Born Free

Category: Lilongwe Wildlife Centre | Date: Sep 22 2009 | By: bornfree

Over the past few weeks there has been a major change to the management of the Reintroduction Program. Andrea Durcik has now left the project and returned back to the States, I would like to wish her well and good luck with all her future endeavours. The project and now appointed myself, Andrea Donaldson and my partner, Keith Thompson in her place. I bring with me 10 years of primate experience, working with wild monkeys in Vietnam, Kenya and Honduras, as well as captive knowledge of rehabilitating ex-pet monkeys. Keith adds many years knowledge of project and business management and between us we make a strong team; that hope to propel the project to the next level.

More importantly, Titans troop have gone from strength to strength. In recent weeks the troop has relocated to a new sleeping site, this is an ideal location and a very good choice on Titans behalf. The new site gives them access to water, a hard commodity to find in the current dry season; a good food supply and incorporates densely leafed trees providing an excellent vantage point for scanning for leopards and hiding the smaller individuals from birds of prey.

Keith and I are slowly getting to know the 10 vervet monkeys and their personality traits; and are loving every minute of it. In the coming weeks and months however, we plan to allow the monkeys to hone their wild skills away from the security of our watchful eyes, giving them a few hours a day of alone time. The time has come to begin planning the next reintroduction of baboons and the first task to complete is to locate an excellent release site.

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Category: Lilongwe Wildlife Centre | Date: Sep 18 2009 | By: bornfree

Today was a very exciting day for the research team…we received a solar panel unit, generously donated by Paul Marray from SLC Partners in the UK. This unit will allow us the ability to charge all project equipment. We can now operate more efficiently and the overall safety of the team has greatly improved, as in the past we often had to make do without radios or mobile phones if the batteries had gone and we could not find a place to re-charge them. It will also hopefully assist in allowing the team to have internet access from the field, which will help immensely in all our communication aspects. And will mean more frequent blog updates from myself, keeping you all up-to-date on all events happening out here in the bush!

We would like to sincerely thank Carol Cutler for sponsoring Harpo, Greg Foley for sponsoring Mercy, the Capita HBU project team for sponsoring John Jenkins, the Capita HBU Management team for sponsoring Drama Dan, and SLC Partners for sponsoring JC. The entire research team is grateful for this gift of power!

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Category: Born Free, Lilongwe Wildlife Centre | Date: Sep 16 2009 | By: bornfree

It’s been a long time since we last updated you on the progress of the troop of baboons released last December. This has partly been because of personnel changes at the project, but also because the team have been enduring a tough time of late, and all available time has had to go into intense monitoring efforts.

Sadly, since the last blog from the release team, at which point the troop were adapting well to their new life in the wild, we have lost several individuals from Jack’s troop. Chris and Najinga were found dead just near their sleeping sites, presumed to have been killed by leopard. In addition, three other individuals (Nina, Ali & Bob John) have also disappeared from Jack’s troop, and have not been sighted among Zenus’ troop, the wild baboon troop in the area. Jack, Brenda, Becky and Ruth have not been seen since May 11th, leaving their whereabouts a mystery, though it is hoped they have simply moved to another area of the park, beyond the range of the monitoring team’s equipment.

Following such disruption to Jack’s troop, only Mandy could be found with Eddie, who had sustained a very deep flesh wound on his back right leg. After consultation with the Wildlife Centre’s vet it was decided that Eddie would have great difficulty surviving in the wild if his wound were left unattended. On June 6th both Eddie and Mandy were removed from the field and brought back to the Wildlife Centre where they are currently residing. Eddie’s wound needed proper treatment in a closed environment and Mandy was extremely vulnerable on her own without any troop members for protection.

The research team’s efforts to relocate the missing members of Jack’s troop continue.

On a more positive note, the Centre began its second release of rescued and rehabilitated monkeys. In late May, Titan’s troop of fifteen vervet monkeys was released into Kasungu National Park, 13km from the baboon release site. Some monkeys raced for the door, springing out of the cages as soon as the gate was lifted. Others were a bit shy, taking their time to venture out into the great expanse of the wild. Within half an hour of the release all monkeys were exploring their new surroundings, ecstatic to be free!

One of the troop’s adult males, named Jimmy, decided to join a wild baboon troop just two days after the release. Jimmy was the alpha male (leader) of the troop until three months before the release, when another male, Titan, took over the leadership position. Understandably, Jimmy has been having a difficult time relating to his group members… let’s face it, it’s embarrassing to be overthrown and lose all your power… how will the ladies ever respect him now? I suspect Jimmy became a little confused about what species he was on release and approached the baboon troop out of desperation to join another troop. Two weeks later though, he was back with his own kind, no doubt still resentful of Titan.

