Walikale Update!

Walikale has been at the CRPL for almost a month now. Before arriving, his family group were attacked by poachers. Some of the chimpanzees would have been killed for meat, while Walikale was probably taken alive to sell as a pet. However, the Congolese government conservation authority (ICCN) intercepted Walikale and bought him to the CRPL for rehabilitation and care.

We believe Walikale is around 4-5 months old as he is very small and has under developed motor skills. He is however doing very well, eating lots of different foods and playing and laughing continuously through the day. Being a very small baby, Walikale also takes a few naps!

Walikale - new arrival!

Yesterday afternoon, the 1^st of July, the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN) arrived at our door with a baby chimpanzee which had been confiscated. Walikale is a little male around 4-5 months of age and was given his name from the village where he was confiscated. He is in fairly good physical condition and we assume came out of the forest not more than a few days ago. He was wrapped in a plastic bag and clung to it desperately, we assume had been in it for some time and that it was the only security he had known for the last few days. He also had a cord tied around his waist on arrival.

Sadly, the arrival of another infant tells us that the killing of chimpanzees and other wildlife in Congo is still very prevalent and the trade in infant chimpanzees continues. Usually, a chimpanzee group is attacked and the adults which are killed are sold as bushmeat and the infants sold as pets.

Walikale is eating a little banana so far and drinking a little milk. Heis very young; he is not even able to walk yet and will require a great deal of love and care.

Sakina Dungu - second day and already playing!

It is Sakina Dungu's second full day at the sanctuary and already she is playing! She seems very confident and relaxed with Mama Dorcas already. Sadly, no person can ever take the place of the chimpanzees which should be in her life, but Mama will provide her with everything possible until her month quarentine is over and she can be moved into the infant group!

New Arrival!!!

Sakina Dungu (Sakina- the Congolese name she arrived with, Dungu- the name of the village of confiscation) arrived in the early afternoon on the 9^th of August 2010. We are still unsure about her story, but we were informed of her presence by the people at the Okapi Station in DRC. They also organised her travel from Bunia to Kavumu by air. Kavumu is just 7 km from Lwiro, so Sakina was picked up by the Director of the Kahuzi Biega National Park, Boji (ICCN). Boji and his team delivered her to us. She was a little apprehensive at the beginning, but soon settled down once she came to know Mama Dorcas – the caregiver at the sanctuary who takes charge of the quarantine of new infants. She ate many tomatoes (they seems to be her favourite) and spent the afternoon with Mama.

Sakina is around 2 to 3 years old and is very thin. She also has an advanced infection around her nose. This may have stemmed from a tooth infection, but the veterinarian will explore this once she has settled in. For now, Sakina will start a course of antibiotics, have access to good food and clean water and be cared for by Mama Dorcas. After her one month quarantine, Sakina will be integrated into the infant chimpanzee cage.

Sakina on arrival

Carmen removing the cord around her neck.

Sakina Dungu today, still sad...

Her nose is swollen due to infection

SLEEPING BABIES!!!

At the CRPL we have 12 chimpanzee infants who all live in a cage together. They range in age from about 1 to 3 ½ years old. In the wild, chimpanzees are very dependent on their mothers until they are quite old; because of this we have a caregiver in with the babies for 24 hours a day. This caregiver becomes the nurturer, cleaner, disciplinarian, protector and more to these little chimpanzees because they don’t have their mothers with them. Papy and Armani, our two caregivers both work rotating 24 hours shifts with the babies. Both Papy and Armani love the babies and are very good with them. They hug and play with them all of the time, but are also very good at encouraging them to grow and learn.

At about 5pm when it is getting dark and cold here in Lwiro the babies and their caregiver move into the dormitory attached to the cage. This is such a wonderful sight to see and probably one of my favorite times a day (although, it is hard to choose when you live and work here). The babies all march inside, sometimes walking with a friend, sometimes swinging in from a rope!

I have always been curious to see what exactly happened within the dormitory at night. I often ask the caregivers ‘who sleeps where’ and ‘with whom’! With these questions in mind I decided to send my camera into the dormitory for the night with Papy. I did wonder if I would ever see the camera again in one piece. The pictures below are the result. It seems that although there is room for everyone to have some space to him or herself, they like to sleep directly on top of one another. This no doubt gives them comfort and warmth!

