Born Free

After a hard week’s work, Sunday is normally our day of rest, which has recently involved a morning by the pool followed by an afternoon of jazz at a local bar.  But volunteering at a wildlife sanctuary often means that an emergency will pull one or two of us away…not that we are complaining, since that is what we are here for.  Still, we do wonder how it is that we can easily go over a week without any vet work and then all the emergencies fall on a Sunday!

It was an early start alongside resident vet, Richard, and we spent the whole morning in the operating theatre.  We started with the most urgent which was yellow baboon, Cherry, who had been left with a hole in the side of his face after a fight over position of top dog (which he lost).  It was a rather complex job as it had to be stitched up without damage to the cheek pouch, but luckily Richard is a dab hand with a needle and thread.

Then we started on three vervet monkeys who had got into a scuffle with some nasty looking war wounds to show for it.  The first two turned out to be superficial cuts which just needed a clean-up and some antibiotics to guard against infection, but the third, Tsotsi, had to go into theatre to have the tip of his tail amputated.  He already had an old wound which was struggling to heal and had been ripped open in the fight, and in the end amputation was the only option to prevent the spread of infection.  It was only 1 ½ inches that he lost in the end, so he’ll be swinging from the trees in no time.

Next, we had to tend to an injured duiker that had been found stuck in a fence the day before by a scout on the other side of the river.  He was so weak that he hadn’t even tried to struggle so it is very lucky that we found him in time, surely just hours away from death.  Richard had already stitched him up the day before but he needed some vitamins and antibiotics to help him regain his strength and keep any infection at bay.

Finally, an orphaned barn owl arrived who was rather weak and giddy, but luckily hasn’t needed anything beyond a good feed and rest so far.  This is our third barn owl in as many weeks though, so the next big volunteer job is to start building some more aviaries…the work never stops!

If you would like to apply to volunteer at Lilongwe Wildlife Centre please email lilongwewildlife@gmail.com or go to www.lilongwewildlife.org for more information.

By Toni Stansfield, volunteer

Merlin is a very old and wise spotted eagle owl – he is thought to be as old as 15 years.  He was rescued by a lady over a decade ago, when he flew into some pylons and fell down and broke his wing.  Unable to fly she nursed him back to health and he had lived in her garden ever since.  She passed away recently and he was given up to the Wildlife Centre where he can live out his days in our big aviary as he is now too old and tame to fend for himself in the wild.

The only problem is that it seems to be owl season and we have taken in another two barn owls in the last couple of weeks.  Both are presently in quarantine being nursed back to health but we definitely need to build more aviaries to hold them whilst they learn to fly again before, hopefully, being released back into the wild where they belong.

If you would like to sponsor a new aviary then please get in touch – marketing@llwc.org.

Lietl, the civet, does not live in the kitchen; she lives in the spare bedroom.  Or she did until Chris Gordon and Anne Marie Stewart, Directors of the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme, and old friends of mine, came to stay.  That meant the civet’s room reverted to being their room, and my bedroom was adapted to become civet HQ.  There really was not another option: she is too small to cope with the existing facilities at the Rescue Centre; there are too many electrical flexes in the living room, which would be very tempting to gnaw on; the tiled bathroom is too cold; and the kitchen is obviously out – there is a limit to how much I want to share.  But being in my room was not a problem, as long as I was not there. With Chris and Anne Marie in the house they could handle Lietl’s nightly feeds, and I could sleep up at Ensessakotteh, our wildlife rescue centre, for a few nights so as to keep an eye on Kebri, the newly arrived and very traumatised lion cub.  That was Plan A.  Unsurprisingly, it did not work.

On Wednesday, after just one night at Ensessakotteh, we were told of an infant gelada that needed rescuing.  After making sure Kebri had eaten his afternoon feed, I left the Centre and headed back to Addis Ababa to collect the little orphan.  As it turned out, she was neither little nor a gelada.  Rather, she is a hamadryas baboon like Kasanchis, and not much smaller.  I had not expected anything quite so big and lively, but there was nothing else for it but to transport her back home.

Once back at the house/office compound, we got the baboon sorted out and I could enjoy an unexpected night at home, a hot shower and my own bed – not.  I had the shower, but not the bed, or at least not to myself.  I woke up (suddenly!) at around 3am when Lietl decided to bite my eye brow.  Her teeth are too small to do any damage but it was still a rude return from dreamland.  Worse, once I was awake, she was delighted as she then thought she had a play mate… Honestly, the cold of the tent would have been preferable.

So what are the take home messages from this little saga?

