This year we will start the building of new enclosures for our guenons. As you can see in the picture the old enclosures are mended many times and the monkeys are great in finding ways out through the damaged mesh. We have already received a large sum of money from Pro Wildlife in Germany, but we need more to be able to construct enough enclosures for all the guenons that are now living in the Limbe Wildlife Centre. If you want to help us build a great home for these monkeys, please give a donation through the paypal option on this blog.

The Limbe Wildlife Centre receives several guenons each year. Some are quite disturbed by the circumstances in which they were kept before their arrival and their rehabilitation takes time. In the LWC they are housed in large groups of mixed species. Already in quarantine we start the process of introducing the newcomers to other monkeys. One of the groups we have at the moment in quarantine contains three mona monkeys. The female used to show stereotypic behaviour when she was in another group: she was constantly dancing. This dancing was probably the only movement she could make when she was kept in a very small cage. This behaviour has completely stopped since we have given her a baby. Ngolle-ngolle, a male baby orphan, is now very happy to have a surrogate mom to hold on to. The third group member is an adult male that is very oriented towards people. He was released on the beach by a white man and consequently started steeling food from nearby kitchens. We had to catch him and bring him to the LWC. He is now, probably after a long period with humans, getting used to primate company again.

Rehabilitation is the first step on the way back to the wild. As the adult male mona monkey case shows, it is not easy to release primates after a period of living in captivity. The animals need to have the proper skills to survive in the wild. Also, it is not a good idea to release an animal on its own, as primates are social animals. It is therefore very important that we form stable groups. Off course we will also need an area with good habitat that is well protected against hunting and logging. We still have a long way to go before we are ready, but it is our ultimate goal to release our primates back to the wild.

To do this work we need bigger, better and more enclosures. We are very happy that we will start with this project soon.

Best wishes,
Simone de Vries
Assistant Project Manager