Born Free

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

One response so far

Category: Born Free, Lilongwe Wildlife Centre | Date: Jul 07 2008 | By: bornfree

The Lilongwe wildlife Centre is a new and exciting project for Malawi based in the Capital City, Lilongwe.  In only its second year it is already rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing its orphans back to the wild….there is no facility of its kind in Malawi.  Watch the Centre grow over the coming months and years and follow the stories of some of the animals that are confiscated from illegal traders, injured or orphaned in the wild.  Follow our dedicated team (both local and international) in their weekly routines, experience our successes, and share in our disappointments.  Watch us grow into what we all believe will be a model on which other facilities around the world should be modelled.  Let us meet some of the team first -

Hi, my name is Lee Stewart, the Operations Manager of the Lilongwe Wildlife Centre…  I have spent this morning darting a young male duiker (a small antelope -similar to a European deer but with horns not antlers) who needed to be moved to a new enclosure from the vervet monkey’s enclosure, where he was being kept temporarily.  Antelope are usually darted with a drug called M99 which is an opiod derivative that is extremely dangerous to its users (although extremely affective in game capture).  With M99 unavailable, we tried something different, using a Zoletil and Xylazine combination. Micky has he is affectionally known at the Centre is a feisty young character having been brought to us as a sub-adult. He was hand raised by an expatriate living within Lilongwe having been orphaned as a youngster. He had become a little too dangerous for the family and had injured a young girl with his horns, so it was time for him to move on. This is fairly typical situation with wild animals reared in a human household.

 
Micky was extremely wary of the situation as I had darted him two days earlier with a different combination…a combination that failed miserably!  Eventually the drugs were administered and two hours later he had made a full recovery and was ready to enjoy his new enclosure…and his new female Christie!!  A successful morning by all accounts…and the start of a beautiful relationship. 

Both duikers will be released as a pair, back to the wild, later on in the year where they will be monitored by our team…at least until we are confident that are ready to be left alone.

My name is Tracey and I am the new Marketing Manager for the Lilongwe Wildlife Centre. I arrived in Lilongwe in January this year, having previously lived in Romania, Ukraine, UK and South Africa. I have always wanted to work with animals and this is a brilliant opportunity for me to finally do a job I can see the point of – helping the wildlife of Malawi. So much better than your normal 9 -5, that’s for sure! My job is to raise awareness of the Wildlife Centre locally and internationally and the work we do for the animals, and at the same time to raise much needed funds for the Centre via donations (Please see our donation page as well as the Wildlife Direct donation option to the right!), corporate sponsorships, individual sponsorships, our adoption scheme and our Friends of the Wildlife Centre scheme

For more information on Lilongwe Wildlife Centre and the People and Wildlife Centre pilot visit http://www.bornfree.org.uk/campaigns/paw-centres/lilongwe-wildlife-centre/

Tags: community, conservation, duiker, Malawi, monkey, People & Wildlife, wildlife rescue

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