Born Free

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

In August 2006, I arrived at a Catholic Mission 3 hours drive from Lilongwe, in a small area of Malawi called Mua, my purpose of being there was to find a small menagerie of animals that were reportedly being housed in small dilapidated cages.  It was not long before I stumbled across the sad array of animals within the zoo; it contained an extremely obese baboon, an attention-seeking blue monkey, a terrified porcupine, a sad looking crocodile (as sad as a crocodile can look!!), pythons in a deep dark pit and a variety of small antelope and birds of prey. Although extremely depressing to see, all the animals had been rescued by the founder of the Mua Mission Cultural Centre, Father Bouche, who had arrived at the Mission in the mid 70’s and had accepted many wild orphaned animals in over the years, out of pity.  They had all been victims of the illegal bushmeat and pet trades in and around his area.   

When visiting the Mission for the first time, it was always obvious where Father Bouche’s passion and talents lie; the Cultural Centre, its dancers, its carvings, a small lodge and now recently opened Museum are impressive to say the least; they are a true testament to the diversity of Malawi’s tourism potential, a true gem of an attraction for both local and international visitors.  And so, over the past two years the Lilongwe Wildlife Centre and the Mission have been discussing ways in which the zoo could be dismantled, the animals relocated to the Wildlife Centre and the zoo replaced with a new facility; a facility that would not require animals in captivity, that would complement the cultural centre and its educational activities and that would provide a tranquil environment in which locals and tourists could explore and learn about cultural, wildlife and environmental links. 

After many visits to Mua, my visit two weeks ago was by far the most enjoyable.  Travelling to Mua with two boxes was one thing, travelling home with two boxes and two successfully darted animals was another, our baboon and blue monkey had taken their first steps back to a more ‘wild’ life.  First stop, Lilongwe, where they would be placed in quarantine and later introduced to large open topped enclosures with their own kind. 

But for our yellow baboon, Aide, there was a special treat in store.  Two days prior to the Mua rescue the Centre had rescued a young baboon called Chimpy (yes Chimpy!!) who was being kept on a two metre length of chain at a private residence within Lilongwe.  After a lonely existence on her own for many years, Aide would now spend quarantine and possibly the rest of her life with her new baboon friend, Chimpy.

This relocation of just two animals from the Mission to the Centre, marks the first step in a transitional process that will see all the animals removed from Mua and the zoo replaced with an alternative attraction for both local Malawian and International visitors.  A process that will require funding.  The Born Free Foundation have once again stepped in and have agreed to fund the relocation of the animals and committed funds to the development of a ‘Sensory Garden’ within the existing grounds of the Cultural Centre. Financial support has also been provided by Body Shop that has allowed the Centre to build two new enclosures at the Centre which will enable the centre to rescue some of the remaining birds of prey and porcupine. 

Thank you to both Born Free and Body Shop for helping to make this first (and future) rescue/s happen.

Lee Stewart
Operations and Development Manager

Tags: baboon, blue monkey, Born Free, Lilongwe, rescue

3 responses so far

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

Happy New Year everyone!!

Well we have had an exciting and busy time this last month. We are proud to announce that we had our first official release of animals that we have rescued and rehabilitated. It was an exciting and emotional day for all concerned.

After a year of planning and co-ordinating with National Parks of Malawi we found a suitable site in Kasungu National Park in central Malawi on Sunday 6th December, the Wildlife Centre rounded up Jack’s troop into their travel boxes.  The transfer up to Kasungu was in fact delayed by 24 hours, it appeared that Jack (the troop’s alpha male) was not so happy about the whole move and refused to come into the holding area where he could be darted and sedated.  He was however eventually darted and boxed up.  After just five hours on the road Jack’s troop was at the release site in Kasungu National Park, a beautiful spot along the river, where Jack and his family were transferred into a temporary holding area where they remained for a week to give them time to settle into their new environment.  The troop was now one step closer to freedom!

Then on Saturday 13th December, a team of us from the Wildlife Centre opened the gates and Jack and his family were released back to the wild. The final step that saw them returned home, free and wild. It was an emotional morning for the team,  watching the baboons take their first steps out of the gates of the holding area, especially for those who had cared for these animals and nursed some of them back to health, it was wonderful to see them free, chasing butterflies and climbing trees.

Our release research team headed up by Andrea will stay up at the park and track and check on the baboons for the next year. Three of the troop have been fitted with radio collars so tracking is easy.

Andrea is coming to town this week and will give us an update on how the baboons are doing….. keep watching this space!!

The release site where the baboons stayed for a week to acclimatise.

Tags: animal release, baboon, bushmeat, Lilongwe Wildlife Centre, Malawi, rehabilitation

3 responses so far

Category: Lilongwe Wildlife Centre | Date: Aug 05 2008 | By: bornfree

Hello, today’s blog is a bit different in that it has been written by someone who brought a rescued baboon to our attention at Lilongwe Wildlife Centre. This is a typical story for many wild animals in Malawi:

Stumpy was first seen on the 10th of July at a market in a village on the Lunzu Road. He was kept on a short rope, tied around his neck to a pole with no shelter. Although there were lots of vegetables for sale around him he was given little food and was under nourished. It seemed all in a day’s entertainment for kids to throw stones at him, confident that he could not escape and cause them any harm.

Stumpy was confiscated from his owner the next day by Parks and Wildlife. After explaining to his ‘owner’ the village butcher, that it was illegal to keep a baboon as a pet he willingly gave Stumpy over to them.

Despite having most of his teeth removed and only having one arm Stumpy is still in good spirits. Thankfully we now have the Lilongwe Wildlife Centre as previously there really wasn’t a facility to accept so many of the injured or orphaned animals like Stumpy.

Stumpy will spend the next month in quarantine, then he will move into a larger enclosure and be introduced to a troop of other orphaned baboons where he will be able to live a more normal life and perhaps one day be released back into the wild.

Thank you to all the staff and Volunteers at Lilongwe Wildlife Centre for all there hard work at dedication to the animals. Without a facility like this Stumpy’s story would not have such a happy ending…..

Bev Trataris

Please keep your donations coming in so that we can continue to help animals like Stumpy. Just $20 will help us to feed someone like Stumpy for a week.

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Tags: baboon, Lilongwe Wildlife Centre, Malawi, Stumpy

5 responses so far