The Animalerie at the INRB

I lived on the grounds of the INRB, a medical reference diagnostic laboratory for Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) for many years, in exchange for overseeing the care of the laboratory, mice, rats, rabbits, and sheep.

The virology building is on the right, with the courtyard and the "animalerie" on the left, and the bonobo building behind. Left to right, the vehicles are my "Texas," the virologist's car, and Kizito's yellow and white former taxi.

At first for the French, and then for the Zairians, the tacit understanding was that I would take care of my living expenses through grants. After the civil unrest in 1991, the grants dried up and were mostly replaced by freelancing. I did conservation education projects for zoos, advertising for a telecommunications company, consulting work for field research on zoonotic viruses, and health care for expatriate owned cats and dogs.

Also, as part of the agreement, I was allowed to keep other animals on grounds for conservation projects. That is where the small group of orphaned bonobos came into being.