Limbe Wildlife Centre

Category: Anne Sofie Meilvang, endangered species | Date: Jul 28 2009 | By: limbewildlifecentre

If you visit Limbe Wildlife Centre at the moment, you will probably see two persons very busy making swings. It is volunteer Aoife who is from Ireland and our keeper Elvis who takes care of the guenons and mangabeys.

Aoife has been here for three weeks now, and she thinks that some of the monkey enclosures could use more toys. That is why she started her own little swing factory together with Elvis. Since then, nobody has seen Aoife and Elvis without a saw, wood and ropes in their hands. They have produced more than 30 swings now.  Most of the monkeys really like the swings, and enjoy playing on them.

On the picture here you see our grey cheeked mangabey Becky playing on the swing.

Here you can see Limbe Camp, one of our agile mangabeys on a swing. He was actually mostly busy peeling the bark of the wood, eating the insects under it, but that is fine too. As long as they are busy!

Best wishes,

Sofie

Tags: endangered species, mangabeys, monkeys

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Category: Simone de Vries, drill, endangered species, rehabilitation | Date: Jul 27 2009 | By: limbewildlifecentre

Nicky Mamfe is a female drill that came to the Limbe Wildlife Centre in February of this year. After a three months quarantine period she is now in the proces of being introduced to the other drills. The introduction is going very slowly, because Nicky has a lot of problems.

Nicky was called after Felix Lankester’s wife, who found her tied to a rope in the village of Mamfe. Nicky Lankester persuaded the owner to give up the drill and donate it to the Limbe Wildlife Centre. She had a crate made out of scrap wood and transported the drill to Limbe.

Nicky Mamfe’s spine is damaged and she has problems moving her hind legs in a normal way. On top of that, she completely lacks social skills and is afraid of the other drills. We can only guess what she has been going through, but is has left its marks both fysically and mentally. Nicky is now in a cage next to the drill enclosure and she has company of a few nice females with their young. However, during feeding we have to separate them, because Nicky is too scared to eat in their company. It is clear that this process is going to take a long time, but we will be very patient.

The drill is the most endangered primate species in Africa, with an estimated number of 3000 left in the wild. Nevertheless, hunting pressure is still very high. Drills live in large groups and mostly on the ground, which makes them very vulnerable for hunters. The hunters kill the adults, while the infants are kept alive in order to sell them as pets. Last year we rescued four drills that had been illegally kept in people’s homes.

The Limbe Wildlife Centre is now home to 62 drills. We breed with them, with the aim to do a reintroduction project in the future. As can be seen in the picture, the males are much bigger then the females. When a female is in heat, she attracks the males with a large sexual swelling. The dominant male, to be recognised by his colourfull buttocks and chin, will follow the female around, anywhere she goes, and mate with her regularly.

Hopefully one day Nicky will be a happy member of this group. With the condition of her legs she will never be able to run around like the ohers, but if she gets used to their company she can feel safe again and live a normal drill life.

Best wishes,

Simone

Tags: drill, endangered species, LWC, rehabilitation

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Category: Bush meat, Cameroon, Felix Lankester, endangered species, illegal trade | Date: Nov 06 2008 | By: limbewildlifecentre

The aftermath of the seizure of 1227 African grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) from Douala Airport, Cameroon, back in December 2007 is still consuming much of our time and resources.  Despite having released over 900 parrots back into the wild, we still have approximately 100 birds left.  Back in February 2008, with assistance from the World Parrot Trust, we removed the damaged wing feathers from hundreds of parrots and of these approximately 200 have successfully re-grown their feathers and have been released in to the forests around Limbe.  The remaining 100 birds have not yet re-grown their feathers and are still living with us at the Limbe Wildlife Centre.  Some of these birds may never re-grow their damaged feathers and will remain flightless, whilst others, we hope, will eventually recover their feathers and will be able to fly off.   

  The plan now is to build these remaining parrots an open-top enclosure surrounding a mango tree into which they can climb and live freely.  Any parrots that are able to fly will be able to fly off into neighbouring trees, thereby strengthening their flight muscles in preparation for the time when they will be able to freely choose to fly off.  Whilst other parrots, whose feathers have not re-grown, will live in the mango tree, free to climb in and out of their home using ladders that will be placed in the tree.   We will continue to provision the parrots with food, and treat them medically when necessary, and it is for this that we are seeking financial assistance.  Currently it is costing approximately $450/month paying for food and medical costs for the parrots and any donations towards these costs would help enormously.     

Please do return to this blog as we will soon post pictures illustrating the progress of the construction of the Mango Tree Parrot Enclosure. 

Thank you, Felix Lankester

Tags: , African grey parrots, bushmeat, Cameroon, conservation, endangered species, Felix Lankester, pet trade, Psittacus erithacus

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