Conserving African wildlife through education

Whether recognizing a bit of ourselves in wildlife documentaries, seeing them show off their big personalities at the zoo, or trekking with them in a wild natural environment it’s no wonder we admire the beauty and intelligence of our world’s great apes. But as our exposure to gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans and bonobos grows and we become increasingly enamoured of our closest relatives, we learn that they face a very dire future and that their survival is far from certain.

Between deforestation, bushmeat hunting, wildlife trafficking, forest fires and the species’ vulnerability to human diseases, great apes are at great risk of becoming extinct.

Dr. Rick Quinn, a veterinary ophthalmologist in London, Ont., discovered a passion for protecting African wildlife while working with the organization Gorilla Doctors in Rwanda and Uganda. As a visiting lecturer, Dr. Quinn gained a better understanding of the dangers posed to great apes and witnessed firsthand the difficulties that local veterinarians were challenged with while safeguarding their wildlife.

“While visiting Africa, I was struck by the danger and physical demands experienced by local wildlife veterinarians, how much they did with so little, and how thirsty they were for knowledge,” he says. “When I returned home, I realized that I needed to do something to make their lives easier with the resources and connections I had.”

Motivated to make a difference through education, Dr. Quinn and his colleague Dr. David Ramsey established Docs4GreatApes, a charitable organization that helps build capacity for both human and veterinary health care. While its ultimate goal is to improve the health of great apes, Docs4GreatApes focuses on a “One Health” mission, supporting the health of people, wildlife and the environment that they share.

“You have to look at all three components,” says Dr. Quinn. “While our goal was to support wildlife, we first needed to have buy-in from the local community. One way to build that trust was to help them enhance their own health care and environment.”

The organization first made headway with its One Health mission by working with Gorilla Doctors to launch its VirungaOne Project in 2013. The program, designed by human and veterinary ophthalmologists, trained local nurses in primary eye care.

“The idea of the initiative was to help improve human health care as part of becoming reliable partners in conserving the wildlife around them,” says Dr. Quinn. “To date, we’ve trained 55 nurses from 14 remote Rwandan villages through the VirungaOne Project, some of whom have gone on to train other colleagues.”

After successfully running the VirungaOne Project and gaining respect and recognition among the locals, the Docs4GreatApes developed a new initiative, the Wildlife ConserVet Education Project, which focuses on the organization’s overall goal: conserving the world’s great ape populations.

“On trips to seven African countries, and Borneo and Sumatra in Indonesia, I recognized that, despite the negative reality of great apes nearing extinction, there were many positive things being done,” says Dr. Quinn. “The veterinarians, researchers, trackers and guides all experienced hardships and risked their lives to help these animals, and I knew that they could do so much more if they had additional training. The pride and interest were there, but they didn’t have the financial resources to even consider it.”

The ConserVet program helps to eliminate this significant barrier by enabling African veterinarians to access graduate training in wildlife medicine, so they can effectively care for the animals “in their own backyard.”

To bring the program to life, Docs4GreatApes brought together a consortium of several other wildlife NGOs, including the Mountain Gorilla Conservation Society of Canada, Gorilla Doctors and the Jane Goodall Institute of Canada.

“Working together with our partners, we raise funds and then match carefully selected African veterinarians to local programs to receive training in wildlife health care,” says Dr. Quinn. “We also help out by providing funds for laptops, access to the Internet, and upgrading lab facilities and surgical equipment. Right now, ConserVet is sponsoring two young Congolese veterinarians as interns in the Lwiro Primates Sanctuary in the Democratic Republic of Congo.”

Until recently, veterinarians and veterinary professionals in Africa haven’t had the opportunity to seek education in wildlife health care. Unlike in North America, where veterinarians can choose a career in a variety of fields, the work of African veterinarians has primarily focused on livestock to help feed communities.

According to Dr. Quinn, it was only after the governments realized the economic advantages of great ape tourism that they decided to pay closer attention to their wildlife, which has enabled veterinarians to be employed in Africa’s national parks and sanctuaries. Despite this progress, accessing the education is still unattainable for most, making the ConserVet program a valuable resource.

While the Docs4GreatApes primarily works in Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, it hopes to expand to other countries. To increase the organization’s reach, Dr. Quinn is encouraging Canadian veterinarians to help the organization make a difference in the lives of their colleagues working with and protecting great apes.

“We can make a significant impact in the health of the world’s great ape populations,” says Dr. Quinn. “As veterinarians, surely we can see the value in supporting our colleagues in their mission to experience the same satisfaction that we enjoy every day.”

Docs4GreatApes’ memberships provide individuals and clinics with the opportunity to support the organization’s ongoing initiatives, while accessing additional benefits. All monies raised helps to fund scholarships within the Wildlife ConserVet Education Project.

Additionally, Dr. Quinn has recently released a book, Just Like Us: A Veterinarian’s Visual Memoir of Our Vanishing Great Ape Relatives, with all of the proceeds going toward supporting the organization’s endeavours. Featuring a foreword by Jane Goodall and Dr. Quinn’s photographs of each great ape species in their natural settings, the book follows Dr. Quinn’s extraordinary travels through Africa and Indonesia to better understand great apes, their habitats and the threats they face.

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