Last Thursday I was called by a man in Bafoussam, who said he had a baby chimpanzee that he would like to donate to the Limbe Wildlife Centre. He had tried to find a good place for it for more then a month, but it was not until he emailed the IFAW office in France that he found out about the LWC. On Friday our head keeper travelled to Bafoussam to meet the man and bring back the chimpanzee. They arrived on Saturday in Limbe. The man told us that he had bought the chimpanzee from someone in Mbam forest, where he often goes to find herbs. He had paid 50,000 CFA (75 euros) for it. He told us that it was not the first time he had seen a young chimpanzee in that forest. The first time he had not bought the animal and when he came back a few days later the animal had died. This is why he felt he had to buy this chimpanzee to save its life. The Limbe Wildlife Centre never buys animals because it encourages hunters to get more animals from the forest. The man understood this, but he had felt like he had no choice. Just as we were listening to the man’s story, his phone rang. It was the man from the forest, saying that he had another chimpanzee for sale. This is a very sad illustration of the fact that buying animals really creates a market. We will of course try to get this chimpanzee as well, but then through confiscation.
We have called our new chimpanzee Mbam. He is around one and a half years old and in good condition. He does not trust people yet and does not like us to touch him. No wonder after what he has been through. We take shares sitting with him and let him come to us. Today he started licking my hand, so I am sure he will soon come around. Best wishes, Simone de Vries Assistant Project Manager
The very young primates that come to the Limbe Wildlife Centre normally get a human foster mom to take care of them and to give milk 24 hours a day. The person who takes this task usually gets attached to the animal very quickly, just as if it were a human baby. It is remarkable that the same mechanism works for different species of monkeys. Last year I took care of a red-eared monkey Ebo during four months. After her period of quarantine I started her introduction to a mixed group of guenons. There was a female red-eared monkey in the group, but it was a female putty-nosed monkey who was immediately interested and pretty soon took the baby over from me. Ever since she has been very suspicious of me. It seems like she thinks that I might take her baby away again. Every morning when I do my round and come up to the fence Ebo comes towards me, but her foster mom quickly picks her up and takes her away from me. I am glad that Ebo has found another mother, although it is not precisely her own kind. Last week one of our agile mangabeys died. She had a cancer in the uterus and despite two operations we were not able to make her better. Extra sad was that she left behind a baby agile mangabey named Buea, which she had adopted a few months ago. The quarantine period for Buea was over, so yesterday we moved her to the mangabey enclosure. There are three male agile mangabeys and one female grey-cheeked mangabey housed together. We had isolated the female and joined her with Buea. After just one minute the female started grooming Buea and today already they are inseparable.
The only primate who still has a human foster mom is the chimpanzee Mayos (see blog 30th May). To be precise: she also has a human foster aunt, because one of our volunteers is assisting Sandy with the 24-hour care. Mayos is doing great and easily switches from one to the other. Her introduction to two other infant chimpanzees has started and they are very careful with her. Some day soon she will stay with them, but we will still be around a lot to make sure she has everything she needs.
In the last few months many monkeys were brought to the Limbe Wildlife Centre. In quarantine we have now two putty-nosed guenons, two mona monkeys and one agile mangabey. The situations in which we find these monkeys are sometimes heart breaking. We found a mona of around two years old in Batoke, a major bushmeat village close to Limbe. She was kept with a rope around the waist, tied to a wooden structure. She had no protection from rain or sun and was malnourished. From frustration she had been plucking her hairs, so she looks awful. In this case the owner was happy that we took the mona away, because she said that it had become a problem for her. Bakassi, as we have called her, is now together with the other mona, Takwai, and the two putty-nosed monkeys Kumba and Manya. It is great to see that she has put up some weight and has become close friends with Kumba. They sleep together in a hummock and during the day they groom each other and play together. Bakassi is still rather bald, but we have not seen her pluck her hair again. We hope that one day her fur will be thick and fluffy again.
Takwai, who arrived at the Limbe Wildlife Centre at the end of April (see earlier blog), has only joined the group a few days ago. For more then two months I have taken her home every night, because she needed milk late at night and in the morning early. She is much younger than the other monkeys, but the others are still too young to adopt her as a baby, so Takwai still has to find her place in the group. But now after a few days she is already more comfortable then on the first day, so she will be fine. The monkeys arriving at the LWC show us that we still have a lot of work to do. The high school in Batoke is part of our outreach program, so all the students that attend this school participate in our 17 weeks Conservation Education Program. Hopefully these children will be aware of the necessity to take care of the environment when they grow up. Best wishes, Simone de Vries
Yesterday was the last day of our second Conservation Education Holiday Workshop of this summer. This week we had a very interesting group of students of around 11 years old. Just a few students had been at the Limbe Wildlife Centre before, so for most it was quite a new experience. In the regular school curriculum in Cameroon conservation is not taught, so there was a lot to learn. The theme of this year’s Holiday Workshops is ‘Animals and Culture’. Busch Gardens Zoo in Florida is sponsoring the workshops and they are simultaneously organising Summer Camps with the same theme. One of the very popular parts of the program is the internet chat session that links up the Cameroonian students with the students in Florida. Before this I told the story of Little Red Riding Hood to our children and how that story influences our thoughts on wolves. I also told about how the wolf almost got extinct in the USA and was reintroduced to the wild later on. So one of the topics our students were asking about was how the wolves are doing now and how the American students feel about wolves. The students at the other side were equally prepared because they asked about the meaning of the elephant for the Bakweri culture. The Bakweri people live on Mount Cameroon.
