixed tissues are sent to MGVP Pathologist Dr. Linda Lowenstine at University of California, Davis, for histopathology examination and final reporting.