Limbe Wildlife Centre: 2-year report African grey parrot conservation programme by Peggy MOTSCH, Manager (Limbe Wildlife Centre)
Published in April 2021 Limbe Wildlife Centre, P.O. Box 878, Limbe, Republic of Cameroon
Limbe Wildlife Centre is a collaborative effort between Pandrillus Foundation and the Republic of Cameroon, Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, MINFOF
Pandrillus Foundation is a non-profit making NGO specialized in the protection, rehabilitation and reintroduction of primates, as well as management and sustainable financing of conservation projects in Africa. Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife is in charge of implementing the national forest policy for ensuring sustainable management and conservation of wildlife and biodiversity over the national territory as enacted by forestry law No. 01/94 of 20 January which regulates all forestry, wildlife and fisheries activities
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Content
Our donors ..................................................................................................................... 4 Abstract .......................................................................................................................... 6 Technical Report............................................................................................................ 9 CHRONOLOGY OF LWC’S ACHIEVEMENTS ............................................................... 9 ACHIEVEMENTS 2019-2020....................................................................................... 10 Rescue and medical procedures .......................................................................... 10 Rehabilitation infrastructures ................................................................................... 13 Soft-release ............................................................................................................... 17 Education, awareness and visibility ....................................................................... 19 Replication and scaling up of the programme at national scale ....................... 20 Conservation strategies .............................................................................................. 25
Our donors
Thank you to all our institutional and individual donors! Institutional
The Wagmore Foundation
Individuals’ donors A.M.I. van Oppenraay Adriana Plukkel Allison Hilf Amanda Swift Angela Jenkins Angelique Corthals Ann Johnson Anna Coffaro Anne-Marie Serre Annika Krengel Anni-Ruffina Ström Arlene Zuckerman Aude morvan Barbara Pearson Beate Klauß-Perschke Beverly Palumbo Blorian Yang Braulio Aguilera Brien Watts Bryan Kramer C J Borowiec Carole Evans Chantal Leboeuf Charise Mixa Cheryl Rutherford Chris Brodie Christine Ching Claire Branfield Claire Wyness Dawn Harris-Grafe Dawn Jones Denise Ashcraft Derek Wahdan Dr Pat Latas Edward Kane Elaine Henley Eldridge Wisely Eliot Kaplan Erin Pabich Eugene Tinelli
Eva-Maria Dittgen Ferashtah Darwish Gabriele Hupp Gaetano Chionchio Gwyneth Fraser Hadas Levine Hsin Ying Chou Imke Moellering Ingrid van Tiggelen Ioannis Roussakis Irene Stewart Iris Sylph Jacob Harrington Janet Kubalak Jared Brenner Jennifer Hobson Jill Punter Jyothi Chandrasekhar kacie d noonan Karen Barrow Karen Gehrs Katell Grignard Kathryn McQuade Kathy Robertson Kellie Mattke Ken Stallcup Kerstin Sellars Krista Creech Laila Osterkloft laura gonzalez Lauren Zurchin Lauren Zurchin Studios Laurent Vialatou Leslie Sodaro Farber Liang Yu-Chen Lloyd Jones loretta cropley Louann Manning Malin Algers Manon Berguig
Marcia Kwarsick Mark Kovac Marsha Thalin Mary Ruth Matthew Smith Matthew Weiss Miika Norro Mildred Sturdy Nancy Lightfoot Natalia Ronkina Nicole Yorkin Nigel Miller Nyström Malin Oscar Perdomo Patricia J Latas DVM Patricia Johnson patrick de labie Paul Biligha PAUL FISHER Paula Feldman Peggy Sears Pia Sif Andersen Rhonda Johnson Rikke Jespersen Robert Hoffman Roderich Krüger Roger Gray Sara Hicks sarah hospodar Scott Schlueter Sharon Braun Sonal Sudhir Sylvia Dienel Thaïs Lenkiewicz Traci Buczek Tricia Sicilia Vanessa Heron Wendy O'Malley
Abstract
Dear Friends,
For more than two years, the African grey parrot has been our flag species and significant investment in infrastructure, capacity building and human resources were made to enable us to enhance the management of rescued individuals. The centre was upgraded to provide the best possible care to all rescued parrots and give them the best chance to be released back into the wild. It was a great achievement and a consecration after several years of efforts, to develop the reference national rescue, rehabilitation and release (3R) programme for the species in Cameroon. By doing so, the Limbe Wildlife Centre, with support from Pandrillus and several sponsors, became the only governmental institution in the country with the facilities, expertise and resources
to bring a positive change for the conservation of the species nationwide with regional and international impact. Out of the 395 parrots seized from illegal trafficking in 2019 and 2020, 236 survived (60%). Throughout 2020, we successfully transferred 215 individuals from quarantine to the large rehabilitation aviary (93% of survivors) and then 125 parrots (32% of total rescued individuals; 53% of the survivors) to the soft release aviary. All of them were successfully released back into the wild. Thanks to high standards procedures, we reduced the mortality rate at 40%, with the majority of the 159 dead individuals passing away during the first 3 weeks of quarantine, as a result of their poor condition upon arrival and the incredibly stressful events they went through since their capture (transport, overcrowding, rough handling etc).
