Monthly Report
December 19
Limbe Wildlife Centre: December 2019 by Guillaume LE FLOHIC Manager (Limbe Wildlife Centre) & Country Director (Pandrillus Cameroon)
Published in January 2020 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 December 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
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Content
DECEMBER 2019 HIGHLIGHTS ACHIEVEMENTS DECEMBER 2019 & OBJECTIVES JANUARY 2020 1. Pandrillus-GoC Partnership| Public Relations| Project Management 2. Infrastructures and development| Material & Equipment 3. Capacity building 4. Community Conservation, Environmental Education & Ecotourism 5. Management of animal population and well-being 6. Rehabilitation and release programme 7. Research, Monitoring & Health Safety rules 8. Communication & Visibility 9. Revenues generated
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6 6 7 7 10 10 11 13 15 16 17
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Foreword
Dear Friends and Supporters, The month of December 2019 was marked, Christmas Eve, by the rescue of another flock of 275 endangered African grey parrots (p. 7, 13-14). These parrots were seized by customs in the Littoral Region and handed to the Limbe Wildlife Centre for care and rehabilitation. We currently have 360 birds under our care with a 6-month rehabilitation period required before release. The budget such a programme requires is 50K USD. That represents an increase of 15% of our total budget, including the subsidies from the Government of Cameroon. This figure also represents 25-30% of the funds raised each year by Pandrillus Cameroon. Without further support, our capacity to offer the best standard of care to the birds and to maintain all the 200 primates and other mammals and reptiles under our protection, is seriously challenged.
We will do our utmost to engage new donors to help us rehabilitate and release these magnificent birds. This essential goal should be the concern of all stakeholders engaged in wildlife conservation in Cameroon and not only a single NGO. Repeated confiscations, unfortunately, evidence the recurrent scourge of wildlife crime in Cameroon. Despite new international regulations, nothing has changed. The reality is that traffickers are well-organised and disregard laws and ethics because they do not face major challenges to their illegal activities. It is rare, in a country plagued by systemic corruption, for perpetrators to be accosted. Resources, expertise and support to wildlife crime investigation are often lacking, meaning that the big fish is rarely identified and brought to justice. There is a need for strong political will and community support to help save the natural
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ecosystems and maintain them in a state of ecological functioning. It is only then that they would sustainably benefit local communities. Only by their preservation can they fulfil their role in the economy, providing essential input to the ecotourism sector. They create opportunities for local biological and conservation jobs, therefore creating a ripe area of interest and a key area for channelling professional curriculums in universities. Last but not least, our ecosystems provide a long-term source of taxes and income for the country. Once more, I would like to congratulate the Cameroonian Customs, and in particular Commandant Philemon Raymond Amougou Owona, for this work well-done. The operation was conducted within the framework of the Operation Halt Illicit Trade, (codenamed Operation Halcomi III) which is often carried out in collaboration with other government ministries and departments. The seizure of the 275 parrots was done along with 600kgs of pangolin scales, just as last time. This record seizure will hopefully lead to more investigations and
arrests, and to more fines to be collected and paid into the state treasury. Let’s just hope that the real culprits will not stay unpunished once more. We need some introspection – how much does Cameroon value its natural treasure? We ought to appreciate its importance in the light of the upcoming prosecution and judiciary processes. Besides this news, two major construction projects were achieved this month (p. 7-9). Contraceptive implants were placed in our female gorillas (p. 12), Chimpanzee Chinoise completed social integration (p. 13-14) and several other group recompositions were made. The preparation for the Christmas holidays was successfully achieved (p. 10-11)!... Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2020!
Thank you as always for your unfailing support,
With very best wishes, Limbe, 31 December 2019
Guillaume LE FLOHIC LWC Manager, Pandrillus Foundation
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December 2019 Highlights
□ Customs-MINFOF-Pandrillus joint efforts to confiscate and rescue 275 endangered African grey parrots □ Completed the construction of the new bridge □ Installed a bamboo fence along the visitor path to enhance wildlife privacy and welfare □ Completed the analysis of the data collected on our gorilla’s groups and designed the map to divide and reenrich the large gorilla, in partnership with AKONGO | Wildlife connection □ Media coverage: 1 local report made
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Achievements December 2019 & Objectives January 2020 1. Pandrillus-GoC Partnership| Public Relations| Project Management □ Customs-MINFOF-Pandrillus joint efforts to confiscate and rescue 275 endangered African grey parrots
January 2020 objectives: □ Validate internal rules and regulations (pending) □ Staff self-assessment and annual performance review
2. Infrastructures and development| Material & Equipment □ Completed the construction of the new bridge (Images 1-6) □ Installed a bamboo fence along the visitor path to serve as a visual barrier to enhance wildlife privacy and welfare and to improve the LWC’s aesthetic and visit quality (Images 7-14) □ Maintained the Gorilla 1 electric fence
Image 1. Preparation and installation of the Image 2. The second beam of the new second metal beam of the bridge into its bridge on its position. position.
