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 toys for the babies

Today the nursery group woke up to a nice surprise. Last night after they had gone to bed we had put up some new “hammocks” made out of fire hoses in their cage. They loved the new addition and only just had time to drink their morning milk!

We would like to thank Laura Riera and her team, and the Mona Foundation in Spain for the hammocks, the babies will have a lot of fun with them!

Fizi enjoying the new hammock

New arrival, Malimingi

Malimingi on arrival with monkey keeper Jacques.

Yet another monkey arrived today. She had also been confiscated from the militaries in Goma. She's a little red-tailed monkey and we called her Malimingi, wich means big riches in swahili. She was scared and hungry, but seems ok. She'll move in with the other baby monkeys tomorrow. The four babies Nunuse, Hombo, Coco and Bunyakiri had moved into a cage together and she will move in with them. They are all about the same size. But she'll get tonight to eat and settle in a bit. And then there was 104 primates in Lwiro...

Malimingi eating a mango

Update on Butembo and Loia

Butembo

Loia

Butembo and Loia have integrated well into the nursery group, which now consists of 11 small chimpanzees! Butembo and Loia are together with Aketi and Mangay the smallest ones in the group. They like to play with the other chimpanzees, but still play a lot with each other. Butembo has a very outgoing and playful character while Loia is a bit more serious and cautious.

Loia

Butembo and Loia hugging

Misisi and Butembo

New arrival, Maisha

Maisha


The 29th of september yet another monkey arrived in Lwiro. This time, a young female owl-faced monkey. The ICCN had confiscated her from some soldiers in Goma, so she had a long journey behind her. We soon saw that she was missing her right foot, but it is an old injury and she seems used to it. Otherwise she seems healthy but very thin. She is almost adult as the characteristic stripe the owl-faced monkeys have in their face has started to appear. She is very sweet natured and loves being groomed. She is now in a cage on her own, but soon we will put her together with another lone female owl-faced monkey, June, and hopefully they will get along.

We desperatly need more space though....

-Hilde-

Balume with Maisha on arrival

Eating her first banana after arrival

New arrival, Bunyakiri

Bunyakiri

A new baby Red-tailed monkey arrived 13th of September. He is currently living with Hombo, the new baby Blue monkey. The two have become best friends and can be seen hugging and holding hands all day. He has been named Bunyakiri after the village he was confiscated from by the ICCN. We have now reached 103 primates in the sanctuary. Our facilities and budget are extremely limited but we are doing everything we can to give these animals the best life possible under the circumstances. If you feel you can help, please donate through this blog site. Every little bit helps!

-Bunyakiri grooming Hombo-

Hombo hugging Bunyakiri

-Andrea-

Murijiza - miracle

A couple of weeks ago the keepers got a big surprise while feeding the monkeys in the morning. There was an extra head to count! Overnight, Vienna, a female Owl-faced monkey had given birth. The strange thing is that only female monkeys are currently living in this cage. However, five months ago Sidney (who has passed away) was also in the cage. After the females hurt him he was removed from the cage for one month to recover and afterward was place back inside the cage. The next day Sidney was found dead, with no injuries at all to his body. We can only assume that Sidney is the father of this new little monkey who has been named Murijiza (miracle in Swahili). Of course, it is not ideal for sanctuaries to breed animals, and we do what we can to prevent this. However, we have limited recourses and facilities. At present we are working on implanting all of the female monkeys with contraceptives.

-Andrea-

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-

Misisi is doing well!

Misisi

Misisi was introduced to the nursery cage about one and a half months ago. From the first day she adjusted well and remained in the cage day and night. Misisi is now extremely dominant within the cage. She loves to play with all the other babies and needs constant attention from them all. She demands to be the first to have milk in the morning and the porridge at night.

Maiko with Misisi in the background looking for peanuts

-Andrea-