Limbe Wildlife Centre

Category: Cameroon, Chimpanzee | Date: May 30 2008 | By: limbewildlifecentre

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

5 responses so far

Category: Bush meat, education | Date: May 30 2008 | By: limbewildlifecentre

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

3 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized, illegal trade | Date: May 18 2008 | By: limbewildlifecentre

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 18^th 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.

10 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: May 08 2008 | By: admin

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.

Nyango is not that playful and she was just sitting in a corner like nothing interesting was going on. After a while Tinu joined her, touching her every now and then. They were just sitting there like two old ladies, drinking tea. In the meantime Izan, the new male, was trying to get some attention from Nyango, poking her in the belly and than run away. Nyango just ignored him.

At some point Abby, one of the new females, became aggressive towards Nyango. Suddenly the group split up again in the ‘old’ gorillas and the ‘new’ gorillas. We had to separate them for a short while to bring back the peace. After that they were okay again and in the afternoon they were all just lazy.

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,
Simone de Vries
Assistant Project Manager

7 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: May 06 2008 | By: admin

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.

We feed Takwai baby milk and banana. The banana needs to be soft, so we put it in a syringe and give it straight in her mouth. Still she manages to get banana all over her hands and face.

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,
Simone de Vries
Assistant Project Manager

4 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: May 03 2008 | By: admin

here are those pics I promised.

Regarding your question, Theresa, yes we have tried growing the aframomum and currently have an area of the project set aside for growing it. However it grows slowly and, as you can see from the amount we have harvested in the back of the pick up, we need far more than the space at the project can possibly grow. Consequently we have to send missions to the mountain to sustainably harvest it from areas of forest where it is growing in abundance.

You also asked about Ndok the drill with a broken arm: well her arm healed well and she is now out of her cast and happily living with Tiko, the young male, in quarantine. They are due to leave quarantine next week to begin their introduction to the main drill enclosure. So all is going well there.

You are correct the African grey parrots rehabilitation is coming to an end and their feather regrowing phase is due to be up at the end of May. Already we are seeing quite a few good fliers in the flight cage. Plus we have had a few escapes (parrots are very good at chewing through chain-link, especially the weak type we get here in Cameroon), most of which we have been able to return to the cage, however some of the escapees were able to fly and could not be caught. These 8 birds have since formed a release flock of their own and now live in the trees around the project. We still provision them with food and water and they can often be seen sitting on top of the flight cage chatting away with their captive friends. This accidental release has been so successful that, rather than taking parrots to the nearby forest to let them go, we are considering simply letting them out to join this flock when we see that they can fly well. As the parrots are now familiar with their surroundings and the flight cage they will probaly not fly off immediately, which means we can monitor their progress and provision them with food and as they fly around the project their fittness will slowly improve until the flock is ready to fly off to the forests surrounding Limbe. This is called a ’soft-release’ and is a much better way to release animals that have spent some time in captivity as it enables you to monitor the released animals’ progress, and recapture any that are looking like they wont make it.

Keep your questions coming and thanks for the support.

Felix Lankester

2 responses so far

Category: Felix Lankester, Uncategorized | Date: May 02 2008 | By: admin

March and April were very busy months for us all at the LWC and we were not able to update this blog as often as we would have like to have done. However despite this our readers have continued to generously support our ongoing work. Many thanks to Theresa S, Lucia C, Muriel T and Judd O’s who all made donations. A special thanks to the Animal Divulgation Trust (Italy) who made another donation of $250, and a huge thank you to Peter F. who dug very deep and pledged $750.

Thank you to everyone. Its nice to know that people are out there reading the blog.

Best wishes,

Felix Lankester and Simone de Vries.

4 responses so far

Category: Gorilla | Date: May 02 2008 | By: admin

All of the gorillas at the LWC are in constant need of food, enrichment and care. Life in captivity can be crushingly dull, and bored wild animals will often develop psychological problems that impact on their physical health, and it is our responsibility to try to provide a stimulating environment that enables them to display their natural behaviour, free from stress, pain and hunger. One of the things that we strive to do is to provide as natural a diet as possible that is nutritionally healthy and also stimulates the gorillas.

Aframomum is a member of the ginger family of plants and is a favourite food of wild gorillas, plus, it has been suggested, Aframomum contains natural anti-inflammatory compounds that could be crucial to the health of wild gorillas. As such we make thrice weekly excursions to the nearby Mount Cameroon to harvest Aframomum. These 4 hour round trips, which are a great drain on our financial and employee resources, pound our vehicles as the roads are terrible and our vehicles old. However, when you see the enthusiasm with which all the gorillas run out of the night house in the morning to grab huge armfulls of aframomum, it is very clear that these foraging excursions are really worth the effort .

The cost of each of the trips is approx. $50 which, as we have to go three times a week, is a great expense for the project. So, we would like to appeal to our readers for help. I can guarantee that any contributions to this nutritional cause will be most appreciated by the gorillas.

I shall take some photos of the Aframomum to post so that you can see the harvest and the plant being eaten.

Felix Lankester
Project Manager

2 responses so far

Category: Gorilla | Date: May 02 2008 | By: admin

The four gorillas, which were transferred to the Limbe Wildlife Centre (LWC) in December 2007, have spent the last five months in quarantine. During this time all of the gorillas have adapted well to their new diet and living conditions. There have been no medical problems to report other than a recurrence of fungal skin lesions in Izan, Abbey and Tinu, lesions that were present during their time in Pretoria and for which treatment is ongoing. The quarantine period has been longer than the anticipated three months due to the arrival, in late December 2007, of an 8 month old female gorilla, Bolo, who, after being hand-reared for three months, was introduced to a ‘foster mother’ female in the resident gorilla group. This introduction took place in one of the available rooms in the night house that were to be used for the T4 introduction and so it was decided that the transfer of the T4 should be delayed while the fostering process was in its early stages.

Due to this the transfer of the T4 out of quarantine to the gorilla enclosure night house was delayed by two months. However on April 24th 2008 all four gorillas were sedated and were successfully moved to their new enclosure.

The four gorillas are now occupying the ‘gorilla annex’ (built with an IFAW fund back in 2005) and as such are in sight, sound and smell of the resident gorillas, from which they will remain physically separated for some time. Once the keeping staff are satisfied that all of the gorillas have settled down from the excitement of seeing new enclosure mates arrive we can begin the slow process of gradual introductions, whereby individuals from the T4 and the resident gorilla group are selected to meet one another in the safety of the night house. With time all of the resident gorillas will be given a chance to meet each of the T4 in varying combinations, until we are satisfied that the potential for aggression is low. At this point we can begin letting the T4 in to the outside enclosure.

The introduction process will be long and complicated and ultimately will be driven by the responses of the gorillas themselves, however it is hoped that within a few months the T4 will be fully integrated with the resident group.

We will keep you updated on the progress.

I would also like to thank our long term supporters Pro-Wildlife in Germany who have kindly committed to help with the care costs of the infant ‘Bolo’. Many many thanks from all at the LWC for this continued support.

Felix Lankester
Project Manager

4 responses so far