In 2021, the majority of the 111 remaining individuals should be released. It is expected that 10 individuals would not be suitable for release as they suffer from disabilities. Thanks to our donors, we sustained our African grey parrot rehabilitation team, which consists of 1 project coordinator, 3 medical staff and 4 animal care staff, as well as a couple of security officers and foreign volunteers. In 2020 only, 17,200 kg of diverse food were fed to the 236 African grey parrots and our vet team provided constant medication and special care and performed a total of 1120 health checks on 348 birds. The yearly cost to run the programme, as well as conducting much-needed #ProtectWildlife and Art4Nature education and awareness programmes was more than 7,000 USD. Unfortunately, 98% of the budget was covered by Pandrillus. The lack of support provided by the Government is the major challenge to the sustainability of our project. Further advocacy efforts, as well as education to the public, will be instrumental in engaging the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife to take more ownership and commit to the protection of this emblematic species.
Nonetheless, despite the pandemic crisis that affected us all, our results and progress have been extremely encouraging and represent a milestone. Through the LWC, Cameroon is taking an important step to better manage the population of confiscated African grey parrots. But there is still a lot of work ahead of us: post-release monitoring using GPS tags, genetic analysis, education, replication of soft-release in protected areas and of course continued daily care and rehabilitation. Thank you to all our donors for your trust. We count on your renewed support to get closer to our common goal and ensure the survival of the endangered African grey parrot in Cameroon. Limbe, 30 April 2021 Peggy MOTSCH Manager, Limbe Wildlife Centre peggy@limbewildlife.org +237 698 87 70 02)
Technical Report
CHRONOLOGY OF LWC’S ACHIEVEMENTS Since 2017, we made significant investments in infrastructure and capacity building to enable us to enhance all our rescue, rehabilitation and release protocols. We set up the long term strategy, identified issues and challenges, and created the results chain for the conservation programme. Since 2018, Pandrillus Management Unit supported and assisted the Government of Cameroon to upgrade the standards of care provided to all the endangered African grey parrots (AGPs) that are victims of the illegal wildlife trade and give each rescue the best chance to survive and be released back into the wild. By providing the conditions to efficiently manage AGPs confiscated from trade, the role of the LWC in the race to better protect the African grey parrots in Cameroon was dramatically strengthened. In 2019, the species became the LWC’s flag species, while the LWC became the only governmental institution in the country with the facilities, expertise and resources to conduct high standard rehabilitation and release in Cameroon. The year 2020 marked a major strategic and operational turn at the Limbe Wildlife Centre. The structure, managed in partnership since 1993 by Pandrillus and the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, was traditionally focused on Primates rehabilitation and welfare. Since then we reached and maintained best practices to rehabilitate African grey parrots. Our approach is holistic and culminated with major achievement in the end of 2020, hence paving the way to a new exciting and promising year 2021.
After months of hard work, in December 2020, we achieved milestones by: o displaying the first original creative work by artist Toh Bright as part of the Art4Nature programme, highlighting the rehabilitation of the endangered African grey parrots o successfully released the 3rd and 4th flock of African grey parrots back to the wild o launching the second education #ProtectWildlife campaign showcasing our efforts to save the African grey parrot from extinction Meanwhile, we conducted feasibility studies in several regions of Cameroon to assess the potential to release African grey parrots that have been rehabilitated at the Limbe Wildlife Centre.
ACHIEVEMENTS 2019-2020 Rescue and medical procedures o Rescued 400 individuals from the illegal pet trade in 2019 and 2020 o Performed 1120 health checks under anesthesia on 348 individuals
Image 1. Under anaesthesia, body and Image 2. Vitamin injections are done and feather conditioned are checked. blood samples are taken on the leg.
Image 3. Still sleepy, the parrots are Image 4. Anti-parasitical ointment is weighed. applied under the wings, back and neck.
Image 5. Praziquantel is deposited in the Image 6. Blood samples can be used for crop of the parrots for rapid absorption to identifying the sex, lab analysis (stress level) treat parasitic worm infections, such as and genetic database. helmints.
