New arrival: Rambo

Yesterday another chimpanzee arrived in Lwiro. He is around 3 years old, is called Rambo and arrived after a very long journey. He came all the way from Orientale in Central Congo and his journey included a flight from Kisangani to Goma and a car journey from Goma to Lwiro. Both a very long and very expensive trip!

JGI Italy, JGI Switzerland and JGI Germany did a huge effort to fundraise enough money for Rambos transport to Lwiro. They did a great job and even fundraised enough to support his care in CRPL for a while! Thank you for your big effort to save Rambo!

UGADEC, JGI Congo and ICCN did a great job in coordinate the transfer. This was a huge coordination effort and everyone was working together to get Rambo safely to Lwiro!

A big thank you to everyone involved with this rescue, Rambo has better days ahead!

He was in relatively good health on arrival a bit thin and his hair is a bit patchy, but otherwise good and he quickly bonded with the keeper. He will now spend one month in quarantine with the best possible care before he will be introduced to his new friends!

Please consider helping us care for Rambo and the other 51 chimpanzees in Lwiro, donate towards our running cost for 2012. Running cost covers food and medicines for the chimps and monkey, salary for our Congolese workers, repairs, etc... Running cost of CRPL is now about 6000$ a month.

Rambo arrived in a car from Goma

Rambo on arrival with the chain around his waist.

Welcome Rambo!

Baboons arrive in Lwiro

A couple of weeks ago the ICCN brought two olive baboons that they had confiscated from bad conditions to Lwiro. It's a young male and a young female, and they've been named Killo and Killa. They are going through their quarantine at the moment and are doing well! We are very glad that our new baboon enclosure, funded by the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, soon is finished! Because the CRPL now cares for 15 baboons!

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.

New arrival: Vero

Last week, the 19th, another new arrival came to the CRPL. She is a young l'hoesti monkey about 2-3years old, and we named her Vero. She came with a military officer from the south near Uvira. He wanted to sell her to us, but we explained that we don't buy monkeys and it's illegal to keep. Luckily the cief of PNKB, South Kivu, came just then and explained to the officer about conservation and that it was illegal to keep monkeys and that they should be with other monkeys, not being kept as a pet. The officer agreed and the next day he came with the monkey and handed her over to CRPL. She is a bit skinny, but otherwise healthy and eating well. After her quarantine periode we will try to introduce her to a group wich has the three other l'hoesti females in the sanctuary.

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

Two new rescued chimps at the CRPL!

The arrival

Two rescued chimps from the abandoned Suena sanctuary in Goma arrived to the CRPL last evening. They were abandoned by expats who left the DRCongo leaving them and 3 younger chimps unattended. The 3 younger ones were handed over to J.A.C.K. in Lubumbashi and the two adults are now safe in Lwiro.

Suena (male) and Poplap (female) were confiscated by the I.C.C.N. After a long journey by boat and road they finally enjoy the new dens. They are waiting to be introduced to each other as they have spent their lives separated in different cages.

CRPL would like to thank the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA) for covering all the transfer expenses and the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project staff who prepared and accompanied the chimps during the transfer ensuring their health and welfare.

Poplap beeing moved inside her room

Poplap enjoying the view

Poplap discovering the tire

Poplap in her new room

Poplap relaxing in her blanket

Suena unloaded from the truck

Suena beeing moved into his room
Suena in his window

Suena

New arrival, Lulinga

Today a new little chimp arrived in Lwiro. She was confiscated by the ICCN in the town of Lulingu wich is near the lowland part of Kahuzi-Biega nationalpark. We called her Lulinga as we allready got a monkey called Lulingu. Luckily she is in quite good condition and was very happy when we offered her mangoes. She will spend her month in quarantine with Mama Dorcas, who is very good with the baby chimpanzees.

Lulinga arriving in the ICCN car

Lulinga in her tiny cage

Lulinga with mama Dorcas

Lulinga

New arrival, Hombo

A baby Blue monkey (Cercopithecus mitis) arrived on the 8th of September with the staff of the ICCN. He has been named Hombo as he arrived from the Hombo forest in South Kivu.

Hombo

New arrivals, Civets!

Civet babies on arrival

On the 18th of August we were told by the ICCN to expect the arrival of a civet that afternoon. No other details were known except that the civet was coming from Lulingu by airplane. We began looking for suitable housing and food so that we would be ready for when the animal arrived. When the ICCN representative arrived he was carrying a small basket and inside it were three baby civets. They were so young that their eyes were closed most of the time, they were very unstable on their feet and they could not eat solid food. We are not well equipped for caring for animals such as these dogs like omnivores at Centre for rehabilitation of Primates in Lwiro. However, we always give the best care we are able, to any animal that arrives. As they were so small we decided it best that they stay in the house to be cared for around the clock. They were receiving three hourly milk feeds day and night.

Almost a month on, the three baby civets are doing very well. They have grown tremendously, have their eyes open and bright and run around a lot. They are still receiving milk feeds regularly and yesterday we began offering small amounts of meat. They now spend the day in a small make-shift yard, but still sleep inside at nights.

