Monthly Report
April 19
Limbe Wildlife Centre: April 2019 by Guillaume LE FLOHIC Manager (Limbe Wildlife Centre) & Country Director (Pandrillus Cameroon)
Published inMay 2019 Limbe Wildlife Centre, P.O. Box 878, Limbe, Republic of Cameroon
Limbe Wildlife Centre is a collaborative effort between the 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 May which regulates all forestry, wildlife and fisheries activities
guillaume@limbewildlife.org limbewildlifecentre
+237 681 991 590 limbewildlife
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limbewildlife.org limbewildlife
Monthly Report
April 19
Content
FOREWORD APRIL 2019 HIGHLIGHTS ACHIEVEMENTS APRIL 2019 & OBJECTIVES MAY 2019 1. Pandrillus-GoC Partnership| Public Relations| Project Management 2. Infrastructures and development 3. Material & Equipment 4. Capacity building 5. Conservation and Environmental Education 6. Constituency for conservation 7. Conservation ecotourism 8. Management of animal population and well-being 9. Rehabilitation and release programme 10. Research, Monitoring & Health Safety rules 11. Communication & Visibility 12. Revenues generated
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April 19
Foreword
Dear Friends and Supporters, I would like to start by taking this opportunity to thank our motivated team that we built up in the past months. We are lucky to have several talented and committed professionals who are providing invaluable support and technical assistance across several departments including education, research and monitoring, veterinary, animal care, communication, and finance and administration. This additional expertise on site allows us to spend more time to engage key stakeholders to gather momentum for our mission and, therefore, to push harder to develop our projects (p. 7). The urgency of the situation with regards to biodiversity loss in Cameroon certainly requires it. In addition to continuing her important data collection on our 15 Western Lowland gorillas, this month our ethologist also
worked with our gorilla team to transfer adult female gorilla Emma to silverback Batek’s group. This is the fourth female to silverback introduction we have done in three years (p. 14 & 16)! This process was aided by our team’s many years of expertise and experience. We will keep monitoring Emma and the group several hours a day until we are certain Emma is fully immersed into the group. Furthermore, we transferred orphan gorilla Bobga to Ape Action Africa, during which time we also welcomed two new two Patas monkeys, Leonie and Coco, to the Limbe Wildlife Centre(p. 14-15). Bobga was accompanied by his primary caregiver KilliMatute who over two weeks helped him settle in and get to know his new caregivers. This successful operation would not have been possible without the strong relationship between the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, Ape ActionAfrica and Pandrillus Cameroon (p. 7).
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In particular, I would like to thank the Minister of Forestry and Wildlife, the Director of Wildlife and Protected Areas and their decentralized collaborators for entrusting bothApe Action Africa and Pandrillus to further build the capacities of the Government of Cameroon to improve the welfare and the management of the captive population of rescued animals in our common mission to protect Cameroon's wildlife. As usual, our construction team, also known as the "team-that-never-rests" started three big projects this month: the new bridge, the new parrot cage and the new chimpanzee mainland structural enrichment (p. 7-9)! Our progress was slow down by a tree fall on the gorilla enclosure, which resulted in serious damages caused to both the fence and the night cage, which required an immediate response from the entire team(p. 7 & 9).
