Sunday, April 22, 2007

Brad Pitt give us some money will ya?

Two of the resident chimps have been having a terrible time of it at the moment. The seemingly malaria epidemic we are having has started effecting the other groups. Which is a major problem as administering medication 3 times a day for 7 days to the older chimps is a tad difficult. The workers go in with the group Pendeza is in, but catching her would be a nightmare 21 times. They learn after the first time so there would be no chance. And Shantale, in with the bigger guys is a complete no go as nobody ever goes in there.
So solitary confinement was the only option. Pendeza was fairly easy to anaesthetize and remove, but Shantale more tricky. Firstly she was hidden out of sight so we had no idea what condition she was in. Thankfully she was in the smaller room on her own, easier to remove- until two of her mates, Salamabila and Biega realised what was about to happen, dragged her through two enclosures and stood round guarding her. Clever buggers. Eventually she was anaesthetized and taken out, with minimal disturbances. Only Kytoko ended up in the group next door for a day or two, but then she was pining for her friends so she went back into her own group with ease.
So Brad, this is where we could do with a dollar or two. The two girls are in cages maybe 1m x 1m, 24 hours a day for 8 days. We simply do not have the facilities to house the sick animals away from the others to treat properly. It is heartbreaking to see them in the cages, but we have no choice if they are to get better. Halfway through and they are both still surviving. I’m sure they’ve been through worse, and they’ll be back with their buddies soon.
The cages are well wrong though. I think they’re from when the centre used to do research- they have a kind of false wall at the back with metal poles attached that come out at the front, I assume so the animal can be flattened against the front of the cage to administer whatever gruesome things they used to give them back in the day.
But soon once we have our millions we will have the proper facilities!!!

Torture Cages



Friday, April 20, 2007

Tess: Sweet Dreams

All but two of the needed hammocks are up now- Cherif can no longer steal all the hay from Gentil as they have a snugly fitting hammock each, and the 7 babies have 5 between them- all sleeping in the sky except Kanabiro and Muhungu. I think it is the princess’s wish to be up with the rest, but here adopted baby bro won’t let her go up and she’s just not strong enough to carry him all the way up there!

After the sliding door between the dormitory and feeding area of the bigger chimps broke, it was decided drastic action was needed. (The result being that the workers were unable to clean 3 enclosures. After a daring move on part of a couple of workers, the door was held to and fixed from the inside temporaily. The plan now is for the 7 chimps there to live with the two big chiefs for 4 days to fix their room properly. (The 7 chimps can go inside with the big guys during the day but feed and sleep in a different room.) They will all sleep and eat together for 4 days and 4 nights…. So far the sleeping is going ok, the extra hammocks are up and they’ve all been sleeping peacefully. The next stage is to see if the big guys will allow the others to eat in their territory….

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Tess: Home sweet home…

19-04-07

We FINALLY have our house! Not tomorrow, not next week… we have it! We even have the keys! After all the deliberation for months, the tenant has finally moved out and we are able to begin our move. It turns out we got that house because the director of the CRSN has an ongoing tiff with the tenant (who workes for CRSN) so decided to move him to another house!
So the garden is gorgeous, with orange and papaye trees, some weird plant that has flowers like those paper Chinese laterns, perfect for sundowners are barbeques!
The living room is great, nice and spacious, open fireplace, wooden beams…. But as for the rest of the house…. Kinda smells like someone doesn’t know how to use a toilet properly…. Or maybe likes to get wasted and can’t find the toilet so urinates in every room in the house….. so the rest if it stinks like pee pee!!
But once it’s all fixed up it will be lovely. There’s a nice spot out back we can use for new arrivals and a quarantine area which is really useful. There are some major repairs to be done, but we won’t get the money for that for a while. But maybe we can move into it beforehand. It will be so nice to move out of the guesthouse into our own house!

The new abode



Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Tess: Departing is sweet sorrow

Nicole is no more! Or at least in Congo…. After a fabulous 8 months living in each others pockets, Nic has returned to Europe to do some fundraising for the sanctuary. Hopefully she’ll be ace at it as she wants to be out of Germany before the cold weather sets in!
And the Ozzies have left! Everyone is leaving! Now I really should start to learn French as there are no English speakers left, I’m on me tod in that department!
Thank you guys for all your help, it was fantastic to have you here. Even though it was a short time your presence was felt greatly (and will be missed greatly), the insights and improvements you made have and will continue to make such a difference. And hopefully we’ll see you again sometime in the future so you can see the changes that will be made! Thank you again, you were all chuffin’ great!!
(And mama loved the t-shirts girls, she was over the moon!)
Balume is still over the moon with his books, but has still failed to say easy lion to me yet! I have decided the reason I should speak English instead of learning French, is to aid Balume in his quest to improve his English. (yesss, now I have a reason not to learn!)