• Never believe it when someone says they have a baby of any species that needs rescuing .  Expect an elephant.
• We are at capacity – we need more rescue accommodation now
• Finally, think long and hard before attempting to hand raise a nocturnal animal, and especially an omnivorous one!

After our team helped to extinguish the deadly fires on Mt. Kenya National Park last month, part of the team left for Naivasha for a de-snaring and outreach mission.  The Naivasha area in the Great Rift Valley is one of the most hard-hit bushmeat trade hotspots in Kenya and our teams take every opportunity to pitch camp here.

After the usual catching up with our hosts; the Senior Warden Hell’s Gate National Park Nelly Palmeris, Karen Ndiema the Warden in charge of Naivasha station and the other Kenya Wildlife Service officials in the region, it was time to begin our outreach mission concentrating on the schools in the bushmeat hotspots.

“With a Kenya Wildlife Service vet now based in the Naivasha region, we couldn’t be happier!  We don’t have to wait any longer for a vet from either our Headquarters or the Mara  to come to the aid of our injured  animals, instead,  our interventions  are now based on real time” were some of the Senior Warden’s most reassuring words. Unlike our previous rescues, we knew that we wouldn’t need to wait too long for the vets help.

During one of our patrols we spotted a zebra which was dragging a long copper snare around her neck. Thankfully the snare had not eaten too much into the zebra’s skin although it had already started taking its toll on the poor animal. Within exactly 33 minutes, the vet had joined us and we were all trying to capture the snared zebra which appeared to nearly outrun our two Land Rovers. Ndambiri the KWS vet, who we must say hardly ever misses his target while darting the animals, had the zebra comfortably on the ground and after removing the snare, the zebra was swiftly back with the rest. We then got back to our regular patrols – lifting tens of snares in just a few hours.

Four hours later and about fifteen kilometers away we spotted an adult buffalo with a huge snare around her neck and a young calf in tow. Unlike the zebra’s wounds, the buffalo had already suffered life-threatening injuries from the snare. The vet was again able to re-join us quickly. Treating what is easily the most dangerous animal in Africa is not for the fainthearted!  Even the bravest of our team members betrayed a little tension and more caution than usual. Our driver was particularly alert and was ready to drive to safety.

As we attempted to have the buffalo darted, it seemed like everyone had stories to tell on experiences with buffalos. It took the buffalo a while to go down and once on the ground the vet led us in removing the deadly snare which had almost cost the buffalo’s life and almost certainly the calf’s life too.  The wounds were cleaned and antibiotics given. As we all held the buffalo to the ground to allow the vet to attend to the injuries, it was clear that everybody was on very high alert; tense but determined to give the poor animal a second chance. And sure enough the buffalo was on all fours and reunited with the calf and the other herd members. These are always the moments we shed tears of joy!

“With the support of Animal Rights Reserved Mobile Vet unit in collaboration with KWS the wildlife welfare in the area has received a major boost.We have saved many animals since we settled here in Naivasha early this month (March 2012).” Assured Dr. Ndambiri, the vet in charge of the new team as they work to ease the pain of the long suffering animals.

The rest of the week was busy, particularly after more schools got wind of our now very popular outreach missions. We had to double our efforts in sharing our conservation message with the ever attentive children and teachers. Soon it was again time to bring down our tents having given our contribution to the welfare of our wildlife; a job I would not trade in for anything.

Victor Mutumah- Born Free Kenya

Please make a donation for the work of Born Free Kenya

Zambia Primate Project (ZPP) continues to give freedom back to vervet monkeys in Northern Kafue National Park in Zambia. The sort of freedom where you see monkeys jumping from tall tree to tall tree, branch to branch, moving from one area to another as they choose, eating types of food they are naturally meant to eat.

When releasing into the wild monkeys that have been in captivity for a very long time, we always have our fingers crossed for what is going to happen next in terms of their behaviour, especially on their final day in the holding enclosure.

Let me share with you the story of one of our vervet monkeys in our release troop, called “Ballas”.

Ballas is one of the sub-adult males in the troop. He is very healthy and proving to be strong and shows that he has a good sense of direction.

A week after release from the holding enclosure, we woke up, went to the site where the monkeys were and to our surprise we found that they were scattered. This behaviour was strange because it was the first time we tracked them all at the same position and as we sat there and were trying to figure out what had happened, and whether an animal had tried to attack them, we realised that Ballas was missing from the troop.

