Thank you!

The CRPL would like to thank the International Primate Protection League (IPPL) for their assistance in moving the Aketi Chimpanzees to Lwiro. We are so grateful for their support.

The story of the Aketi5 is also featured in IPPL's latest newsletter, you can see it here : http://www.ippl.org/newsletter/2000s/IPPL-News-May-2009.pdf#page=25

Misisi is laughing and playing!

Misisi is doing better and better each day. On the morning of day 10 in quarantine she actually woke up and played for the first half an hour. This was the first time she had engaged in any kind of play behavior. She was laughing and rolling around as she was being tickled in bed. Since that first morning, she has not stopped playing. She is now a bundle of energy and laughs. She likes to run around the garden while being chased and then collapses on the ground in hysterical laughter for a tickle. It is wonderful to see how much she has changed, so quickly.

Misisi has also discovered the thrill of climbing trees again. She disappears up a nice leafy tree, builds a nest and has a nap quite often. She is so at home among the branches.

She is putting on weight and is eating well. The antibiotics have worked wonders on her mouth infection which has almost completely disappeared. There is still a lot of healing to occur in the mouth; however she seems to experience no discomfort now. When her one months quarantine is over, she will join the chimpanzees in the Goma Group.
Andrea
Misisi day 12
Misisi day 10 playing
Misisi day 10 laughing

Update on Kongo and Lume

Kongo and Lume are two of our chimps that came to Lwiro in October-07, you can read their story in our old blog:

http://awareafrica.blogspot.com/search/label/kongo%20and%20lume

Here is a little update on how they are doing now!

Lume was moved out of the Goma group cage about eight months ago because he was being too rough with the other chimpanzees and keepers. He is doing well within the Kongo group-and is very relaxed with Kongo as the alpha male.
Lume

Kongo is the head of his group which includes Lume, who he was confiscated with and spent his one month quarantine. He is a happy, playful and kind chimpanzee who rules his group very well.

Kongo

Nunuse update

Nunuse, the baby owl-faced monkey was removed from the cage of the female we placed him with after just three days. She had tired of the company, and was discovered biting his leg. He suffered only two small puncture wounds, but we were not willing to take any chances. So he now resides in a cage next to other monkeys for company, until he is old enough to be put in with the other animals.

Update on Misisi

Misis has been with us now for four full days. Her health is improving; the smell is confined to her mouth only and does not surround her whole body. The infection is definitely lessening in her mouth. When you look inside you see less puss and more pink gum. However, now we can see where the infection has eaten away the flesh of her tongue and gum. This should regenerate very quickly though, after the infection is cleared up.

She is eating a lot of food, but all the same type of food. Her favorites are bread, mangos, passion fruits and zinzibare (a local forest fruit). Slowly, she will start to eat other foods, but at the moment we are just happy that she is eating. She refuses milk, baby cereal and bananas which is quite strange as most new chimpanzees love these things.

Misisi still has not played, smiled or laughed. However, today we had a small break through where she chose to lay on my knee for ½ an hour. Although she has sat on my knee before, I have always initiated it. And she always gets off after 10 minutes. Today she seemed comfortable enough to approach me and have a real cuddle. It is a big thing that she is letting down the walls and beginning to trust again.
Andrea

Baby owl

On Friday two men showed up on our front door step at 6:15am. They were carrying a baby owl with them. Carmen went outside to discuss the situation and hoped to be able to obtain the owl from the men. Luckily, she walked out and took the animal out of the man’s hand, to his surprise. They went on to ask for ‘a little something’ for bringing the animal to her. She explained to them that it is illegal to buy or sell a wild animal. And told them if they would like to wait, she will call the local authorities to discuss the situation. They declined and left very quickly.
This situation is not uncommon in this area. People catch wild animals; birds, snakes, primates etc and bring them to us or other people they think have money, and asked to be paid. Sometimes we manage to take the animal, sometimes the people refuse and leave if we tell them we will not pay them. Even at the expense of that one animal, it is important that we do not cave in and give money to these sorts of people. If we do, they will continue to go out and collect more wild animals, hoping that we will continue to give them a ‘little something’ for their trouble. If we do not pay, they may not be bothered with the effort to try again, seeing they got nothing.
Luckily this time, Carmen was able to keep the owl, and did not give the men anything in return. Sadly, it is a baby owl and therefore cannot be released. This is a difficult case for us, as we are a primate sanctuary, and do not have the facilities at the ready to care for a baby, omnivorous, nocturnal bird. However, we are doing our very best for him. He is living at the house with us at present, and we are searching for the appropriate food source which he enjoys the most.

