Lucy H. Spelman

Mountain Gorilla Vet Project Field Manager - MGVP.org

The camera zoomed in on Ndeze as she fell from a tree branch and hit the ground with a thud. Several people in the auditorium gasped, including me. Here I was, worrying about Ndeze as if I didn’t know her! On the contrary, I’d been right there when she was filmed for National Geographic’s “Gorilla Murders.” I felt as if I’d been moved to another planet and asked to observe my job from the viewpoint of a total stranger. The movie is so intense that I found myself reacting emotionally before my rational brain could remind me of the facts. I know full well that infant mountain gorillas, orphaned or not, love to play the climb-up-high-andlet- go game, and that this is one of Ndeze’s favorites. A crowd of invited guests had gathered to watch the screening in downtown Washington, D.C., and we were nearing the end of the film. The narrator had just introduced Ndeze and Ndakasi as victims of the rampant illegal charcoal trade in DR Congo. The film shapes a story from the available facts: their mothers were shot and killed in the Virunga National Park by corrupt park staff who simply wanted to assert their own power. To read the rest of Lucy's story click here