Julius, Fizi, Mangay, Uvira, Monique, Loia, Lulinga, Aketi and Butembo

(Misisi, Maiko and Ituri in Hammoks)

The rainy season is upon us at this moment in Lwiro. This means there is a lot of heavy rain and it is often very cold. Usually it rains at night, but sometimes we get heavy downpours during the day as well. Yesterday was one of those days. When it rains the babies become very quiet and seek comfort from each other (as they would from their mothers in the forest). Here is a lovely picture taken during the storm of the baby cage. You can see that nine of the babes were huddled up together, while three were feeling more independent and sitting in the hammocks above. Once the rain stops it doesn’t take the babies long to start running around again.

Lwiro update

People may have heard about the unrest in DRC over the past week or two. I want everyone to know the animals and the staff and their families are all safe. Everything seems to have settled down for the time being and it is business as usual. The volunteers were housed at the UN camp near by for safety reasons during four days of the trouble. We returned on the 2nd of November to Lwiro to find the sanctuary and staff well.
Shumbi – the olive baboon - has been moved from his small quarantine cage into a larger cage which neighbors Kashusha (another male baboon) and a group of other baboons. As soon as he woke from the anesthetic he climbed up on the branches with no problems at all. The staff were originally concerned that he would not be able to move about properly (due to the fact that he has one arm missing and the other is injured from a gun wound). His wound has healed very well.

Muhungu - a young male chimpanzee broke his on the 2nd of November. He has been isolated from the group to allow recovery. He still has visual contact with the group however, and can touch them through the wire. He is recovering well.

Banro is now very happy in the cage with the other babies. She has bonded with both the keepers and all of the babies very well. Every night, Banro and Julius cuddle up in their tub to sleep together. Below are photo of all of the babies in the nursery group. They are all strong, healthy and happy.

Baboon baby born at CRPL

A baboon baby has been born at Lwiro primate rehabilitation centre. Becky the baboon is her mama. It's a very healthy female baboon and Becky is doing a great job as a mum. Her name is Afrikia. We don't try to breed our primates, but implants are very expensive, and we so far don't have enough for everyone. But the positive side is that a baby is very good for the structure of a group of primates and the best form of enrichement. And now when little Afrikia is born, we will ensure that she the best possible care, and hopefully a good life.

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.

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.

Fizi

Today a new chimp arrived at Lwiro. He was confiscated by a woman working for the UN in Uvira, from a poacher. The village he came from was Fizi so thats his name! He is about one year old, and very small and skinny. He has been in captivity for about four months! He has got a bad cold which Carmen is treating the best she can. We hope he'll soon be happy and healthy!

Maiko and Osso

Yesterday Maiko and Osso came to Lwiro Sanctuary. Two little girls. They were very tired and scared. They had travelled by plane, car and boat. They were with us at about 5 o’clock in the afternoon. We carried them into my room, and with a bit of force got them out of the travel cage and put them in the cage they were going to sleep in during the night. I was alone with them in the room and Osso came out of the cage and sat on my lap. I cried for a while. It’s very difficult to understand how people can treat chimpanzees like that. Maiko and Osso have both seen their family being slaughtered. They ate mango and passion fruit and then went to sleep. Today they slept for a long time, we woke them up at eight. We had planned to have them inside in the room for a couple of days, but Maiko was very shivering with cold, so we put them back in the cage and carried them outside to the quarantine cage in the sunshine. There they slept most of the day, scared and tired. We took them back in at four o’clock and put them to bed for the night.

Jeanette

Maiko and Osso

In the beginning of February we heard that two baby chimpanzees had been confiscated near Maiko National Park in North Kivu. And after a lot of paperwork, and quite a bit of money to cover transport cost, they finally arrived at Lwiro today. They are two little girls called Maiko and Osso.

Maiko is a bit over a year old, she has a lot of parasites and her tummy is very painfull.

Osso is under one year old and in better shape than Maiko, but they are both very thin and traumatized.

Jeanette, a zoo keeper from Kristiansand Zoo in Norway is looking after them with the help of Carmen the vet and manager. Jeanette is volunteering at Lwiro for 3 months.

Hildegunn