Water play!

With the dry season approaching, Sunday was very hot! So, the keepers decided to spray water in the cage of the Goma Group to help them all cool off. They all had a great time playing and splashed around for an hour. Bolungwa, one of the newest arrivals, in particular loved it. She was swinging from a tire and splashing at the same time.

New arrival, Bamboo

On the 19th of June a Cercopithecus monkey was surrendered to the sanctuary. A lady who was working in the west of DRC two and a half years ago found the monkey in a village, tied to a tree. She was told that the monkey’s mother had been eaten. She estimated the baby was 2 weeks old when she found her. She took the baby to care for it.

She moved to Bukavu about 6 months after she had first obtained the baby and heard about the sanctuary. She had intended to give the monkey up, but had become so attached that the time flew by and before she realized it, ‘Bamboo’ was over two years old. A few weeks before the lady surrendered ‘Bamboo’, she had started showing signs of aggression- both to her career and other people. ‘Bamboo’ was starting to have monthly estrus cycles; this change in hormones often causes aggression in pet primates toward their ‘owners’.

It is of course illegal to have any primates as pets in DRC. Therefore, we are happy to see that this lady did surrender ‘Bamboo’. We have explained to her that ‘Bamboo’ will have a much happier life with other monkeys. We do not, however, have any other moneys that are the same species as ‘Bamboo’ as she came from very far away. However, she still should integrate into one of the other monkey groups without problems after she has seen out her one month in quarantine.

Andrea

Misisi's story

Misisi was confiscated by the police in Fizi about a month before she arrived in Lwiro. The police had questioned her ‘owner’ and taken notes which they sent with her for us to read. These notes tell of how the owner had purchased Misisi from a pygmy man, to keep as a pet. In the statement he says that he never saw her mother and does not know what happened to her. We can assume however, that Misisi’s mother was killed by the poachers, as were some of the others in her group. The adults were most likely sold as bushmeat, and any other babies sold for pets like Misisi, or died before this could happen. Misisi is the name of the village in which she was confiscated.

New arrival, Misisi

Misisi, day after arrival in Lwiro

On Saturday the 20th of June at 6:30pm we were settling in for a quiet and early night at home. We knew all of the animals were fed, safe and sound asleep. However, we had someone knock on our front gate. Carmen went out to talk to these three men who insisted they must see her. When she went outside, she was surprised to see a chimpanzee in the back of the taxi the men had come in. Immediately, she picked up the chimpanzee and then began talking to the men. Sometimes, people come to our door or the sanctuary to ‘sell’ us wild animals -such as baby chimpanzees. Of course it is highly illegal to buy or sell any wild animal. Therefore, if we can take physical possession of the animal before discussions about money start, the people have less to bargain with – as we already have the animal in our arms. As it turns out, these men had driven all the way from Fizi which is many kilometers north of Lwiro. We have other chimpanzees who originated from this area – Pablo and Fizi. The men were from both a government department and an NGO– and although they were not seeking payment for the chimpanzee, they were asking for compensation for the travel costs. This is something that falls outside our jurisdiction, so Carmen informed them that they must return the next day to speak to someone from the government. Thankfully, they agreed, and left the chimpanzee in our care.

We estimate ‘Misisi’ is about 3 ½ to 4 years old. She is quite large, but extremely skinny. She has very large swellings under both her eyes which is caused by malnutrition. She also has deep scars around her waste, from where she was at one time held on a rope. The very first thing we noticed about her was the putrid smell. We could not find the site of the obvious infection to begin with. However, she was so excited to be offered food that she vocalized with a lot of energy, and that is when we realized that the smell was coming from her mouth. She was given an injection of antibiotics, but it wasn’t until the next day that we got a good look at the severity of the infection. It covered the bottom jaw on the left side of her mouth. That whole side was green and white with puss.

Misisi also has burns to the right side of her face. It starts from under her eye and continues down to her lip. She also has a burn on her left arm. We do not know how she got these burns. When she sleeps both her right eye and the right side of her mouth can not close fully due to the burns.

Misisi is severely depressed and withdrawn. She vocalizes on occasion if she is particularly excited about an item of food, but other than that, she is quiet. She has not yet laughed or played. All of this should come in time with gentle coaxing, but it is very sad to see a chimpanzee in this state.

Misisi, day after arrival in Lwiro

Andrea