Bryn Hughes
Gorilla Doctors premiered at the Museum of Nature. The African mountain gorilla population is gaining attention in the wake of the recent premiere of the film Gorilla Doctors at the Canadian Museum of Nature, which studies and supports conservation initiatives across the country and around the world.
University of California wildlife expert Kirsten Gilardi, one of the veterinarians featured in the documentary, says the Oct. 9 screening event at the museum is part of a campaign aimed at encouraging North Americans to focus on wildlife preservation efforts in their communities.
“The gorillas in the documentary represent the commitment of people to care for the natural world,” says Gilardi.
Gilardi is the co-director of Gorilla Doctors, an organization dedicated to preserving the world’s population of wild mountain and eastern lowland gorilla species, otherwise known as “mountain gorillas.”
Although the global population of mountain gorillas is on an increase, there are less than 900 left today and the species is considered endangered by wildlife protection groups. Gilardi says the conservation work of Gorilla Doctors is a “major contributor” to the survival of mountain gorillas.
The documentary follows a team of American veterinarians within the organization as they research and tend to the health of mountain gorillas in Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
A panel discussion about the issues raised in the documentary followed the screening, which was attended by about 100 people.
Panelists included museum staff, filmmakers and members of Gorilla Doctors, including its co-director Mike Cranfield.
Cranfield, who leads the veterinary efforts of Gorilla Doctors, addressed controversy surrounding the extent of human intervention that is necessary to preserve the mountain gorilla population.
“People in different disciplines have different ideas of what should happen with the gorillas,” said Cranfield.
Cranfield pointed to the outbreak of disease as an example of an obstacle the veterinarians from Gorilla Doctors encounter in their efforts to protect the population.
“As we build the population of mountain gorillas, we’re taking over more and more habitat to sustain the population,” said Cranfield. “We’re disturbing wildlife that we’ve probably never had interaction with, so we’re experiencing emerging diseases.”
Kamal Khidas has been working as a curator at the museum since 2006 and was also a panelist at the screening event.
Khidas said he hopes the Gorilla Doctors screening at the museum will increase its audience’s appreciation of nature.
“We are a national museum,” he said, “and our mission is to help Canadians understand and connect with nature, and to respect nature.”
Khidas said he hopes to continue organizing activities and events such as documentary screenings at the museum to encourage people to appreciate and develop a connection to nature.
“People in Ottawa, they used to go out and connect continuously with nature,” he said. “People have to make the effort to do it more now.”
Cranfield said he will be travelling to Africa in November to continue working with other veterinarians on the mountain gorilla conservation projects.
He also said Gorilla Doctors hopes to implement a program for teaching veterinary medicine in Rwanda and Congo.
In the meantime, the documentary is also scheduled to air on television. Gorilla Doctors made its Oct. 16 television debut on CBC’s The Nature of Things.