In memory of Osso

When Osso first arrived in Lwiro she was very skinny and tired. She had traveled far to come to us and she was very affected by loosing her mother and her family. Osso arrived together with Maiko, who had become like a big sister for her. Osso had not yet gotten her canine teeth wich meant that she was very young, under 1 year of age. It was very hard emotionally the first time she crawled onto my lap, she was only skin and bones. And most of our first night together I spent crying with her on my lap.

After one week she was eating well and had given me a little smile. All the workes at the sanctuary loved Osso, she was the most beautiful chimpanzee they'd ever seen! She had lots of long hair, wich is something the congolese really like. I spent some amazing months with Osso, before I had to leave and go back home to Norway. It gave me such joy to see the development in her, from the day she arrived until she gave me that last hug before I left.

Osso will be sadly missed and remembered by everyone that knew her. Rest in peace little one.

Jeanette

In memory of Banro

Banro was so special and unique, as all great apes are. Every one is so different in looks, temperament and personality. When she arrived, she was understandably withdrawn and clingy with me, her assigned carer. It took two days before she responded to games and began to play. But it took her about a week before her real personality shone through. She was a little adventurer. She loved to climb the trees in the garden and run over the clean laundry Mama Guillemine had laid out to dry. Although confident, she would often run back for reassurance when she felt unsure of something. When her months quarantine came to an end, it was time for her to be integrated into the baby nursery. It took a few days, but once she felt comfortable she loved having the other babies to play with. After all, no human can play as well as a chimpanzee! She found particular comfort with Julius, who she slept with often during nights. Banro will be sadly missed by all. Rest in peace little angel.

Andrea

Sad times in Lwiro

It's been some very sad and trying times for everyone working with Lwiro. It started a bit over a month ago, when some of the chimps in the nursery group got sick. First we thought it was a normal flu. But soon they all got very sick, and wouldn't eat just sleep. We were very scared for all of them, Maiko, Osso, Julius, Fizi, Banro, Uvira, Ituri and Okapi (Monique Epulu). They were moved to the quarantine by the sanctuary house as soon as they got sick to prevent spreading to all the primates, they developed a rash and we think the disease was in fact measels. In the beginning of march we got the first sad news. Banro had died and just a few days later we got the message that also Osso had had to give up. Very sad to loose them both for everyone working in and is involved with the sanctuary. Luckily the rest of the babies recovered, but the disease spread to the sanctuary and several chimps and monkeys had sympthoms, only Pablo got very sick, but luckily recovered. We are very relived it is over and hope it will never happen again.

Hilde

Sick babies with their keeper

The new dormitory will soon be finished!

Here are some pictures of the new chimpanzee dormitory. They are working on the interior and it will be finished soon. This will help a lot with the space for the chimps in the sanctuary. And then we need money to start the fence...
Hilde

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

Thank you!

In a few days this blog has been going for 1 year. And we just want to say thank you to the people who have donated money through the paypal button on this page in the last year!

Carol G. 100 US$
David S. 25 US$
Helen W. 100 US$

Thank you very much! Your support is very important to CRPL, it's workers and primates.
Hopefully in the future even more of our readers will consider making a contribution.

News from Lwiro

The new dormitory
The struggle of getting enough funds for the new chimpanzee dormitory is fianlly over. Only to be taken over by the struggle to raise the funds for the fence around the forrest....

But back to the dormitory, it was started last march, but due to lacking of funds the work has been stopped for many months now the outside is finished but the inside is not. Now funds have come through 9900 dollars from Survive Australia, after an auction they held this autumn, and 4600 dollars from Friends of Lwiro in Norway ( former AWARE Norway), most of that from sales of Julius paintings in Kristiansand Zoo. This is enough to finally finish the dormitory and the building has started today. But the best thing is that COOPERA has agreed to try to cover the running cost of the sanctuary for 2009! This is great because otherwise the money from Australia and Norway would have had to cover the running cost, and the dormitory wouldn't be finished.

The dormitory January-09

Great support from local children

Yesterday morning there was a very nice visit to the sanctuary. The children of " the environmental center of education and interpretation" of CHAHOBOKA / KATANA donated a big sack of carrots that they had grown themselves for the CRPL primates. It's so great to see.

Everyone loves football

After the football turnament this christmas, a video was made and sent on Spanish tv about the athletic club CRSN Lwiro. This has raised 3000 euros to build a new football pitch and changing room for the teams!

The chimpanzees

It has been very cold this month in Lwiro, and almost all the chimpanzees in the sanctuary have got colds, especially the little ones and Baheny has injured one of his canine teeth. It got ripped of when it got stuck in a rope. Luckily he is doing well, and will recover ok from the injury.

Baheny

Christmas in Lwiro

This autumn "the champions leauge CRPL" was organised in Lwiro. 9 teams of entusiastic children between 5 and 13 years of age, from Lwiro and suronding villages. After the game there was a barbeque for 150 local children. It's amazing how well football joins the people.
At five o’clock, when work was finished at the sanctuary, it was time for a well deserved Christmas party for the workers, with good food music and dance.

Monique Okapi
The newest chimp in the centre is Monique Okapi. She arrived 28th of November, and is a girl at about 2 years of age. She’s finished her quarantine and moved in with the others in the nursery group, Maiko, Osso, Fizi, Julius, Banro, Ituri and Uvira. She’s already settled in very well with the others.

Some of the players in front of one of their new football goals.

Local music

Food for everyone

The workers arriving at their christmas party

Monique Okapi with her keeper

Monique Okapi


The nursery group with their keeper

Leaving Lwiro

I have now left Lwiro due to the increasing instability in DRC. However, the veterinarians are still in Lwiro and working hard at the sanctuary. The nursery group has been moved to an enclosure within the sanctuary grounds and the sanctuary security is being reinforced. Currently, there has been no direct threat in the area, and the local staff and community are still committed to the sanctuary. Below are photos of the women’s group who bought an enormous offering of bananas and tomatoes to the sanctuary for the animals. The photos show them singing and dancing, wearing their new t-shirts!

Andrea

Lwiro update

People may have heard about the unrest in DRC over the past week or two. I want everyone to know the animals and the staff and their families are all safe. Everything seems to have settled down for the time being and it is business as usual. The volunteers were housed at the UN camp near by for safety reasons during four days of the trouble. We returned on the 2nd of November to Lwiro to find the sanctuary and staff well.
Shumbi – the olive baboon - has been moved from his small quarantine cage into a larger cage which neighbors Kashusha (another male baboon) and a group of other baboons. As soon as he woke from the anesthetic he climbed up on the branches with no problems at all. The staff were originally concerned that he would not be able to move about properly (due to the fact that he has one arm missing and the other is injured from a gun wound). His wound has healed very well.

Muhungu - a young male chimpanzee broke his on the 2nd of November. He has been isolated from the group to allow recovery. He still has visual contact with the group however, and can touch them through the wire. He is recovering well.

Banro is now very happy in the cage with the other babies. She has bonded with both the keepers and all of the babies very well. Every night, Banro and Julius cuddle up in their tub to sleep together. Below are photo of all of the babies in the nursery group. They are all strong, healthy and happy.