The education team also organised the 5th session of the Batoke Family NatureClub to address the issue of positive and negative impacts of human activity on ecosystem health and functioning (p. 12). The team was also involved representing the Limbe Wildlife Centre in the 6thedition of the Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC), Limbe(p. 18-19). Thanks to our donors, a big highlight this month was that we were able to provide Easter egg enrichment to all our primates. It was also a great opportunity to see the visual obstacles in the drill enclosure be put to use, as the lowest ranking individuals could grab an egg and hide behind it to savour their Easter gift(watch our video)! Thank you for your unfailing support,
With very best wishes, Limbe,30 April 2019
Guillaume LE FLOHIC LWC Manager, Pandrillus Foundation
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April 2019 Highlights
□ Pandrillus Cameroon, Ape Action Africa & the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife worked together to successfully transfer three primates, including gorilla Bobga to Ape Action Africa, 4-5 April □ The Pandrillus Country Director hold a new series of meetings in Yaoundé, 16-18 April □ Started to build the bridge over the second arm of the Limbe River □ Batoke Family Nature Club: Organised the 5th session on the impacts of human activity on ecosystem health and functioning, in partnership with Da Nzimbistic Cultural Centre □ Western Lowland Gorilla: Transferred adult female Emma to silverback Batek □ Western Lowland Gorilla: Juvenile Bobga was transferred to Ape Action Africa □ Limbe Wildlife Centre participated in the 6th edition of the Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC), Limbe
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Achievements April2019&Objectives May 2019 1. Pandrillus-GoCPartnership| Public Relations| Project Management □ Pandrillus Cameroon, Ape Action Africa & the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife worked together to successfully transfer three individuals between the two high standard rehabilitation centres, 4-5 April (see also pages 14-15) □ The PandrillusCountry Director hold a new series of meetings in Yaoundé to explain the future activities of Pandrillus to assist and support the national goals for the sustainable development of Cameroon through capacity building of public services and further education and awareness efforts, 16-18April
May 2019 objectives: □ Validate internal rules and regulations (pending) □ CompleteIndividual performance review (pending)
2. Infrastructures and development □ Started to build the bridge over the second arm of the Limbe River (Images 1-6) □ Maintained the electric fence and sliding door that were heavily damaged by a falling tree inside gorilla Arno’s enclosure (Images 7-8) □ Set up of visual barrier screen for female gorilla Emma’s transfer from silverback Chella’s group to silverback Batek’s group (Image 9) □ Maintained water supply in the Olive baboon and Drill enclosure (Image 10) □ Started the construction of the new chimpanzee mainland structural enrichment: transferred the metal staircase inside the enclosure □ Started the positioning of the foundations of the new African grey parrot aviary and pathway to it (Images11-12)
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Image 1. Crafting of the middle pillar for the Image 2. Preparation of planks for the new bridge. concrete box for the new bridge.
Image 3. Four pipes were inserted 1.2m Image 4. Welding the main pillar rod deep into the ground before attaching the to the round pipe for the new bridge. pillar on it for the new bridge.
Image 5. Concreting of the first pillar level Image 6. Final view of the middle pillar high of 1.5m for the new bridge. for the new bridge.
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Image 7. Cutting off branches of the tree Image 8. Final view of the maintained that fell on the gorilla Arno’s enclosure. electric fence of Arno’s enclosure.
Image 9. Setting up plywood to serve as a Image 10. Replacement of the stop visual obstacle and facilitate Emma’s valve that supplies water to the Olive integration process. baboon enclosure.
Image 11. Beginning to lay the foundations Image 12. Clearing and collecting of for the African Grey Parrot rehabilitation rocks to use for laying the concrete aviary. path to African Grey Parrot rehabilitation aviary.
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May 2019 objectives: □ Complete the re-enrichment Red-capped mangabey enclosures (pending) □ Continue the construction of the bridge over the second arm of the Limbe River □ Continue the foundations of the new African grey parrot aviary
3. Material & Equipment □ None
May 2019 objectives: □ None
4. Capacity building Ongoing activities □ Empowered our vet nurse at capturing veterinary records in our database □ Empowered our vet nurse at monitoring and enforcing the new daily enrichment schedule
Specific activities □ Monthly Workshop: How to enhance our enrichment program to improve animal welfare?,by TanaOssombaMaterle Thierry (Vet nurse)and Fiona La Mendola (Assistant Animal Welfare and Population Manager) (Images13-14)
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Image 13. Fiona La Mendola, on the left, explained our new enrichment program to enhance the welfare of our animals with the volunteers and the staff. TanaOssombaMaterle Thierry and she also re-emphasized that enriching the animals is a daily effort that the caretakers have to make to maintain the high standards of rehabilitation and care.
Image 14. The new daily enrichment schedule is implemented strictly following our new enrichment Handbook. We are grateful to all the passionate volunteers who contributed to elaborate that key document.
