On the 3th of May 2012 the Centre de Rehabilitation
des Primates de Lwiro’s Chimpanzee Habitat for Conservation and Education was
first opened to its new residents! This has been 5 years of hard work from so
many people and organizations that it is impossible to name everybody! Please
go through past blogs to see all the wonderful organizations that have made
grants to the CRPL to make this dream a reality – and for all those who made
private donations or helped on the ground – you know who you are!
AN ENORMOUS THANK-YOU GOES OUT TO EVERYONE INVOLVED! We would
also like to specifically thank the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation
de la Nature and the Centre de Recherche en Sciences Naturelles our two
government partners for making this such a positive experience with so much
support and for supplying the forest for the chimpanzees! And to our other
Management Advisory Group Members Coopera, Venner av Lwiro and Friends of Lwiro
Australia
The first chimpanzees to try out the
new facility were 7 of the oldest from the infant cage – now ranging in age
from 4-6 years old! Fizi, Maiko, Monique, Uvira, Ituri, Misisi and Julius were
transported in cages, 2 by 2 to the new forest! Some were a little nervous, but
had familiar faces with them the whole time. They spent this first day in the
dormitory to acclimatize and wind down after such a huge event. They took it in
their stride and spent a happy day exploring this new area.
The next day, it was time to see what
all the fuss was about! The doors were opened and their caregivers joined the 7
chimpanzees in the forest! They all went into the forest quickly and started
exploring immediately. Misisi and Monique were very brave and independent and
went walking on their own at times! While Ituri elected to have a caregiver
carry her much of the time!
A great deal of the forest was explored
on day one – and a guava tree was the biggest hit of all, with all 7 climbing
up and having their fill! They also ate many other plants in the forest which
are perfectly safe for them.
After a HUGE day both chimpanzees and
people in Lwiro are very tired, but extremely happy! These 7 will settle in to
their new home before more moves continue. We will keep you all updated on
their progress and also the future moves!
Again, we want to express our gratitude
to all who supported this project! We could not have done it without an enormous
group of supporters!
2 comments:
Congratulations!
Honestly I would have expected many more pictures and a movie of such a BIG event.
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