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Image 3. Crafting of barriers metal pipe and welding of the new bridge.
Image 4. The second layer of painting and concreting of the slope of the new bridge.
Image 5. Final concreting of the slope to the new bridge.
Image 6. Final view of finish work of the new bridge
Image 7. Planting and painting of metal pipe along the visitor path.
Image 8. Setting up bamboo at the Olive baboon section.
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Image 9. Concreting a viewpoint for the youngest visitors.
Image 10. Installing a barrier on the viewpoint for visitors.
Image 11. Baboon section screen finished.
Image 12. Covering a portion of the guenon cage with bamboo.
Image 13. Gorilla G2 and Guenon section bamboo screen finished and reducing stress.
Image 14. Drill and Baboon section bamboo screen finished and increase animal welfare and privacy.
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January 2020 objectives: □ Complete the building of the new quarantine cages □ Start the re-structuration of the chimpanzee Special Care and Rehabilitation Section
3. Capacity building □ Continue the new manual of standard operation procedures (SOP) for the African grey parrots
January 2020 objectives: □ Continue with the above ongoing activities □ Organise monthly staff workshop: Why the Protect Wildlife Campaign in Limbe? Outcomes, partners and future steps, by Cyril Delfosse (Pandrillus Community Awareness & Education Programme Coordinator)
4. Community Conservation, Environmental Education & Ecotourism □ Saturday Nature Club: 2019-2020 Nature Club continued: 648 kids registered; monthly attendance: 573 kids (Images 15-16). Sessions:
- Monkey World Day (Treasure Hunt): 148 attendees, 79 new kids. - Medicinal plants (Discoerving plants of the Botanical Garden): 250 attendees, 112 new kids. - Christmas party (Decoration of the Christmas tree & Dancing and Singing): 175 attendees, 37 new kids. □ School outreach programme: Continued the 2019-2020 programme: 10 schools, 24 classes and 1,488 school children; monthly efforts: 41 men.hours. □ Community-based Green Economy: 15 ex-hunter members sustainably harvesting wild herbaceous plants: 799.5 kg of Aframomum stems and 452kg of Costus stems; 35 women members harvesting crop by-product: 1,023kg of cassava leaves, 3,613kg
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of papaya leaves, 2,763kg of potato leaves, 424kg of invasive Trumpet wood shoots, corresponding to 95 trees hand-cut; 955,340 XAF (€1,459) paid directly to the local community association this month; 11,598,765 XAF (€17,708) contributed to alleviate local poverty in 2019.
Image 15. Decoration of the Christmas Tree Image 16. Kids of 3 to 15 years old were during the last Saturday Nature Club of the very proud of their Christmas tree: year! creativity, artistic expression and a lot of fun on this magical day!
January 2020 objectives: □ Continue with ongoing programs
5. Management of animal population and well-being Ongoing activities □ Maintained frequency and diversity of enrichments in each section
Specific activities □ Mona & Putty-nosed monkeys: Recompose two species-specific guenon group and separated Mona monkeys from Putty-nosed monkeys □ Chimpanzee: Integrated Ghaa with females Ngambe and Mayos within the Chimpanzee Special Care and Rehabilitation Section (formerly know as Chimp Nursery) (Images 17a&b)
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□ Vet cares (January 2020): ◌ 33 Primate individuals treated; 8 anaesthesia performed; 18 individuals sampled (5 blood samples for haematology analysis, 17 faecal samples for coprology analysis); 7 contraceptions; 0 identification with microchip; 1 laceration repair; 0 major surgery; 33 drug therapies: 26% dietary supplements, 22%
anti-inflammatories,
21% antibiotics, 16%
antiparasitics, 11%
arthritis
supplements, 5% fluid therapy, 0% others; 4 health checks: Western lowland gorilla (4); 1 death: Drill (adult male Tizi, metastasized skin cancer with secondary septicemia); 0 euthanasia ◌ African grey parrots: 327 individuals received antibiotic treatment and multivitamins added to drinking water; 10 individuals received intensive care treatment with 3rd generation antibiotic treatment, anti-inflammatories and supportive treatment; 27 deaths
Image 17a&b. After months of positive reinforcement training conducted with Ngambe to help her develop her social skills with Mayos, Ghaa, the handicapped adult male, was successfully integrated to both females. The three disabled individuals are now forming the new group in the Chimpanzee Special Care and Rehabilitation Section. Now that the group is stable and cohesive, we will begin the renovation and improvement on the enclosure. January 2020 objectives: □ Continue with the ongoing activities □ Putty-nosed monkey: Integrate Eboti and Tanyi to the Putty-nosedmonkey group □ Vet cares: General health checks: African grey parrots (40+); Contraception: Drills
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6. Rehabilitation and release programme Arrival & quarantine □ Rescued 275 African grey parrots (Images 18-21)
Behavioural rehabilitation □ None
Social rehabilitation □ African grey parrot: Introduced 14 individuals to the group of 15 in the new rehabilitation aviary (Image 22) □ Chimpanzee: Continued the social integration of Chinoise (subadult female) into the Mainland group: introduced to dominant female Papaya (Image 23)
Release (ecological & environmental rehabilitation) □ None
Image 18. The parrots were crammed by Image 19. 14 individuals were already 55 individuals by 75x125x17cm 3. This dead in the boxes corresponds to a density of 345 individuals by cubic meter!!
