Construction continues - for the chimpanzees and baboons!

The chimpanzee habitat continues....

And so does the baboon habitat!

Friends of Lwiro Australia run the Sydney's City to Surf for the CRPL!

Friends of LWIRO Australia is one of the Management Advisory Groups of the CRPL – raising funds for operational costs and providing advise and technical support! See below the great efforts they go to too support the CRPL!

Friends of LWIRO Australia committee members and supporters ran the gruelling 14km from Sydney City to Bondi Beach as part of Sydney’s City to Surf fun run. The goal was to raise money for Centre for Primate Rehabilitation LWIRO (CRPL).

The team looked great wearing the new Friends of LWIRO Australia t-shirts while they joined 85 000 other runners to conquer heart break hill, the long stretches to the beach and the rain.

Lou, Wally, Brent, Lou, Katie, Rochelle, Ryan, Hayley, Brownie, Simon and Indhi (the youngest runner at just 6 years old!) all had a great time. Well done team! Thanks for your support for CRPL!

Simon, FOL Australia.

Construction begins on the new baboon facility!

Saturday we started to measure out the perimeters for the new baboon facility which has been financed by the Fondation Brigitte Bardot!

This facility will improve the life of our baboon residents no end! We will keep you updated on the progress.

Chimpanzee Habitat for Conservation and Education continues...

The overhang for the forest fence is going up fast now! The fence is looking more complete every day!

THANK YOU FONDATION BRIGITTE BARDOT!

The CRPL would like to thank the Fondation Brigitte Bardot for their generous grant to construct a new facility for our baboon residents. Your help is so appreciated!

The addition of this new facility to the CRPL will change the lives of these animals by giving them a larger space which will be both mentally and physically more stimulating than their current cages.

Thank you!

We will keep you all posted on the construction of the facility on the blog as it happens.

http://www.fondationbrigittebardot.fr/

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!

The forest fence continues - with thanks to IPPL and the Arcus Foundation!

With thanks to the International Primate Protection League and the Arcus Foundation we were able to start the new faze of our ‘Chimpanzee Habitat for Conservation and Education’ yesterday! The money they have granted us was used to purchase a part of the metallic overhang and will be used for some general running costs for the centre and also a military education program! Once again we are so grateful for the support of IPPL and the Arcus foundation! And we are so excited to be continuing with the forest enclosure!

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.

Roots and Shoots Lwiro - World Ocean Day!

On the 12^th of June our Roots & Shoots club of Lwiro met again to celebrate World Ocean Day. As we are nowhere near an ocean here, but are very close to Lake Kivu we taught the children the differences between lakes and oceans. We also talked about why the lake is so important to the children, their families and the animals who live there and what we can do to keep the lake healthy for everyone to enjoy!

Turning a corner....

We are literally turning another corner – well covering another with the wire mesh! I know all the pictures we post of the fence may seem the same, but every new roll of mesh we unwrap feels like another giant hurdle we are jumping! Still have a few stages to go, but we feel like we are finally seeing this project turn into the “Chimpanzee Habitat” that we can imagine!