Limbe Wildlife Centre

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

One response so far

Category: Bush meat, Cameroon, Chimpanzee, endangered species, illegal trade | Date: Oct 29 2008 | By: limbewildlifecentre

I just returned from a four weeks leave in the Netherlands and it feels good to be back at the Limbe Wildlife Centre, Cameroon. A lot of things have happened while I was away, like the integration of four infant chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). It is great to see that the two new infants play with the older two and have become a little bit less dependent on people. Nevertheless they still need a lot of extra care, milk etc., which costs a lot of money. If you want to sponsor milk for our infants, please make a donation. Milk for one infant costs 15 euro per month.

Our frequent readers know the stories of Mbam, who was very afraid of people when he arrived, and Mayos, the four months old baby that needed 24-hour care. When Mbam was still in quarantine he spend a lot of time with Mayos and her caretaker Sandy. Although Mayos is a lot younger then Mbam, she seemed to understand the social chimpanzee rules a lot better then Mbam. We suspect that Mbam has spent a long time with people in a very bad situation. After his quarantine period he moved to the infant enclosure where he met Ilor and Nanga. Just before my leave Mbam was still a bit afraid of these big infants (2 1/2 years old!), but they now play together like they’ve known each other for years.

Mayos has been with Ilor and Nanga in the daytime for a few months now, but now she is fully integrated into the group. She gets an extra bottle of milk during the day and the security staff gives her another bottle late at night. She also needs to sleep for an hour during the day and she prefers to do that on one of the keepers’ laps. She is very confident with the older chimpanzees, more so then Mbam, and she is developing very well. It is great so see that our two new chimpanzees are growing and adjusting so well.

Best wishes,

Simone de Vries, Assistant Project Manager

Tags: bushmeat, Chimpanzee, conservation education, pan troglodytes, Pandrillus, pet trade, vellerosus

2 responses so far