Born Free

Category: Born Free, Lilongwe Wildlife Centre | Date: Nov 17 2009 | By: bornfree

We have now had 6 weeks to settle in and have certainly had to hit the ground running! Unfortunately there is some sad news to report from the vervet monkeys. In mid September we sadly lost Skinny, who suffered a severe anaphylactic reaction, resulting in pulmonary edema or fluid in the lungs. We believe this was caused by an allergic reaction to something he ate or a bee sting. While we had only known Skinny a few weeks we had grown very fond of him and always enjoyed watching his morning ‘sunbathing’ routine which he often shared with Thoko.

Skinny (left) and Thoko enjoying the morning sun!

In addition to this news the vervet troop were also the victims of a vicious attack from a wild troop of vervets. The research team had given the release troop an afternoon alone away from our ever-watchful gaze. On our return we discovered 4 of our monkeys, Michelle, Ben, Brave and Esnart, with bites wounds. Michelle’s wounds were very severe, but unfortunately due to the imminent night fall there was nothing we could do until the morning. To our distress, the following morning we could not find Michelle. We hired extra Scouts to search the area, but she was nowhere to be seen. We all feared the worst.

Miraculously, on Sunday morning, we found her sitting near the water source, in very bad condition. We set about catching her, while a vet traveled down from Lilongwe to aid her care. 48 hours after the attack, we finally had a chance to thoroughly examine Michelle – and were shocked with what we found. She had seven different bite wounds to her legs, one of which had completely severed her Achilles tendons, and one to her tail. After 3-and-a-half hours of field surgery, Michelle was transported back to the Wildlife Centre in Lilongwe to undergo long term care. We are informed she is an exceptionally good patient, is healing well and still tolerating her splint! As yet we do not know if her Achilles tendon will ever fully recover. We very much hope to see Michelle back in Kasungu in the future for the next vervet monkey release.

The other 3 injured monkeys only sustained comparatively minor bites; they were all able to remain within the troop and received a daily dose of antibiotic in a chunk of banana. All concerned have healed exceptionally well, with little to show of the ordeal apart from a couple of small scars.

Michelle, post surgery still on the operating table.

We are currently gearing up for our next monkey release in January 2010 and as ever we are counting every penny. If you wish to make a donation to our project and help give Malawi’s rescued primates a better life here is an idea of how far your money will go:

£1 – supplementary feeds one release monkey for one day
£5 – will buy a machete, to clear the trees the Elephants ‘helpfully’ knock in to the middle of the roads
£5 – the cost to repair a puncture on the land rover
£10 – provides the project with stopwatches to aid our data collection
£15 – will buy rechargeable batteries for our GPS and radio tracking device
£30 - supplementary feeds one release monkey for one month
£35 – builds one transportation box to safely transport a monkey from Lilongwe to Kasungu
£50 – provides an emergency field first kit for the monkeys
£75 – will supply our ‘bush office’ with a much needed printer
£100 – buys a dongle and the software required for internet access from the bush, contact with the outside world and more frequent blogs!
£200 – buys one radio tracking collar for a released monkey
£250 – supplies the monkeys with a 24 hour watchman in the form of an infra red night camera to record the monkey’s night time activity
£300 – would buy the bush camp a generator and we would all be eternally grateful!
£500 – provides a laptop for report writing
£750 – will supply the field staff with army standard tented accommodation, resulting dry beds during the rainy season!

Many thanks to all of our readers for your continued support.

Best wishes from Malawi

Andrea and Keith xx

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Category: Born Free, Lilongwe Wildlife Centre | Date: Oct 22 2009 | By: bornfree

Thanks to the dedicated efforts of volunteer Dave Moulds, the Wildlife Centre now boasts a flash new kitchen area for volunteers to use during their stay. As you can see from the photos below, every care was taken to ensure the new construction blends into the natural environment as discreetly as possible. Using the existing trees as the shelter’s primary supports minimised the need to bring in wood from other sources. Where wood was needed, it was sourced from timber farms in the north of Malawi.

The installation of electrics around the camp has turned the dark nights into this wonderful nightscape, keeping the larger animals at a distance and making a lot easier for volunteers to prepare and eat at the camp.

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Category: Born Free, Lilongwe Wildlife Centre | Date: Oct 14 2009 | By: bornfree

On Monday 12th October, a lorry load of recycled office furniture and supplies started its long journey from Swindon to Malawi as part of a joint project between the Born Free Foundation and the Green Standards Trust.

The recovered materials, which include everything from printers, computers and furniture to brooms, books, binoculars and veterinary supplies, started their journey in Swindon, where the Green Standards Trust has been gathering donations from various companies and Born Free supporters. In total, about 27 pallets, weighing over 20 tonnes, were loaded on board the 40ft container.

Of the office equipment, Ellen Winter, the overseas project manager for the Green Standards Trust, said “It could have ended up in landfill so it’s a real win, win.”

All being well, the container should arrive at the Lilongwe Wildlife Centre in the next 6-8 weeks.

Using recycled and donated equipment will save the Wildlife Centre considerable funds in equipping an on-site Office, Veterinary facility and Education Centre that are all to be built in the near future.

Chris Wright, Programmes Officer for Born Free, said: “There is a great threat to the animals in Malawi and education is a major issue. People aren’t aware of the impact that taking these animals out of their environment can have and they don’t know how to care for them, causing sever welfare problems. Wildlife can be seen as pests – they can harass people and spoil their crops. Rather than shoot them or trap them as pets we’re trying to encourage people to consider ways that they can mitigate that conflict and live side by side without fatal consequences for wildlife.”