We searched around for him for weeks and weeks but to no avail. Ballas only stayed in the wild with the troop for a week. We had lost hope because we knew he didn’t have the jungle skills to survive on his own. The only hope we had was if only he joins a wild troop, learns their behaviour and the foods they eat, he could perhaps survive. At some point we thought maybe he left the troop because he knew he was becoming an adult and knew the competition ahead of him.

Almost two months passed without Ballas, but then, on 28 January, as we were searching for the big troop, joy and smiles were on everyone’s faces. Ballashad joined alpha female Juliet and her babies. We werequite spooked by how easily she accepted himbecause it had been a long time since they saw each other.

His return raised questions about how he found Juliet. Did he mark the area before he left? How did he survive out there and know the right foods to feed on?

He stayed with Juliet and her two babies, Jumanji and Shishamba and we observed their behaviour. Interestingly, Juliet was proving to be the dominant one – whenever they were fed, Ballas would always hide and only come down when Juliet moved away from the food. Sometimes they slept in the same tree and sometimes not. This kind of behaviour continued until Ballas started to be found with another wild monkey which would run every time he saw us.

Ballas was full of surprises. The other morning we went to check on the big troop only to find that Ballas was among them after two solid months. He moved about 800 metres to find the troop. We were surprised that he was accepted into the troop without problems because it is known thatvervet monkeys commonly reject troop members who stay away for a long time. We think this exception occurred because Ballas was a sub-adult and that he isn’t much of a threat to the adult males’ status.

Clearly,vervet monkeys have a great sense of direction and that no matter how long a monkey has been in captivity, we can never doubt how quickly they learn and adapt.Having survived all along on the jugnle, Ballas is now living happily with the troop again.

Caribou Siansundi Researcher, Zambia Primate Project

To find out about volunteer opportunities in Zambia, visit: www.bornfree.org.uk/get-involved/voluntary-work/overseas/

Make a donation to the Zambia Primate Project here>

Major and General, the two lions we rescued from the Army Barracks in Harar last November, have completely settled in to life at Ensessakotteh.  The first couple of months were tough.  They growled frequently at us, and would often snap, snarl and swipe at each other, just as we saw them doing in Harar.  But, finally, the peace and space of the Rescue Centre calmed them down.

HararLions before rescue_25Oct2011

These days they spend most of their time lying in the sun, in the middle of their enclosure, or else they drape themselves over one of the rocks so they can look out over the view.  There is no sign of the tension that they showed when they first arrived.  Where once they would have met each other with claws and teeth, they now head rub and lie side by side. We can even stand alongside the fence without worrying that we are disturbing them; they just calmly watch us.  Undoubtedly, they feel safe and secure in their surroundings; how different from the angry, fearful beasts they were in Harar?

Harar_Feb12_02_Major

Harar_Feb12_04_General

They can’t say thank you, but I can.  The years in their old barren, stone cage are a lifetime away.  Your generosity has given these two magnificent lions a new life and, by all appearances, it is one they love.  Dare I say, it is almost as if they were born to it?

Stephen Brend

In recent days, a dangerous bush fire has broken out in Mount Kenya Forest, located in central Kenya.  According to The Nation newspaper, the fire has consumed thousands of hectares of the forest and killing unknown numbers of wildlife. In response to this unfolding tragedy, Born Free Kenya sent a team to the Mountain to assist.

“For over a week, the fire has given us sleepless nights, our men and women have had a serious battle with the ranging flames, it is not child’s play” were the welcoming words of the charismatic Simon Gitau the Deputy Warden Mt. Kenya National Park. “Kenya wildlife Service, Kenya Forest service, community members and the Mount Kenya Trust have been working hard to contain the fires, we are grateful that you have joined us” Mr. Gitau added as he directed us to the camping site.

Fire fighting has not previously been a required skill for Born Free Kenya staff, but this did not dampen our contribution to the fire-fighting efforts!  Mt. Kenya Forest hosts the second highest Mountain in Africa after Mt. Kilimanjaro and is home to thousands of species of wildlife including some of Kenya’s most endangered. It forms one of the greatest water towers in Kenya and provides an important habitat to a host of wildlife species. Protection of wildlife habitat and the various ecosystems within Kenya form one of the greatest responsibilities Born Free has on its shoulders. We spend many hours each month talking to school children and various community members in different areas of Kenya about the need to conserve our environment. With the increased deforestation and general destruction of our environment, we continue to face serious conservation challenges.

Soon, we realized that fighting a fire of this magnitude at such a high attitude was not a small task.  At about 3400m above sea level, oxygen is in short supply making it even more difficult for us.  With the support of Kenya Wildlife Service, Kenya Forest Service and British Army, we quickly learnt the ropes. Fighting fires with human hands alone is neither easy nor is it for the faint hearted.  Rubber flippers and clearing vegetation to create firebreaks were our main methods of containing the fires.

