She became Uganda’s first wildlife veterinarian and dedicated her career to saving mountain gorillas; Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka built a model that protects wildlife while supporting local communities

Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka at Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, a mountain gorilla lurks behind her. (Image Credit: Jo Anne McArthur/ via National Geographic)

Conservation of nature has become the responsibility of humans. While some are more enthusiastic about it, like Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka; others are more passive about it. But Dr. Gladys’s story becomes an inspiration about how sometimes nature can pull you back to your roots. She studied abroad, experienced the comforts of life and interacted with people from around the world. Yet, when she returned home, mountain gorillas captured her heart and she ended up dedicating her life to save as many of them. Her story is also motivating to study how local communities should be involved in the process rather than isolated from it.Dr. Kalema-Zikusoka’s interest in saving wildlife wasn’t something she thought of just for the gorillas, her empathy for animals existed since childhood. Kalema told Unearth Women in an interview about a wildlife camp that she set up in her Kampala high school some 30 years ago. This adventure later turned into her career with her attending the University of London’s Royal Veterinary College in the early 1990s. On returning to Uganda at age 25, she was hired as the first female veterinary officer for the country’s national parks.During her time in London, the Uganda wildlife service was exploring the potential of tourism that its large primates including mountain gorillas and chimpanzees could provide. Notably, Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are the only three countries with wild mountain gorilla populations. An even more interesting fact is that none of them live in captivity. According to the World Wide Fund, only around 1,063 mountain gorillas are left in the world.

Mountain Gorilla (Image Credit: Canva)

The promotion of tourism increased the existing human-animal conflict in the region of Bwindi. While gorillas came out of the forest to feed on human-managed banana plantations, destroying livelihoods of local farmers. Farmers also went into the forest to hunt and gather fuelwood, disturbing the habitat of gorillas.It was in 1994, when she visited Bwindi to conduct summer research on these gorillas. While she initially planned on treating adorable domestic pets, this camp actually changed her life’s road. She felt an instant connection with these primate creatures who were only 600 of them left in Africa then. Around half of them were in Bwindi itself. She observed the threats that these gorillas faced, including hunting, poaching and habitat pressures. There were increasing risks associated with closer contact with humans with the possibility of catching diseases like flu.

Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka (Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Around 1996, Kalema-Zikusoka identified that the gorilla community is getting a fatal risk from human scabies. She observed a troop of gorillas whose skin was turning white and scaly which was also making them scratch compulsively. The disease most likely traveled from clothes full of bacteria on the scarecrows. This made her realise the importance of maintaining human health in order to protect the gorillas, so she started promoting hygienic practices to locals.This was the beginning of her community engagement for the purpose of conservation of the mountain gorillas. Later, in 2003, Kalema-Zikusoka founded Conservation Through Public Health (CTPH), a nonprofit based on Bwindi’s border. The organization aimed to promote the health of both gorillas and people alike. For the gorillas, their health was being monitored and thus, treated when required. This included retrieving scat, examining it for pathogens, and darting sick primates with medicine. Human health was equally being focused upon with installing handwashing stations, deworming livestock, and dissuading locals from eating wild game, for the sake of both conservation and disease prevention.This approach taken by her is different from most conservation approaches that focus primarily on protected areas, wildlife patrols or anti-poaching measures. It is based on the approach of One health which implies the interconnectedness of the health of people, animals and the environment. This approach emphasises that local residents are partners in conservation, rather than people expected to protect wildlife without support for their own needs.

Turning a cup of coffee into a conservation tool

In 2015, Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka helped establish another venture. It was the Gorilla Conservation Coffee, a social enterprise designed to give farmers living near Bwindi’s mountain gorilla habitat a financial reason to protect the forest. The initiative was clear in its aim with focus on saving livelihoods of local farmers who needed incentives to become part of the conservation story. The initiative works with local coffee growers, paying them a premium for their beans and helping them improve the quality and sustainability of their produce.This gives farmers an opportunity to earn better incomes without expanding agricultural activity into the gorillas’ habitat. The coffee is then marketed to consumers who can support conservation through their purchases, with the initiative also contributing to CTPH’s wider work.It is a thoughtful example of how wildlife protection need not come at the expense of local livelihoods. Instead of simply asking farmers to share their land with gorillas, Gladys created a way for them to benefit from living alongside them.