Today construction has begun on a new cage for the baboons. The sanctuary currently houses 8 baboons (both yellow and olive species) of various ages. This cage will be attached to the existing monkey cages; with the current cages acting as the night quarters and the new cage being an out door space. Although, all areas will be available to the baboons at all times, except during cleaning. This cage will be in a semi-circle shape, to allow the baboons to have the ability to move away from each other easily.
Also, the dormitory by the forest is progressing well. Ituri and Uvira are both doing well. Both have been a little unwell with colds, but are recovering now.
Andrea

Uvira

Another baby Chimpanzee has arrived today. We have been expecting him for some time, and finally had word last night that he would arrive this morning. He was confiscated from a region to the south of the sanctuary. He has been named Uvira, after the area of his confiscation. He has been very quiet today, which is to be expected, but has eaten well all day. He appears to be around 18 months old, with the canines already present. He also has prominent wounds around his waste from where a cord was tied. Uvira will spend his one months quarantine with Ituri, and both of them will be introduced to the nursery group at the same time.

Brandi

A female Yellow Baboon (Papio cynocephalus) arrived this afternoon. She was transported from Rwanda, where she had been confiscated. Originally she was caught illegally in DRC. This is the reason for her return to a sanctuary located in DRC. She has come with the name Brandi. Brandi will also undergo a period of one month in quarantine, before being introduced to the baboons currently housed at the sanctuary.

Education and new arrival

Recently CRPL started education sessions for the communities around the sanctuary. These are planned to be quite informal to begin with, before a more organized structure can be put into place. The sanctuary staff have completed two presentations, one to the chiefs of the local area and the second to the wives, husbands and fiancés of the staff of CRPL. The idea is to let the local people know what it is that CRPL is doing so they can involve them in the process. The next planned session is for the priests of local churches.

Today we have been informed by the manager of the workers that the wives have formed a ‘wives of CRPL committee’ and are planning on becoming involved with the sanctuary and its running. This is a wonderful outcome of the session. More meetings will be planned with them to discuss how they would like to be involved.

This afternoon a new baby Chimpanzee has arrived to Lwiro Sanctuary. Her very long journey including a boat, small airplane and road travel. It’s estimated that she is between 18 months to 2 years old. She is small and thin, but appears to be in good health. She is also very independent and confident. Her name is Ituri, named after the area from which she was confiscated. Ituri will pass a time of one month in quarantine, before she is introduced to the current nursery group.

La Roche

Today a male Grey-Cheeked Mangabey (Lophocebus albigena) has been collected from Bukavu, he was confiscated from a house in the village of La Roche. Therefore he has been named ‘La Roche’. He does not yet have canines and appears to be in reasonable condition. The area around his waste is void of hair due to the cord which was used to control him. There is one female Grey-Cheeked Mangabey at the sanctuary currently, so when the quarantine period is over they will be housed together, along with other monkeys also. The new quarantine cage in the yard is almost finished, with just a small amount of welding to be done when electricity is next available in the area.

June 1st to July 11th 2008

It has been a long time since the last update, but a lot has happened here at Lwiro. Seven new monkeys of various species have arrived, through confiscations. This brings Lwiro sanctuary to 80 residents in total!

After Kanshi finished her one month quarantine she was moved to the sanctuary. She has now settled in well to the Goma group, and is getting on with all of the individuals.

Kalume is doing wonderfully also, and spends his days in a cage next to the Goma group or going for a walk around the sanctuary. His mobility has improved incredibly in the last few weeks, and he has even been climbing trees with the babies!

The four babies which arrived a few months ago are all doing well. They are getting bigger by the day! We have had to move them to the quarantine cage at the house, as they were getting too big and boisterous for the small cages at the sanctuary (besides the fact that they are all now occupied by monkeys). Construction on a small dormitory attached to the quarantine cage has finished this will serve as the babies night den. Another cage is in construction in the yard also, this will serve as a new quarantine cage.

Maiko, one of the babies arriving a few months ago, had a bullet fragment lodged above her right eye from when her group was shot at by poachers. This bullet fragment came out of its own accord a few days ago.

Construction also continues on the new dormitory, next to the small forest. The foundations have been laid and the walls are almost finished.




There have been several more small earthquakes originating from the DRC-Rwandan border area; however, they didn’t seem to impact the animals as much as the previous earthquakes.

I am a new volunteer at Lwiro, my name is Andrea. I will be writing the blog updates when I get time! When I came to Lwiro I had some goods and services donated to me for the sanctuary. I would like to acknowledge these companies and individuals for being so generous.

Firstly, thank-you to Darren and David of DARCHE who made and donated over 30 new hammocks for the chimpanzees night dens. These hammocks will go into the new dormitory and ensure that everyone can have a bed to themselves!



A huge thank-you to Peptech Animal Health, in particular Tim Trigg and Katie Yeates, who donated contraceptive implants for the chimpanzees. These were needed greatly.

Thank-you to LYNX (a keeper driven conservation group) who donated funds to allow us to purchase medications and protein powders which were desperately needed. To Zoos Victoria, for donating worming medications, thank-you. And thanks very much to Dr Kate Bodley who worked very hard to organize all of the medications.

Thank you to RCR International, who donated 8 hot water bottles for use with very young babies when they come to the sanctuary.

Last but not least, I would like to thank Jetta Express enormously for donating the air freight to get the above items and more to Uganda, so we could get them to the sanctuary in Congo.