NKURINGO, BWINDI IMPENETRABLE NATIONAL PARK
SAMEHE, One of the most senior adult female mountain gorillas of Nkuringo family in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda finally breathed her last on Saturday night, March 26. The adult female and mother of two, believed to have been 19 years old, succumbed to deep bodily wounds sustained in early February this year, during internal fights within the family.
The Veterinary experts from the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project (MGVP) and the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) for nearly two months, have been putting their efforts together to save the adult female from the life threatening wounds, particularly the one on her head.
Samehe was a daughter of Nkuringo the head of the group. She is survived by two daughters namely Magara aged 9 and Juvenile Fulaha who is merely 3.5 years old. Samehe is a Kiswahili word for “Forgive” and was given to this lady by rangers who were indirectly pleading with the dominant silverback, Safari, to reduce the ranging home that was making it difficult to monitor during the gorilla habituation. The names of her daughters are equally meaningful with Magara referring to Good health or being lively while Fula means to be Happy in Kiswahili.
According to the UWA rangers who monitor the gorilla movements and health and a daily basis, Samehe, weighing over 70kg sustained multiple wounds in early February this year during intra-group conflicts. Field veterinary doctors say Samehe was an adult female who started cycling and mating again when her infant reached 3.5 years. For 4 days, all 6 adult males in the group surrounded her and tried to mate with her, and surprisingly attacked her multiple times.
Feuds within the group turned fierce and all the males and some of the other females and infants were showing signs of various bites and scratches all over their backs, arms, hands and faces. Samehe was observed with multiple injuries, of which the most serious on the left hand, but none were life threatening till on 14 February when she was found with the left side bone exposing head trauma with the exposed skull and large loose flap of skin falling down to the eyebrows.
The MGVP doctors did an intervention on 16 February, cleaning the wound and partly stitching the flap to cover the exposed skull bone. Samehe received antibiotics – 4g of Ceftriaxone im, on 16 Feb, 19 Feb and again in early March. Samehe was followed by the UWA trackers and was reported to become stronger and start feeding on 18 February.
However on March 15, Dr. Fred Nizeyimana, the MGVP field doctor based in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park reported that Samehe was weak and isolated from the rest of the Nkuringo family. On March 16, the doctors found the female gorilla in the same place she had been left the previous day. She was hiding in the thicket and tried to avoid members, but she was visibly weak. She was walking away from members, and finally went into a small cave under some tree roots at the bottom of the river bank.
The wounds on her ear and hand were healed, but the bottom part of the head wound deteriorated further: no healthy granulation was present, but necrosis and multiple maggots were seen in the deep cavity in front of the left ear. The group was some kilometers away. An anesthetic dart was prepared and Samehe was darted into her glutei area. She walked out of the cave and moved some 30 meters, after which she sat down and fell asleep within 6 minutes.
Samehe was given the pharmacy of supporting drugs: big doses of fluids, antibiotics, anti-inflammatory and anti-parasitic. Though her heart was very weak, she kept stable throughout anesthesia and slowly woke up after the reversal.
On March 19, the doctors found the female alone in the same area as previously on the February 16. She was visibly stressed with human presence and kept running away on our approach. At this stage it was impossible to assess the wound. It was also raining constantly since midday.
R.I.P Samehe (1992 – 2011)