On several occasions, we had to retreat with the flames seemingly hot in our pursuit! We witnessed several bushbucks and other wildlife running for dear life. As wildlife continues to take refuge further towards the community area, we see a clear source of conflict for the few resources between humans and wildlife. Watching trees hundreds of years old burn to ashes was one of our most disturbing moments not to mention the thought of the animal lives that could have been lost.

Iregi Mwenja, Country Manager commended the efforts of those involved; “Born Free would like to thank our supporters and volunteers who responded with speed and made it possible to send our teams to Mount Kenya less than 12 hours after the fire alarm was raised by those on the ground. We are proud to have friends like these!”

As we prepared to depart for our other assignments, more support was arriving from the Kenya Police, more Kenya Wildlife Service personnel, various stakeholders in the region and more community members. As the efforts to keep the fires at bay continue, we hope the hovering clouds will bring rains to quickly end the unforgiving fires. When all is settled, a substantial afforestation effort?? needs to be initiated to help revamp the badly damaged ecosystem.

Victor Mutumah and David Manoa – Born Free Kenya.

If you would like to help fight the fires in Kenya, we are raising funds to pay for the deployment of our teams and associated volunteers. Please donate here – http://www.bornfree.org.uk/shop/acatalog/Born_Free_Kenya.html

5 month old yellow baboon, Bilbo, arrived at the Centre two weeks ago. The young male had been taken captive and was being sold illegally at the side of a road here in Lilongwe. After a family had bought him, friends informed them about the negative impacts of the illegal animal trade which subsequently led to the family’s decision to bring the young baboon to the Centre. Needing full-time attention, two of our volunteers, Maartje and Sue, jumped at the chance to share the role of ‘mother’ and have already both adopted this baby baboon and officially named him Bilbo. It’s been a busy week!

Although Bilbo spent his first 5 days here at the vet clinic, he was quite the cheeky monkey with lots of energy and a playful character! Balancing the need for initial survival and welfare with the desire to see as many animals as possible released back into the wild where they belong, human contact is limited to a minimum and he has already made a smooth transition to quarantine where he has been introduced to a 3 year old female, JoJo.

Judging by the wounds Bilbo had when he was first brought to us, it seems he has had a rough start in life but after spending time at the Centre, there is already noticeable improvement. As a volunteer who worked with Bilbo in quarantine just two days ago, I can say from personal experience that he has undoubtedly settled in well and has already bonded with his new friend. The only trouble he will face is protecting his beloved milk bottle from a jealous JoJo!

By Becca Masson, Volunteer, Lilongwe Wildlife Centre

Orphaned serval Chorley came to Lilongwe Wildlife Centre back in August last year as a baby rescued from illegal wildlife traders on the border of Mozambique.

Our volunteers worked hard to provide him with the best care as he regained his strength before he was weaned off human contact, in the hope that he would one day be released back into the wild where her belonged.

Sadly, the team’s fears were confirmed by two vets and an eye specialist from the local hospital that he could never be released due to cataracts, presumably due to poor nutrition in his early days.   However, there is no doubt that he will have an excellent quality of life in the largest possible enclosure with the highest quality of care provided by staff and volunteers.

Below is a short video made by volunteer, Kelly van Stjin, during his first days out in his new home…

http://www.facebook.com/v/10151290536100436

If you would like to volunteer at Lilongwe Wildlife Centre please contact lilongwewildlife@gmail.com

Zoe Lapthorn, Project Manager for the Zambia Primate Project, (formerly the Lunga Luswishi Wildlife Project) which rescues and rehabilitates needy primates back into the wild where they belong, reports on the latest release at the project.

Bagheera and Mapepe -  two Vervet Baboons!

Upon release on 12th December, Bagheera and Mapepe bolted out of the holding enclosure and ran and ran, closely pursued by some of the troop. The only way to follow and find them was to follow on foot using the tracking equipment. These two radio-collared adult males were moving very fast and it was impossible to keep up safely in lion and elephant territory.

We finally found them just under 3km from the release site! None of the other monkeys were found along the way, nor were they with these two adult males. Bagheera was still leading, Mapepe was finding it very difficult to keep up and was already several hundred metres behind his friend. Neither appeared afraid and as such, neither wished to follow us back. They just continued running directly north as they had upon release. With such a strong sense of direction, we needn’t have worried ourselves, but as it was Bagheera who was leading, we could not know if the same applied to Mapepe’s own internal GPS.