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Image 20. The team worked 2h30 to Image 21. The quarantine cages were check, treat and sort out all 261 enriched and prepared to optimize the individuals that survived by classes of age quality of the parrots’ settlement. and conditions
Image 22. Fourteen healthy individuals from the November rescue were successfully transferred to the new aviary, bringing the size of the group to 29 individuals. In the next few weeks, more individuals will integrate the aviary in view of a future release.
Image 23. Chinoise was successfully introduced to dominant female Papaya and created a strong bond which is going to be pivotal for the future integration to the rest of the Mainland group.
January 2020 objectives: □ African Grey Parrots: Continue the rehabilitation process of the rescued individuals □ Chimpanzee: Continue social integration of Chinoise (subadult female) into the Mainland group
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7. Research, Monitoring & Health Safety rules Ongoing activities □ Continued the scientifically-sound behavioural monitoring of the Mainland chimpanzees to assess the group cohesion and individual welfare before, during and after social integration of Chinoise (subadult female) □ Continued the thorough assessment of the health and welfare of rescued African Grey Parrot during rehabilitation □ Continued to build the dataset of haematological analysis performed during general health checks in order to analyse the standard values for the endangered Drill
Activity achievement □ Completed the design of the map to divide and re-enrich the large gorilla enclosure based on the behavioural data analysis, in partnership with AKONGO | Wildlife connection (www.akongo.fr)
Data analysis □ Completed the analysis of the data collected on our gorilla’s groups, in partnership with AKONGO | Wildlife connection (www.akongo.fr) (Images 24-25)
Image 24. Map of space use by Benito’s Image 25. The study was divided into group within the enclosure. Area preferred two phases. In Phase 2, the group of includes proximity to mango trees for Benito, which showed the highest level
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shade and fruits (down left in A2 and right in C2), and the platform (larger dark spot in B1). Benito’s group also spent time in proximity to the cage because of the presence of the other gorillas and when time is close to feeding time.
of stress and stereotypy in phase 1, was allowed to go out once more each week. As a result, the rate of stereotypical behaviours significantly decreased, especially for Adjibolo, who, in the meantime, recovered back to her normal healthy condition.
January 2020 objectives: □ Continue with the above ongoing activities
8. Communication & Visibility □ Digital communication (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter): December was a bit slower on social media as it was a very busy month for our staff at the Centre but all platforms continued to grow steadily nonetheless: total reach on posts was 47,455. □ Media coverage: 1 local report made Several reports highlighted the critical role played in Cameroon by the Limbe Wildlife Centre to preserve the endangered African grey parrot: o Newspaper: Limbe Wildlife Centre: Last hope for endangered African grey parrots, The Star, 9th December 2019
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January 2020 objectives: □ Continue advocating the missions of the LWC within the Central African Conservation Landscape in Cameroon
9. Revenues generated □ Entrance fees (December 2019): XAF 1,826,100 (4,172 visitors; 42% children, 99% Cameroonians) 5000 4500 4000 3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 Dec-18 Jan-19 Feb-19 Mar-19 Apr-19 May-19 Jun-19 Adult Nationals
Children Nationals
Jul-19
Aug-19 Sep-19 Oct-19 Nov-19 Dec-19
Adult Foreigners
Children Foreigners
Figure 1.Visitor statistics December 2018- December 2019
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