Rehabilitation infrastructures o Upgraded and completed the renovation of the medical complex (carrying capacity increased to 200 African grey parrots) o Built the first large rehabilitation aviary for implementing the second phase of rehabilitation (V=730m3; optimal capacity = 150 ind.) o Produced the first version of the manual of standard rehabilitation procedures with support from international experts (see Method box below)
Image 7. The aviary, completed in Image 8. The natural bamboo feeders are October 2019, designed for the filled with fruits and seeds every day. continuous flight of African Grey parrots.
Image 9. Up to 150 parrots can live in the Image 10. The length of the aviary allows aviary of the Centre, a good thing as the parrots to train their wing muscles, African Grey parrots are very gregarious. essential for a successful release.
METHOD BOX. Rehabilitation procedures (extracted from the manual of standard rehabilitation procedures) *** The condition of the rescued parrots is checked and individuals receive treatment when necessary upon arrival, after the 1st week, the 3rd week, the 6th week and before their transfer to the soft-release aviary. Upon arrival: Each parrot taken out of a transport wooden box undertakes a quick health check to reduce handling and stress, receive an identification ring, and is transferred to a quarantine cage in groups made of individuals of the same class of age (juvenile, immature, adult) or conditions if special cares are required. The most fragile individuals are kept in a single cage and isolated from the large groups. Each individual is fed with 250g of rich diverse food per day, and clean water is made available ad libitum and complemented with vitamins, minerals and doxycycline (antibiotic) for 6 weeks to enhance the chance of survival and recovering. After the 1st week: the faeces are collected to assess intestinal parasites. In a large group, sampling is pooled and repeated several times. Depending on results obtained and parasite burden measured, treatment is provided in water. After 3 weeks: After three weeks of recovering, the parrots are lightly anaesthetized under isofluorane, weighted and receive a more thorough health check. Vitamins (B complex) are injected, external anti-parasitic (ivermectin or fipronil) is applied, internal anti-parasitic (praziquantel) is deposited in their crop, and clipped feathers (an operation brutally made by poachers to prevent them from flying) are plucked to allow normal flight feathers growth. After 6 weeks: the parrots are lightly anaesthetized and weighted for the second time and must pass the health check to be transferred from the quarantine section to the large rehabilitation aviary. The overall Body Condition Index (BCI) is calculated and special attention is brought to the feather condition index (FCI). If the BCI ≥ 8 (out of 10), and FCI=2 (out of 2), the parrots are transferred to the large rehabilitation aviary, after a last shot of vitamins and anti-parasitic. Otherwise, they are considered unable to fly or in need of more recovery time, and therefore kept in quarantine.
This health monitoring protocol is designed to ensure that any bird transferred to the soft-release aviary is healthy and in a good physical condition and, therefore has the best chances of survival in the early stages of their release. Sampling for individual stress level assessment and genetic identification: During the different veterinary interventions, pictures of both head profiles are made, blood samples are collected and analyzed on-site to assess and monitor the level of stress, while blood spots (Waterman paper) and feathers with bulbs are collected at least once and stored for genetic sexing and to serve to build a genetic database will serve to support the fight against illegal wildlife trade by identifying bird origin and trafficking routes.
Soft-release o Designed, built and inaugurated the first soft release with the Regional Delegate for the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife (MINFOF) o Validated the soft release protocol (release capacity = 30 ind. every 1.5 months) o Released 125 individuals (33% of the total rescued)
Image 11. Installation of the frame of the soft-release aviary.
Image 12. The soft release aviary was completed in mid-2020
Image 13. The parrot head-keeper cleans the soft-release aviary every day, provides food and water, and checks all individuals.
Image 14. Parrots enjoying the food on top of the hatch before taking off.
Education, awareness and visibility o In 2019, we launched the first #ProtectWildlife campaign made of 10 twosided large billboards in partnership with local authorities and civil society highlighting the value and threat to the endangered African grey parrot o Conducted an environmental education programme with 120 school children of the local community in partnership with the UNESCO o Pandrillus was invited at the 2019 EAZA1 Conference in Valencia, Spain to give a talk on the African grey parrots rehabilitation programme in Cameroon o The Limbe Wildlife Centre received a 2019 Clark R. Bavin Wildlife Law Enforcement Award at the Conference of the Parties (CoP) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in Geneva, Switzerland o In 2020, we launched the second #ProtectWildlife campaign by displaying a series of 10 large billboards of the as well as 1 large original art creation of the Art4Nature programme in Limbe
Image 15. During the launching of the first #ProtectWildlife campaign, in 2019, each member of the local community involved in the Green project was offered a T-shirt highlighting our flag species and the threat to it.
1
European Association of Zoos and Aquaria
Image 16. The Divisional Delegate of the Ministry or Arts and Culture unveiled the billboard highlighting the threats to the African grey parrots during the launching of the first #ProtectWildife campaign
Image 17. In 2020, one of the 10 billboards of the new #ProtectWildlife campaign promoting the work done in Limbe to save the endangered African grey parrots.