The two baboons housed together have settled down completely with each other, with Yoga cradling the youngster like a mother would a new born, very touching! If it wasn’t enough fun and games having the big space to run around in, more adventures were to be had. One of our ever so competent workers left the padlock open so the guys surprise surprise, escaped! Jumping Ball (we are still yet to recall his name in Swahili) was returned promptly to his enclosure, but Yoga was having none of it and stayed out playing all afternoon. After an unsatisfied appetite he came crawling back thankfully!
The roof of their enclosure is slowly but surely being finished- it is all bought and paid for, it’s just the lack of electricity that is preventing the welders from finishes the final touches!

Nic's Last Day



Thursday, April 12, 2007

Tess: Two down, two to go

So while I was in Goma having the time of my life for the weekend finding a passionate hatred for the French, especially a certain male… (it was cack, now it’s ok, after he stopped being a plonker!) the youngest baboon was moved to the remaining long enclosure. His name is Jumping Ball in Swahili but I have no idea what jumping ball in Swahili is…. He seemed to be having the time of his life with all the space, and a few days later he was joined by Yoga, an older yellow baboon male. (The other 3 are olive baboons.) After a bit of over the top play fighting and a lot of submissivity (don’t think that is actually a word… submissiveness?) from Jumping Ball, and Yoga trying to be boss but not quite sure how, the guys have settled into their roles and are both have a great time in each other’s company. Once the roof has been reinforced and Joy (the only female) has taken the pill for long enough to ensure no pregnancy will occur, her and the remaining male will join the troop. Unfortunately Joy has wised up to the administering of the pill, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to get down her neck! As with the mangabey, she analyses every morsel of food to check it doesn’t have a little white pill in it…. But hopefully we should be getting implants soon from Spain…maybe….

The new Baboon Enclosure



Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Tess: Ozzie Improvements

Fresh blood! The first weekend in April saw the arrival of 4 Australians from Taronga Zoo in Sydney, here to help out for a couple of weeks, giving us a fantastic donation and 20 well needed hammocks for the chimps to sleep in. Simon, Simon, Simon and Simon (ok there were only two), appropriately nicknamed Brownie and Duffy to reduce confusion, along with Mikalie and Rochel (sorry guys if I’ve spelt your names wrong!) have been a fantastic help around the place since they arrived; enriching the pitiful cages of the monkeys, creating essential water containers for both chimps and monkeys, rescuing the tortoises from the dirt rotten dank cages in the lab (both which are still alive and have not been stolen you’ll be happy to know!)
With the financial help they provided, we were able to start construction on the roof for the baboon enclosure, which will reduce the single cages down to 6 once the four baboons move. We have also been able to complete double doors for the 3 remaining chimps enclosures…. Definitely essential, I’m sure it will only be a matter of time before the older chimps escape with the workers’ track records of understanding the mechanisms of a padlock!
I think the younger chimps appreciated their new toys when the guys went in to play, 4 sets of new ankles for Gari to bite and 4 more new necks for Baheni to smother in hugs and kisses! They were also able to go into the forest more frequently with the extra hands, where Brownie got more than he bargained for when Felista and Baheni had a tournament to see who could draw the most blood, after which the ants decided they would join in the fun!

The Guys



Thursday, April 5, 2007

Tess: Pablo Piscasso

Yesterday saw the arrival of a new chimp, possibly a bonobo from the way he looks. He came from Monuc, who bought him a few days before because they felt he should be somewhere better…. Their hearts are in the right place but they really need to stop doing that…. It will just encourage the poacher to go and capture more and boost the trade….
So anyway, he was called Laurent, he is now Laurent Pablo. He is skinny as ever with high little patellas sticking right out. From the vocalisation it has been established he’s a chimp, so he will be staying with us, not going to the bonobo sanctuary. He is another sufferer of malaria, but once he is better he is sure to start putting some weight on, we hope!

Pablo on Arrival


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