-Andrea-

New arrival, Coco Kalonge

On Sunday the 2nd of August the ICCN arrived with a new Red-tailed Monkey. This monkey is a very small male – only 6 months to a year old. We have put him in the cage with Nunuse (the baby Owl-faced monkey) so that they both have some company. They are doing well together. His name is ‘Coco Kalonge’, as he was confiscated in Kalonge. But Coco will be his daily name, as we already have a baboon called Kalonge!
Andrea

Coco Kalonge Coco giving Nunuse a hug

New arrival, Bavo

On Saturday the 1st of August I was in Bukavu at the head office of Coopera (the managing NGO for the CRPL). I was driving along the road with two other staff members when we saw a baboon in a tree in one of the houses. We got out of the car to get a closer look at the monkey and we realized she was tied to a tree. She had no water or food at that point in time, but she looked like she was in good condition. We followed the protocols and called the ICCN (Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature) so that they could follow up on the confiscation.
Within a few hours all of the paperwork was in order and the park ranger went to confiscate the baboon. I accompanied them to show them where the baboon was. The people in the house allowed us into the yard where the baboon was being kept so that we could discuss the issue. The park ranger was extremely professional and calm with the people and explained that it is illegal to have a pet primate. The people asked if we could wait and talk to the owner of the monkey, so we remained at the house for about an hour. In this time, both I and the ranger groomed the little female Olive Baboon, she is about 3 years old. She was very gentile and seemed to enjoy the interaction. The cord around her waist was attached to the tree. She only has about a meter of leeway to move around. The owner did not show up to the house, and eventually the people there agreed that we could take the baboon. She was transported to the office of the ICCN where she stayed for two nights before she was transported to the CRPL.
Upon arrival to the CRPL Bavo (the name of the baboon) was put into the cage with Kalonge (a male Olive Baboon about 4 years old) and an adult female Yellow Baboon, Brandy. Unfortunately, we have extremely limited space at the sanctuary and therefore had nowhere suitable to quarantine Bavo. Therefore the cage she is in is now in quarantine. We do hope that when we are able to finish the forest exhibit and move most of the chimpanzees there, that we will have better facilities and more space for the monkey residents and also more room for quarantine. As it is the sanctuary is overfull, but while we can provide food and medical care to these animals we will continue to accept them as there is nowhere else for them to go. If you would like to help us please donate through this blog. Every donation can help us reach our goal faster.
Andrea

Bavo

Butembo and Loia, new arrivals

Two new baby chimpanzees arrived on the 15th of July. Butembo and Loia arrived from the Butembo area after a very long two day journey. Both babies are male and are about 1 and a half years old. Butembo is the most outgoing. Within 10 minutes of releasing them from their travel cage he was running around playing with the caregiver. Loia is a little more reserved and took some time to come out of the cage completely. Both babies were very hungry and ate a lot the first afternoon. A few hours after arriving they went into their night cage well and slept all night. On the second day, both ate well and played well also. Both babies have many different parasites and are being treated for this and malnutrition.
Truck arriving with Butembo and Loia

Butembo and Loia will spend their months quarantine with Mama Dorcas (who was removed from the main nursery cage due to the babies becoming too dominant over her). Mama Dorcas is very good with the babies and will provide them with all the love and support they need for this month in quarantine.

Butembo
Loia

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.

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

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

Nunuse, new arrival

Nunuse


A baby Owl-faced monkey (Cercopithecus hamlyni) arrived to the sanctuary about 1 and a half months ago. Little Nunuse spent his month quarantine being cared for by the veterinarian. After this, we began to introduce him to a lone female. The introduction has gone well and he has spent three nights so far with the female.

More chimpanzees coming to Lwiro

Plans are beeing made to move chimpanzees from a makeshift sanctuary in Aketi north of Kisangani to Lwiro, at least five. The move is beeing planned for the end of March. The original plan was for the chimpanzees to move to a new sanctuary that is under construction in Kisangani, but the construction took longer than planned and these chimpanzees need a new home now. Although the people that is looking after them in Aketi are doing a great job.
There is a lot of hunting for bushmeat going on up there and too many orphans...
You can read about Laura and Adams work in Aketi and the chimpanzees in their blog: http://lifeincongo.blogspot.com

Today Ituri and Uvira finished their quarantine period. We also had word that a new baby would arrive at the airport in one hour. We therefore introduced Ituri and Uvira into the four babies in the cage in the yard, prepared them to sleep with Mama Dorcas, who they spend the days with and prepared ourselves for the arrival of yet another baby chimpanzee. This baby’s family was killed by poachers and sold as bush meat. The babies, being too small to eat are sold for pets. Luckily this infant was confiscated before this could happen.

Banro arrived at 2 pm in the afternoon and ate well immediately. She is full of intestinal parasites and lice, but otherwise in ok condition. As she has both sets of her canine teeth, she is possibly around 18 months to two years old. She arrived with the cord still around her waste that the poachers had used to control her; it was very tight and had to be cut off. She also arrived with a huge amount of dried faeces on her bottom, restricting her ability to defecate. Below are some photos of her.

Andrea

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.

Brandi

A female Yellow Baboon (Papio cynocephalus) arrived this afternoon. She was transported from Rwanda, where she had been confiscated. Originally she was caught illegally in DRC. This is the reason for her return to a sanctuary located in DRC. She has come with the name Brandi. Brandi will also undergo a period of one month in quarantine, before being introduced to the baboons currently housed at the sanctuary.