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.

HILTON GETS A NEW FRIEND

Hilton (left) and La Roche

Hilton, the 4 year old Mangabey who arrived from the illegal sanctuary in Goma has been introduced to another male Mangabey called La Roche. They are getting on very well and enjoying each other’s company. La Roche has become very protective of his new friend. Hilton is still very thin, but is improving on a daily basis. Unfortunately, the facilities are very limited at the sanctuary. We would love to build a new monkey cage soon, but we are yet to find enough funds for this project. If you would like to help us get Hilton and his new friend into a bigger cage please donate via this blog. 100% of the funds donated come straight to us at the sanctuary.

PAPA KALESHE LEAVES THE CAGE

Papa Kaleshe has been working in the cage with the Goma Group (juveniles) for about 2 years now. It was his job to maintain control of the animals, clean up after them and provide them with the support of a ‘mother chimpanzee’. The time has come where some of the males are starting to challenge him on occasion, although they still go to him for support often. Therefore, we decided it was in the best interest of Kalshe and the chimpanzees to remove him from the cage. Kaleshe and the other keepers still enter the cage during the day to do a quick cleaning job, but for the most part the chimpanzees are on their own. This is a great opportunity for the chimpanzees to develop their own dominance structure and to prepare for entering the forest. They are all doing very well and we feel it is an important step in the right direction.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOLUNGWA

Our keepers are very good at their job and they regularly check over each animal to assess them for health issues. Last week one of our keepers discovered that Bolungwa is already changing her teeth. This means that she is around 5 years old. We are all very surprised as she is very small. Just as we were surprised 6 months ago when Yonguesa changed her teeth, however, we were surprised for the opposite reason. Yonguesa is huge-and you would assume she is older than 5 years by her size and her dominance over the other chimpanzees! Of course, like with people the teeth rule is not absolute, but it is a good guide for us as we have to try to estimate the age of the individuals. Also, chimpanzees from different areas can differ greatly in size. Bolungwa is a very sweet little chimpanzee and although she is quiet within the group she has a very big personality.

Donations

Thank you for the donations we have recived the last few months, all the money will go towards getting the new enclosure built and the chimps in the forest where they belong. Your support means a lot to us, thank you!

Jordi C. - 90 USD

Jennifer M. - 50 USD

Alexa C. - 50 USD

Jill S. - 25 USD

Maiko (back), Misisi, Julius, Uvira, Mangay(back turned, hugging Misisi)

Monkeys Arrived!

Yesterday evening after a very long boat and car ride the two monkeys from the illegal “sanctuary” in Goma arrived safely at our door with Arthur one of the veterinarians from the North Kivu ICCN team! After many a mix up with the boat times, Arthur arrived safely at the port and was greeted by one of our own veterinarians. The monkeys are both thin, but thanks to the care the ICCN and PASA have been providing in the last few weeks, their condition was not as bad as we had expected.
PASA has provided all costs for the transport of these two monkeys and will also give the CRPL $1000 to help with their continued care. We are very grateful for their help not only in this case, but for all they do.
The first monkey is a 4 year old male Mangabey whose name is Hilton. He is extremely thin and his hair is in terrible condition. The second monkey is a 3 year old red-tail who is yet to have a name. They are currently in solitary cages with access to each other. They will stay in quarantine for one month to ensure that no diseases are passed on to the other animals in the sanctuary. With good nutrition and veterinary care they should both improve quite quickly!

New Monkeys Expected Today!

At about 12pm today we are expecting two new monkeys. The mangabey and red-tail have been kept in an illegal "sanctuary" for the last few years along with chimpanzees and other monkeys. PASA have done a wonderful thing and intervened along with the ICCN to confiscate the animals. For the last two weeks the ICCN have been providing food, water and veterinary care to all the animals (something they had not been receiving regularly for the last few months). PASA have worked tirelessly to find homes for all these animals and are supporting the cost to transfer them. I will post a blog tomorrow about their arrival. Sadly, we do not have a lot of space for new animals. With our current number of primates standing at 108! However, we will provide them with the best medical care, nutrition and husbandry we can! With your help we can make a bigger difference to the lives of all of these 108 primates! Please donate on our blog if you can!

An Update on Lulinga

Lulinga was the last baby to be introduced to the nursery cage. She is a tiny little chimpanzee with a HUGE personality. She moved into the cage and immediately fitted in well. All of the other chimpanzees love her, in particular Misisi who likes to care for Lulinga while she is having an afternoon nap. Here are some pictures of Luli in the cage today!

Lulinga and Monique playing in the cage!

New years suprise!

Happy new year to everyone!

The 31th of December we got a new years suprise at the sanctuary, as a red-tailed monkey gave birth to a healty baby. All our monkeys now have contraseptive implants so this was a big suprise. Nature will always find a way... The baby was called Bonne Annee, wich means happy new year in French. Welcome to Lwiro Bonne Annee!

Also please read our first official newsletter! http://www.sjimpanser.net/newsletter/december2009.pdf