The Boris and Inara Teterev Foundation is committed to animal welfare in Latvia and around the world by supporting the treatment and rescue of animals and promoting public awareness of responsible attitudes towards them. One of the non-profit organisations supported by the Foundation is Gorilla Doctors, which has been working in Africa since 1986 to protect and conserve the endangered eastern gorilla. It is the only organisation in the world that provides life-saving veterinary care to eastern gorillas living in the wild.
The organisation’s international team includes veterinarians from Rwanda, Uganda and Congo who regularly monitor the health of gorillas in national parks. If a gorilla becomes ill, is injured or is caught in a snare set by poachers, the veterinarians travel into the forest to provide the necessary care. Treatment takes place in the gorillas’ natural habitat, often in the presence of the rest of their family group.
Mountain gorillas can survive only in the wild, and for many years their population was critically endangered. The main threats include the loss of natural habitat and forest areas, poaching, snares, and infectious diseases transmitted by humans. Since some gorillas have become habituated to the presence of people, including tourists, human diseases can also pose a threat to their health.
Gorilla Doctors monitors hundreds of mountain gorillas and eastern lowland gorillas, also known as Grauer’s gorillas, every day in national parks in Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Thanks to the work of veterinarians, conservation measures and the support of donors, the mountain gorilla population has increased. However, these animals remain under threat, and Gorilla Doctors therefore continues its work. Its long-term vision is a world in which gorilla populations are healthy, stable and able to thrive in their natural habitat - a world with a thriving population of wild eastern gorillas.
Gorilla Doctors were also featured on the renowned US television news program "60 Minutes". Watch the video here.