The Wildlife Centre and Born Free would like to offer our sincere thanks to those generous supporters who have donated their time, equipment and finance to the delivery of these much-needed items.

Tags: Born Free, Lilongwe, Malawi, monkeys, primates

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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: Lilongwe Wildlife Centre | Date: Jun 09 2009 | By: bornfree

At the Wildlife Centre we get very excited about rescuing and releasing animals that come through the centre, but it is also important to highlight our animals that have been with us for awhile – they want to be heard as well!Meet our resident python, Henry.  He is a non venomous African rock python, and about eight years old.  This type of python is one of the largest snakes in the world and is mainly found in Sub-Saharan Africa.  These pythons can grow up to six meters in length; our Henry is four meters.

We are unsure of Henry’s start in life as he came to the Wildlife Centre from the old Nature Sanctuary, who did not know how long he had been there or how he came to arrive there.  When our planned move to the Wildlife Centre was brought forward, we received a call to say that the python at the Nature Sanctuary had escaped!

A team was dispatched from the Centre and after a couple of hours searching we found him curled up underneath one of the old containers just twenty meters from his old cage.  Henry came to us with an injured jaw, which he had done by striking the wire mesh of his cage.  His jaw has continued to bother him and affected his eating.  Michelle Burt, RVT, recently performed an exam and mouth cleaning on Henry and noted that his jaw was improving.  However, Henry is continuing not to feed at the moment.  His animal carers are suggesting that Henry might like a little change in his diet, so they are looking into different food options for Henry.

Unfortunately Henry will never be returned to the wild because he has developed a lack of fear of humans after so many years in captivity, but with your donations to the Centre, we can ensure Henry will live safe and sound for the rest of his life.

Tags: Lilongwe, Python

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Category: Lilongwe Wildlife Centre | Date: May 15 2009 | By: bornfree

We wanted to update you on a blog posting dated 14th of April written by our Operations and Development Manager, Lee Stewart.

In his blog Lee detailed the long 2 year process of rescuing the animals from the “zoo” at the mission, and at the beginning of the month the first two animals - a blue monkey and a yellow baboon - were rescued from the mission and taken back to the Wildlife Centre.

We are happy to report that both Maggie (blue monkey) and Aide (yellow baboon) are doing well and are still currently in our quarantine section.  Right now the ladies are enjoying their temporary new home as well as excellent care from their carer, Michael.  Michael said that they like to eat a mixture of soft fruits.

Our vet did a health check on both of them today, and under anaesthetic we found that Maggie had a few bad teeth, which would explain why she hadn’t been eating so well and then only soft fruits. The vet removed the bad teeth and she is now on medication to help with the gum infection. He is sure she will be in good form in no time now that the teeth have been removed. Aide is still a bit overweight, but once she is in her large enclosure, she will be moving around a lot more and will lose the excess weight.

Right now the release of Mua and Aide into their enclosures is scheduled for the end of May.  We will make sure to update you again on how the transfers go.  It will be a very happy day for everyone at the Centre to see these two animals released into the relative wild of their enclosure after being held in small cages for so long. 

We would also like to say hello to Gaby and Ramina from Academia Cotopaxi in Ecuador.  Their 1st grade class is interested in learning more about the animals at the centre and could possibly help to raise money to adopt an animal at the Centre. 
 

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Category: Lilongwe Wildlife Centre | Date: May 08 2009 | By: bornfree

Hi, my name is Rebecca Heath from Chester, England. I was a volunteer at the Widlife Centre for 2 months from March to May of this year. The time went by so quickly, it only feels like 2 minutes since I arrived!!

Most of my work time was spent at the quarantine area, helping to feed and clean the animals there until they could be moved to the larger enclosures. I especially loved bottle feeding the baby vervet monkeys. They are so mischievous, always trying to steal each others milk, so it was not an easy task, but it was very entertaining!!

I was also lucky to be around when the Wildlife Centre rescued a female baboon and a blue monkey during their deal with Mua Mission, at the end of March. It was very rewarding to see them settled in at the Centre in nice big enclosures after being kept in such small cages for so long. Ada, the baboon, was very overweight when she arrived because she didn’t have room to get any exercise and has since lost nearly 3kgs since being here, so hopefully soon she will b fit and healthy and ready to join the other baboons in the large enclosure.

One of my favourite moments, and possibly the most exciting as well, being on of those once in a lifetime moments for me, was when the leopard, Kambuku, was given a health check. Kambuku is normally very shy and likes to keep himself to himself in his enclosure, so it was a real treat for me to see him up close and to actually touch his fur!! Oh I forgot to say, he had been darted and aneasthetised so that the vets could do his health check!!

I gained many amazing memories and lots of good friends while being a volunteer at the Centre and really enjoyed my time there. I also got to see some of Malawi, which is an amazing country, especially the lake. I would recommend it to anyone!!

That’s me in the brown top in the photos. These are the other volunteers and animal carers at the Centre. Photo thanks to my friend Tina.

For more information about volunteering visit http://www.lilongwewildlife.org/volunteer.html

Tags: Lilongwe, Malawi, rescue

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Category: Born Free, Lilongwe Wildlife Centre | Date: Apr 20 2009 | By: bornfree

A big thank you to all those of you that have followed and commented on the Lilongwe Wildlife Centre blog in recent weeks. It makes such a difference to receive your feedback!

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