Image 18. Cameroonian artist Toh Bright’s original artwork depicts in 3 panels the consequences of poaching, the rehabilitation work of the LWC and the possibility of release of this iconic species.
Replication and scaling up of the programme at national scale o In 2020, we organized a meeting with the conservators of 4 protected areas and their NGO partners (ZSL, WWF, AWF and Pandrillus) to draft the strategy of the national rehabilitation and release programme o Visited 2 potential release sites (Lake Ossa Wildlife Reserve and Campo Ma’an National Park) and assessed the feasibility to set a soft release and tracking programme
Image 19. The meeting in Edea brought representatives of the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife (Limbe Zoological Garden/Limbe Wildlife Centre, Lake Ossa Wildlife Reserve, Douala-Edea National Park and Campo Ma’an National Park), as well as partner conservation NGOs (Zoological Society of London, African Wildlife Foundation, World Wildlife Fund and Pandrillus) and a bird expert.
Image 20. Our team worked with Bagyeli pygmies from Njamabande, near Campo Ma’an National Park and assessed the existence of local African grey parrot populations and suitability to replicate the soft-release.
Image 21. One African grey parrot was
Image 22. The population of African grey
spotted near its nest in Njamabande, near Campo Ma’an National Park.
parrot around the Campo Ma’an National Park seems large and needs protection.
MEDIA COVERAGE Reuters online report Reuters documentary France 24 documentary AfricaNews documentary Deutsche Welle documentary Deutsche Welle social media Le Monde Afrique newspaper BBC World Service Newsday And many local media 1. TV report: Limbe Protect Wildlife Campaign Launched, Canal 2 International, presented by Environmental Journalist, Regina Leke Tandag 2. Newspaper: Pandrillus, Da Nzimbistic Cultural Center launch Protect Wildlife Campaign in Limbe, The Star Newspaper, 20th of May 2019, by Solomon Agboren 3. Online report: Cameroun – Environnement. Une nouvelle ere pour la protection de la faune est-elle a l’horizon au Cameroun ? Le cas de Limbe, Cameroun24.net, 27th May 2019 4. Newspaper: Nzimbistic Cultural Center Launches Change Behavior Campaign To Conserve Nature, The Sun Cameroon, 28th May 2019, by Simon Ndive Kalla 5. Online report: Rescuing African Grey Parrots, Guest Blog, Born Free 6. Online report: Ground-Breaking New Campaign Encourages Wildlife Protection In Cameroon, News, Born Free 7. Hartlep 8. TV report: Limbe Wildlife Centre protège notre biodiversité, Publi Infos, Canal 2 Internation, 7th of June 2019, by Junior Haussin & Marius Kuossu 9. Online report: Wildlife law enforcement leaders honored at CITES, Animal Welfare Institute, 20th of August 2019 10. Online report: Limbe Wildlife Centre wins prestigious award in Geneva, The Post, 26th of August 2019 11. Newspaper: Limbe Wildlife Centre wins Clark R. Bavin Wildlife Law Enforcement Award in Switzerland, The Star, 2nd of September 2019 12. Newspaper: Limbe Wildlife Centre wins an international award, celebrates 25th anniversary, The Guardian Post, 17th September 2019 13. TV & Radio: Un quart de siècle de partenariat entre la Fondation Pandrillus et MINFOF pour la protection des espèces fauniques menacées d’extinction, CRTV News, 14th September 2019 14. Newspaper: Limbe Wildlife Centre cements role in rescue, rehabilitation of endangered African grey parrots, The Star, 11th November 2019
15. Newspaper: Traffic of endangered animal species on the rise in Bakassi, The Guardian Post, 28th November 2019 16. Newspaper: Limbe Wildlife Centre rescues 84 endangered African grey parrots, The Sun, 30th November 2019 17. Newspaper: Limbe Wildlife Centre: Last hope for endangered African grey parrots, The Star, 9th December 2019
Conservation strategies
OUR APPROACH to the African grey parrot conservation in Cameroon is based on the gaps identified by both the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and include 3 components: I. Animal welfare, rehabilitation and release II. In-situ conservation & wildlife monitoring III. Education and awareness THE LONG-TERM STRATEGY of the AGPs Conservation Programme aims at: A) Strengthening the capacities of the government to reach excellence in managing African grey parrots rescued from illegal wildlife trade and to effectively support law enforcement, B) Conducting innovative education campaigns to increase public interest, share positive success stories with the government, the local and international communities and create a momentum to instigate a change of behavior and increase national support and engagement; and C) Enhancing the protection and conservation of the African grey parrots and their habitats and creating a network of engaged public, private and community stakeholders.