May 2019 objectives: □ Continue with the above ongoing activities □ Organise the monthly staff workshop: How to identify and characterize Drills based on physical criteria following observational protocol to enhance individual monitoring and group management, by NoéCampagne (Technical assistant for the Drill population)
5. Conservation and Environmental Education □ Nature's Club:Continued the 2018-2019 programme: 111 kids registered; monthly effort: 52children.days NB: due to the security context in April in the South-West regions, the attendance in the Saturday Nature Club was very low
□ School outreach programme: Ended the 2018-2019 programme:9.5men.hrs, covering 10schools, 21 classes, and 1,023students (Images15a&b)
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□ Batoke’s Family Nature Club: Organised the fifth session on the 9th April on the positive and negative impacts of human activity on ecosystem health and functioning, in partnership with Da Zimbistic Cultural Centre:25 families, 93 participants (74% females, 23 children between 4 and 17 years old (25%), 67% of community members not involved in the Green Project) (Images16-17)
Images15a&b. We are always glad to see how curious and enthusiastic our schoolchildren are when we are speaking about their wildlife and environment. It always gives hope for the future. On the left: GBHS Limbe (6ème Francophone), on the right: Ecole des Champions (Class 4 Anglophone), both taught about the tropical by our educator MbakopBetkeArmel.
Image 16. One of our most engaged participant of the BatokeFamily Nature Club was taught to making bracelets using recycled material. It shows how some human activities can be beneficial to the environment by reducing pollution while offering alternative livelihood opportunities.
Image 17. During this 5thsession of the BatokeFamily Nature Club, we partnered once more with artists of Da Nzimbistic Cultural Centre to teach a song to our participants from the Batoke community. The song highlighted how and why we should contribute to protecting them.
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May 2019 objectives: □ Continue with ongoing programs □ Organise the 6thsession of the BatokeFamily Nature Club □ Organise the end-of-year event for all the 10 schools engaged in our outreach program, 22-24 May 2019
6. Constituency for conservation □ Community-based Green Economy:15 ex-hunter members sustainably harvesting wild herbaceous plants:799.5 kg ofAframomum stems and 652kg of Costus stems; 37women members harvesting crop by-product: 1,000kg of cassava leaves, 3,114kg of papaya leaves, 2,671kg of potato leaves,627kg of invasive Trumpet wood shoots, corresponding to 140trees hand cut; 927,195 XAF (€1,416) paid directly to the local community association this month;3,551,935 XAF (€5,423) contributed to alleviate poverty in 2019.
May 2019 objectives: □ Continue with the ongoing programme
7. Conservation ecotourism □ Continued with the ongoing activities
May 2019 objectives: □ Continue with the ongoing activities
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8. Management of animal population and well-being Ongoing activities □ Maintained frequency and diversity of enrichment in each section □ Implemented the new daily enrichment schedule following the new enrichment Handbook □ Chimpanzee: Continued the new positive reinforcement training plan to improve behavioural and social skills of Ngambe (adult female): stimulated social play behaviours with Mayos (adult handicapped female) Specific activities □ Patas monkeys: 2 females (Leonie and Coco) were transferred from Ape Action Africa to the Limbe Wildlife Centre in view of integrating them into our group in the savannah-dwelling guenon enclosure (Images18&b) □ Western Lowland Gorilla: Juvenile Bobga was transferred to Ape Action Africa in view of integrating a group of gorillas and being released into a large forested enclosure (Images 19a&b) □ Western Lowland Gorilla: Started the 4th step of the long-term population management plan to rebalance the group sizes and increase cohesion: Transferred adult female Emma from silverback Chella’s group to silverback Batekand started integration process with Batek and adult female Pitchou (Images20&b)
□Vet cares (April2019): ◌20 Primate individuals treated; 9 anaesthesia performed; 12 individuals sampled (9 blood samples for haematology analysis, 3 blood samples for biochemistry analysis, 9faecal samples for coprology analysis, 0 exudate sample for microbiology analysis); 2 identification with microchip; 1 minor surgery; 1 laceration repairs; 19 drug therapies: 35% antibiotics, 24% arthritis supplements, 19%
dietary
supplements,
8%
anti-inflammatories,
5%
fluid
therapy,3%
antiparasitics, 6% others; 4 health checks: Drill (4); 2 contraceptions; 1 death: Drill(1: Becky (adult female, over parasitism)); 1 euthanasia: Drill (1: Nancy (senescent adult female, old age))
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Image 18a&b. With a common vision to enhance the management and welfare of the Primate population in rehabilitation in Cameroon, Ape Action Africa (www.apeactionafrica.org) and Pandrillus, were entrusted by the Minister of Forestry and Wildlife to proceed to exchange of individuals. Leonie and Coco, two immature females arrived in the Limbe Wildlife Centre on the 4th of April.
