You write that before your arrival, injured or sick animals were killed because there was no other solution. It was a time when people never really had time for wildlife and so many animals were poached because no one really cared about wildlife around that time. He even used to hunt wildlife in the national parks. And Idi Amin didn't care much about wildlife. So that was a dark period of Uganda history, unfortunately.

My mom was also arrested a number of times. He was a prominent minister in the government directly after independence and he targeted prominent people.

My dad was abducted by Idi Amin when I was two years old. Galdys Kalema-Zikusoka (Skyhorse Publishing Inc.)Ĭonservation was not a huge concern in Uganda when you were young. 'Walking With Gorillas' chronicles the incredible journey of Uganda's first wildlife vet Dr. And the wildlife was depleted during the Idi Amin era, it's unfortunately Uganda was no longer teeming with wildlife. Uganda used to be called the Pearl of Africa by Sir Winston Churchill a few decades before that. And so I felt disappointed that there wasn't as much wildlife as I expected to see.Īnd I felt that maybe by becoming a vet who works with wildlife, we can bring the wildlife back to its former glory. And when we got there, we were able to take walking safaris because there were no more predators. We had an opportunity to visit Queen Elizabeth National Park, which was one of the first parks to be created in the 1950s. I would say that I first started dreaming about it while setting up the wildlife clubs in my high school in Uganda. When did you first dream of becoming a wildlife veterinarian? Kalema-Zikusoka spoke with Quarks & Quirks' host Bob McDonald about her new book Walking With Gorillas, The Journey of an African Wildlife Vet. Here's part of their conversation. But early on she also realized that to help the animals and keep them free from disease and poaching, she needed to also help their human neighbours, launching successful initiatives to improve the health and well-being of the people living around the park.ĭr. Her working home is Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, home to roughly half of the world's mountain gorillas. Kalema-Zikusoka overcame many obstacles to become her country's first wildlife veterinarian, and she has proved to those who doubted that a Black woman could become a leading figure in conservation. That positive step was due, in no small part, to Ugandan veterinarian Dr. In 2018, as their population topped 1,000, they were removed from the critically endangered list and their status upgraded to just endangered. But it's a story with some recent - if qualified - good news. The plight of mountain gorillas is well documented. Quirks and Quarks 18:11 A Ugandan vet’s amazing story of her work to save mountain gorillas

Hyperbole and a half full book