Our students had already learned a lot about the meaning of elephants, because they had participated in a traditional Bakweri Elephant Dance. One of the men explained the meaning of it all. The elephant is considered the strongest and most powerful animal of the forest. If you do something bad, like stealing, the elephants will come to punish you. They might for instance destroy your crops. The dance acts this out and warns everybody to be good to each other. This year’s theme is very useful to bring our conservation message across in a very playful way. Storytelling, making poems and singing are all great teaching tools, especially with young kids. We will have two more workshops this summer, but then for High School and University level. That will give us the possibility to discuss how culture influences our choices concerning conservation. I am already looking forward to that. Simone de Vries Assistant Project Manager
I have some very sad news that I wanted to share with the readers of this blog: On the morning of the 2nd June 2008 one of the gorillas known as the Taiping Four died after a short illness. The female gorilla, called Oyin, arrived from South Africa on 1st December 2007 and had spent 4 months in quarantine with the three other gorillas that had arrived with her. In mid-April the four were moved to the main gorilla enclosure to begin the introduction programme to the resident gorilla group. However in late April Oyin became sick and despite treatment her condition steadily deteriorated and after 10 days she sadly died. A full post mortem examination was performed and tissue samples have been sent to the Great Ape Health Monitoring Unit at the Robert Koch Institute in Germany for analysis, the result of which will hopefully shed some light on the cause of the death.
Everyone at the LWC is devastated by the death of Oyin so soon after her arrival and we are monitoring all of the other gorillas closely for any signs of illness. Currently all of the gorillas are well and the introduction of the other three gorillas has gone very smoothly and they are now fully integrated with the resident gorilla group. We would like to thank all of our supporters and friends who have been so supportive through this difficult time. I know everyone who has cared for the Taiping Four during their stay in Pretoria and in Limbe are very saddened by this news. As soon as we have more information regarding the cause of death I shall share it with you. Felix Lankester
Last Thursday at the end of the day I got a phone call from an American missionary who works in the forest of the eastern province. He visited the Limbe Wildlife Centre a few months ago with his family and at that time Sandy and I talked to them about the problem of orphaned baby chimps and gorillas. They told us that they had seen hunters with baby chimpanzees close to where they live, so we said that if they would ever see that again they should call us. And so they did… On the morning of Saturday 12th May a hunter in Mayos took a baby chimpanzee back from the forest. He had killed the mother and wanted to sell the baby. Fortunately for the infant the American family heard about this and they were able to convince the hunters that it would be much better for the baby to be brought to a sanctuary. So they took the baby home and took care of it until they travelled to Douala. As soon as they were in reach of a telephone network they called us that they were on their way. Sandy and I drove to Douala to meet them and there we found a very little, female chimpanzee. Sandy took her over and immediately the little infant seemed to be comfortable. It is quite clear that the family has done a good job taking care of her. We are very happy that the American family decided to support Mayos financially. This will help us to pay for the food and the veterinary care, but it will not cover all the costs. Especially the quarantine period, when many tests and vaccinations need to be done is a very expensive period. The total costs of the first three months at the Limbe Wildlife Centre will probably be around $800. We would be very greatful if you would like to help us take care of Mayos by making a small donation. Mayos is in good health, but so young! When we had a close look at her teeth, we estimated her age at four months. She is not very mobile yet, just sitting and observing the world around her. Her legs are not yet strong enough to stand up, but if she holds on to something she can move around a little bit. Sandy has built a tiny little climbing structure for her, but most of the time she prefers to sit on her lap. At the end of the day she goes home with Sandy and she sleeps through the night in a box, holding on to her toy gorilla that was given to her by the American family. Simone de Vries Assistant Project Manager
This week we organised for the fourth time a workshop for hunters. The participants came from two villages, one of them Ndokbangengue. Our loyal readers might remember this name: it is the name of one of our drills that came from the same village. It was very interesting to show little Ndok to the hunters and tell her story. Unfortunately the hunter who had killed her mother was not among the participants, but they all knew who it was. The Hunters Workshop is organised in cooperation with Ebo Forest Research Project of CRES and sponsored by San Diego Zoo. This time 21 hunters travelled the long distance from Ebo Forest to Limbe and took part in the two days program. The goal of the workshop is to raise awareness about endangered species and discuss alternatives for hunting. It is very interesting to work directly with hunters. They understand our message well and they experience in the forest that the numbers of many species are going down. We discuss with them the possibilities for other ways to make a living and most participants are positive towards change. It is now too early to assess the long-term effects of the workshop, but the immediate result seems to be positive. And in this last workshop Ndok offered a great tool to talk about the pet trade crisis. She was rescued from a hunter in Ndokbangengue and lucky to be brought to the Limbe Wildlife Centre. She had a broken arm when she arrived, so she had to wear a cast during the first weeks. Then she was introduced to another drill named Tiko, who had recently been brought in from a Catholic mission. Together they have now moved to the drill enclosure, where they are slowly introduced to all the other drills. Ndok still gets her milk twice a day and she looks very healthy. Simone de Vries Assitant Project Manager
Back in December 2007 we rescued 1220 African grey parrots of which approximately 700 birds were released within a few weeks of their arrival at the LWC. The remainder of the parrots had damaged feathers, from the glue that was used to catch them or from being purposefully cut by the hunters. Each of these injured parrots had their plumage treated back in January 2008, with the help of a veterinary team from the World Parrot Trust, and have been recuperating ever since. Now, four months later, some of these parrots have shown through their ability to fly strongly in the flight cage that their plumage has recovered and so it is time to begin the final release phase. However the program will be different from the previous releases, as, rather than taking the selected birds to a nearby forest to be set free, we have decided to simply open up their flight cage here at the LWC and allow them to fly off in their own time.