Image 19a&b. The next day, on the 5th of April, a team of the Limbe Wildlife Centre composed of Peggy Motsch (Animal Welfare and Population Manager) and KilliMatute, Bobga’sprimary caretaker, travelled to Ape Action Africa to ensure the stress generated by the travel and the change of environment is reduced to the minimum. Killi spent the next 2 weeks to help Bobga settle in and get to know his new caregivers. That operation shows how important collaboration is key to success in conservation action in Cameroon.
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Image 20a&b. In 2016, we implemented the 3 first steps of the long term population management of our Western Lowland Gorilla population. Three females were successively and successfully introduced to a new silverback: Pitchou to Batek, and Jumbo and then Adjibolo to Benito. This year, we planned the transfer of at least one additional female. Our group recompositions aim at rebalancing the size of the group and at improve the individual well-being and therefore the group cohesion. After few days separated in an adjoining room, Emma was introduced to Pitchou and Batek together, under close monitoring. Our ethologist, AuroreBalaran, worked very closely with our gorilla caretakers, Jonathan Kang, Elias Nghofor and Alfred Bama to ensure all the integration procedures are strictly implemented. In such operation, it is critical the team works as one to follow the methodology to provide food and enrichment in the appropriate way and conduct long hours of observations. After a few days inside the night cage (left), the new group of three went out in the enclosure (right). We are thankful to Aurore, Jonathan, Elias and Bama for their professionalism and dedication in this sensitive operation. May 2019 objectives: □ Continue with the ongoing activities □ Chimpanzee: Continue the new positive reinforcement training plan for Ngambe (adult female) □ Vet cares: General health checks: Drill & African grey parrot; Contraception: Drill; Microchip identification: Drill
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9. Rehabilitation and release programme Arrival & quarantine □ None
Behavioural rehabilitation □Large-spotted Genet: Continued the behavioural rehabilitation of Mbappe: enriched a larger cage and started hunting training with life rodents (Image 21)
Social rehabilitation □ None
Release (ecological & environmental rehabilitation) □ None
Image 21. As part of the behavioural rehabilitation of carnivores, it is critical that young large-spotted Genet Mbappe learns how to hunt life rodents, their main prey in the wild, along with other small mammals, reptiles, birds and invertebrates. After we built a larger and enriched enclosure, we released life rat to stimulate Mbappe’s natural instinct. After a few days of hesitation and failure, he successfully hunted his prey. The progress made by Mbappe were monitored by our Assistant Animal Welfare and Population Manager, Fiona La Mendola, and our Head of Quarantine, KilliMatute.
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May 2019 objectives: □ Large-spotted Genet:Continue the behaviouralrehabilitation of Mbappe
10. Research, Monitoring& Health Safety rules Ongoing activities □ Continued the behavioural study of space use and social relationships in our gorilla’s groups, in partnership with AKONGO | Wildlife connection (www.akongo.fr): observation during the recomposition of groups (see pages 14 & 16)
Activity achievement □ None
Data analysis □ None
May 2019 objectives: □ Continue with the above ongoing activities
11. Communication &Visibility □ Digital communication (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter): Overall reachwas101,116 across all platforms. □ Limbe Wildlife Centre participated in the 6th edition of the Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC), Limbe (Images22-23)
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Image 22. We run a stand at the Festival des Arts et de la Culture. We sold homemade articles from our gift shop, promoting the artisanal work of Cameroonians, and exhibit our education programmes. During one week, a lot of people and kids came to the stand to learn more about our role and engagement in Limbe.
Image 23. Fun activities offered to kids visiting our stand at the Festival of Arts and Culture like face painting, mask drawing and animals recognition game.
May 2019 objectives: â–Ą Continue advocating the missions of the LWC within the Central African Conservation Landscape in Cameroon
12. Revenues generated â–Ą Entrance fees(April2019): 455,900XAF (985visitors; 76% adults,24% children) 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 Apr-18 May-18 Jun-18 Adult Nationals
Jul-18 Aug-18 Sep-18 Oct-18 Nov-18 Dec-18 Jan-19 Feb-19 Mar-19 Apr-19 Children Nationals
Adult Foreigners
Children Foreigners
Figure 1.Visitor statistics April2018-April2019
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