In memory of Osso

When Osso first arrived in Lwiro she was very skinny and tired. She had traveled far to come to us and she was very affected by loosing her mother and her family. Osso arrived together with Maiko, who had become like a big sister for her. Osso had not yet gotten her canine teeth wich meant that she was very young, under 1 year of age. It was very hard emotionally the first time she crawled onto my lap, she was only skin and bones. And most of our first night together I spent crying with her on my lap.

After one week she was eating well and had given me a little smile. All the workes at the sanctuary loved Osso, she was the most beautiful chimpanzee they'd ever seen! She had lots of long hair, wich is something the congolese really like. I spent some amazing months with Osso, before I had to leave and go back home to Norway. It gave me such joy to see the development in her, from the day she arrived until she gave me that last hug before I left.

Osso will be sadly missed and remembered by everyone that knew her. Rest in peace little one.

Jeanette

Sad times in Lwiro

It's been some very sad and trying times for everyone working with Lwiro. It started a bit over a month ago, when some of the chimps in the nursery group got sick. First we thought it was a normal flu. But soon they all got very sick, and wouldn't eat just sleep. We were very scared for all of them, Maiko, Osso, Julius, Fizi, Banro, Uvira, Ituri and Okapi (Monique Epulu). They were moved to the quarantine by the sanctuary house as soon as they got sick to prevent spreading to all the primates, they developed a rash and we think the disease was in fact measels. In the beginning of march we got the first sad news. Banro had died and just a few days later we got the message that also Osso had had to give up. Very sad to loose them both for everyone working in and is involved with the sanctuary. Luckily the rest of the babies recovered, but the disease spread to the sanctuary and several chimps and monkeys had sympthoms, only Pablo got very sick, but luckily recovered. We are very relived it is over and hope it will never happen again.

Hilde

Sick babies with their keeper

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.

Second operation for Shumbi the baboon

Shumbi had his second surgery today to clean up the wound and have a closer look. The veterinarian bandaged the wound thoroughly, however a few hours later (with only his feet), Shumbi managed to free himself of the bandage. He is doing well at present and eating well. We now have to wait and see how he recovers.

Ituri and Uvira have integrated well into the cage with the four other babies, Maiko, Osso, Fizi and Julius. They have become very independent and all of the babies interact and play well with each other.

Banro is also doing well, and plays and runs around in the garden non stop. She is forever trying to escape into the area with the other babies. Her quarantine period will be over on the 20th of September, she will then be introduced into the nursery group also.

Andrea

Thank you!

CRPL would like to acknowledge the kind donation of a large quantity of infant formula and medical instruments by The Sandringham Hospital Maternity Department (in Australia). This donation is greatly appreciated. Also, thank you again to Jetta Express who have very kindly donated the airfreight to get these items to the Sanctuary.

The babies

A little update on the little ones, Osso, Maiko and Fizi.

They've finsihed their quarantine periode now and spend their days around the sanctuary and on little trips to our little forrest. They are still very young and the little space in the other chimp cages do that we won't introduce them to the others until we finish the new forrest enclosure. So they now form their own little group, that also Julius will join when he has finished his quarantine. But they are around the bigger ones and they can see and hear them.

They have all become very healthy and happy little chimps!

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