One of the troop’s adult females, Hellena, went off with a wild troop of vervets in the third week of the release. Just six days later, she was back under Titan’s command – presumably missing all the delicious food we were providing for Titan’s troop. During the first eight weeks of each release we provide the monkeys with supplementary food to help ease their transition into their new environment, allowing them time to learn how to cope with finding all of their own food.

Tragically, Michael, one of the sub-adult males in Titan’s troop was found dead a few weeks after release. He was killed by a predator in the park, likely believed to have been a jackal. Michael was the most curious monkey in the group - one of the favourites of the research team. His playful manner and sweet face made it impossible not to love him. Since his death, his best friend, Moses, has been a bit lost without him. Moses can now frequently be found sitting somewhere near the vehicle or research team, intently watching the humans, as if he’s expecting us to tell him how to continue on.

This event is deeply discouraging for everyone here in the field, especially on the tails of the results from the release of Jack’s troop. The research team and Wildlife Centre staff are currently doing all they can to assess what factors are contributing to the deaths, reworking our release protocol so we all can see increases in survival rates. It is expected that a few individuals will die with every release; however, this does not make it any easier to cope with when we find one of our beloved monkeys dead. We will remember Michael fondly.

All other members of the troop are doing well, and continue to enjoy their new found freedom.

Tags: Lilongwe, Malawi, monkey, release, vervet, Wildlife

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Category: EWCP | Date: Sep 08 2009 | By: bornfree

We’ve recently started a Saturday morning soccer club in Dinsho, making use of the sports grounds that the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme donated to the local community with the help of a generous donor.

Every Saturday morning we have around 30 local kids, all under the age of 12, turn up for the match (although the number seems to grow each week!), who then get divided into two opposing teams – EWCP and FZS (the Frankfurt Zoological Society, who also work within the National Park). It’s all terrific fun and rather chaotic, with the all the members of both teams charging after the ball – as you can imagine, the off-side rule does not apply!

Unfortunately EWCP is two games down at the moment, but we’re optimistic of making a comeback soon! While it’s great to get the kids together, keeping them busy on a Saturday and have them playing as a team, the matches also serve to increase EWCP’s presence within the community and encourage the kids to get involved in our activities in and around the National Park. 

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Category: Lunga Luswishi Wildlife Project | Date: Sep 01 2009 | By: bornfree

ZAMBIAN PRESIDENT TURNS TO MUNDA WANDA TRUST AND BORN FREE FOUNDATION TO RESOLVE PRIMATE PROBLEMS

In an unprecedented and much to be welcomed move, the President of Zambia, His Excellency Rupiah Banda, has turned to the Munda Wanga Trust and Born Free Foundation to humanely resolve problems involving primates in and around the grounds of State House.

It is estimated that there are approximately 200 primates involved and the President wanted some of them removed, relocated and released humanely back into the wild so turned to the Munda Wanga Trust and Born Free Foundation’s Lunga Luswishi Wildlife Project to ensure this was done professionally.

The Munda Wanga Trust, which has been working closely with the Born Free Foundation for over five years, and has considerable experience rehabilitating and reintroducing vervet monkeys and yellow baboons into the wild, immediately responded to this Presidential request.  “Clearly, the grounds of State House were becoming overcrowded and some primates were escaping and becoming a nuisance to the Lusaka Golf Course, nearby hotel and local residential properties and embassies in the area.  Naturally, we agreed to assist and the operation is underway” said Bill Thomas OBE, Director of the Trust.

So far, 61 primates have been humanely captured and translocated to Munda Wanga where they are being accommodated, medically assessed and cared for.  The plan is to release as many as possible into the wild as part of integrated social groups.  The primates are prepared for their rehabilitation in a number of ways including predator avoidance training and exposure to naturally occurring fruits and seeds so that they stand the best possible chance of a successful transition to their natural habitat.

“It is obviously incredibly heartening that the President himself has personally taken this humane course of action and that he has turned to the Munda Wanga Trust and Born Free to carry out Operation ‘Shining Example’.  It is a significant vote of confidence in our abilities” said Virginia McKenna OBE, founder of the Born Free Foundation.  “However, it has naturally placed a considerable strain on our resources both human and financial and I urge all those who care about the welfare and the future prospects of these animals, to contact us and support us in whatever way they can.”

The Trust estimates that it will cost approximately US$50,000 to  remove approximately 200 primates from the grounds of State House and see the translocation through to a successful conclusion.

If you would like to donate to this project, please donate in the “Open donation” section to the right of this column stating that you would like to donate to Lunga Luswishi Wildlife Project.  Any funds you are able to offer would be very much appreciated.

Please check back for further updates from Lunga Luswishi Wildlife Project and the progress of Operation “Shining Example”!

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