Sadly, we had to give up following them late that same afternoon as we were slowly becoming surrounded by two angry herds of elephants, each having made it quite clear from the outset that we were not welcome in their area. As their circling manoeuvres became more apparent, we had no choice but to back off and leave these two stunning males to their own devices for the rest of their first day of their new lives in the wild. It was with trepidation that we reached the bush road over 2.5km later, knowing they did not wish to follow us and that we could not follow and protect them either.

Surprisingly and wonderfully, the very next morning we found Mapepe’s signal, followed it and found him at the side of the bush road. He had been joined by four ‘missing’ members of the release troop. We saw Bagheera the same day and managed to move him just under 1km closer to the release troop. However, at that point, a large troop of yellow baboons crossed our path and Bagheera ran off with them!

We were becoming increasingly concerned for Mapepe though, as he was leading a solitary existence ever since his release on 12 December. Whilst this is not unusual in the wild, Mapepe is not a wild monkey yet and he still needs guidance and protection until he has had a chance to learn the ways of the wild. We track and find him almost every day and, as with Bagheera, we have developed an individual supplemental feeding programme for Mapepe too. He doesn’t always eat it, which gave us great hope that he was finding food for himself and not needing our help. We owe it to him to give him the same assistance as with the rest of the release troop and so we continue.

We tried many, many times to encourage him to follow us so that we could lead him back to his friends, but he only ever refused. He had seen us with the troop on one occasion recently, but ran past and didn’t stop until he reached the bush road. We followed him and encouraged him back, but he was just not interested.

It was in this way that we realised that the only way to offer Mapepe the protection he so desperately needed was to reunite him with Bagheera and hope that his friend would accept him back. If successful, the best we could hope for at this stage would be for the two of them to remain with the yellow baboons and help them in their adaptation to their new lives in the wild, showing them where the best seasonal fruits could be found and affording them superb protection from any wild monkeys or baboons who should try and encroach on their territory. The baboons would alert them to all the dangers of the great African bush, few of which they would have known from their captive lives. The next best we could hope for would be for the two of them to move off on their own as two bachelor males, in search of a wild troop to lead, with Bagheera at the head and Mapepe as his number two.

With this in mind, we spent time trying to move Mapepe closer to the range we were slowly beginning to identify as Bagheera’s. Our attempts were all in vain and he simply refused to move with us. In the meantime, his own range rapidly expanded and we were starting to find him heading south up to 3.5km further away from Bagheera! This was particularly exasperating as Bagheera’s range was in completely the opposite direction and it was becoming evident that we would not succeed.

On 30 December we found these two males 3.5km apart from each other. It was with great surprise and hope therefore that the following day, New Year’s Eve, their signals were found in the same direction. As we neared the bush road 1km from our camp, both signals grew stronger and still in the same direction. We realised today was the day our plan could possibly work, but only if Mapepe would follow us, as we did not want to remove Bagheera from the protection of his baboon troop.

And so it was on the morning of New Year’s Eve that the wonderful spectacle of two stunning adult male vervet monkeys was witnessed, leaping and bounding through the long summer grasses of Zambia’s rainy season … together! We’ll never know just how this came to be, but there they were, running towards us, each knowing we had brought food for him, though neither knowing we had also been finding and feeding the other one. A truly magnificent day. They remained together for the rest of that day and Bagheera introduced Mapepe to his yellow baboon troop either later that day or early the next, as it was then that we found them all together.

The next time we brought them some food, they ate together a couple of metres apart, respecting Bagheera as the dominant male as always, but immediately afterwards, they walked swiftly directly back to the baboons and sat amongst them in full view of us. As if to say, this is our family now, thank you.

Bagheera would always leave a reasonable portion of his food behind and we’d like to think this was for his new family members. Mapepe as their newest member also respects this unspoken rule and so do we. We always bring just a little more than enough, so as not to get these two superb adult male ‘Vervet Baboons’ into trouble within the family troop.

Bagheera and Mapepe could not be in safer hands right now and it will now be up to them to decide when, or even if they wish to leave the baboons, in order to seek a wild vervet monkey troop of their own to lead. We would hope that they take their time in making this decision, allowing the baboons to show them all they need to know first.

We will continue tracking and assisting these two males over the same timescale as the main troop, for a full twelve months. With our main vervet monkey troop still being led by wild adult male Mulwendo, they too are in the best possible hands, in the absence of their two good friends Bagheera and Mapepe. Who can say when their paths might all cross again someday…