PHOTO: ROOF OF FLIGHT CAGE IS PEELED BACK TO ENABLE PARROTS TO FLY FREE AT THEIR WILL The decision to opt for this LWC-based ‘soft-release’ strategy was taken after we saw how well a few parrots who had escaped from the flight cage were doing living free amongst the trees of the wildlife centre. So the plan is to simply start adding birds to this ‘escaped’ flock and to continue to provision them with food and water so that they can regain their strength and fitness steadily. The forests surrounding the town of Limbe are only a short distance away so when the birds are ready we hope that they will simply fly off together. Flocks of up to 40 African grey parrots are regularly seen flying around the capital city of Yaoundé so living in the small town of Limbe should not be a problem for the greys. Today, Sunday 18th May, the roof of one of the flight cages was peeled back and the first batch of 12 recovered parrots were freed. PHOTO: parrots flying free from cage So far they are doing well and have joined the ‘escaped’ flock that is resident at the LWC. The sight of a flock of parrots flying strongly through the trees of the LWC is a truly wonderful sight, all the more so when one considers the absolutely appalling conditions in which they arrived in 6 months ago. PHOTO: Parrot flying at speed! PHOTO: newly released parrots flying high into a tree in the Limbe Botanic Gardens A special thank you to the World Parrot Trust, Pro-Widlife, the Born Free Foundation, the Animal Divulgation Trust and the Humane Society for all their support with the parrot rehabilitation. The process is still ongoing and we have a while before we can say that we are parrot free, but we certainly would not be where we are today without this support. Thank you.
After our four new gorillas (The Taiping 4) were moved to the gorilla enclosure on the 24th of April, they first spent a little over a week to get used to the new environment and the proximity of 10 other gorillas. The two groups were watching each other a lot and they seemed eager to meet each other. Last monday we started the introduction and in the past days we have tried different combinations of gorillas. So far this has gone really well. Arno was the first to be introduced to the Taiping 4 and he is already part of the group, his biggest friend being Tinu. This morning we also let Nyango and Akiba meet with the new arrivals. Akiba was having a ball with all four new gorillas, climbing on their backs, wrestling with them and running around like crazy. We are very happy with the introduction so far. We are not there yet – the silverback Chella will have to be introduced to the new gorillas soon – but none of us expected it to go as smooth as it has gone until now. All together we have 16 gorillas now. They are by far our most expensive animals, because they have a very specific diet (see Felix’s blog on Afromomum). We are very greatful for all the support we get from our readers and more money is always very welcome! Best wishes,
Takwai is our latest arrival. She was brought to the Limbe Wildlife Centre on 30th April. She is a mona monkey of around 6 weeks old and upon arrival she weighed 345 grams. A hunter in Takwai forest killed her mother and brought it to a village. A woman who works for a Cross River gorilla conservation project took care of her for two weeks, until she had the possibility to travel to Limbe. As she also needs food during the evening and early in the morning I take her home after work each day. At home she runs up and down on the cough and jumps from me to my husband and back. Last year we had a baby red-eared guenon, Ebo, and it is interesting to see the similarities and differences. They both like to put things in their mouth and they love it when you tickle their belly, just like human babies. But Takwai is much more mobile then Ebo was at the same age. She jumps farther and is also a lot braver. Ebo did not leave the couch until she was a few months old, but Takwai has already made it to the table once. There could be individual differences of course, but this difference corresponds with the general difference between the two species: the red-eared monkey being shy and secretive, while mona monkeys are rather bold. Takwai seems to be very happy with her situation. In the daytime she has her own large cage and the keepers make sure she has everything she needs. In the evening she comes home with me and then she sleeps through the night, from 9pm to 6 am. Best wishes,
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My name is Felix Lankester, the Project Director of the Limbe Wildlife Centre and also the head veterinarian. I have been at the project since April 2004.
