MARCH 1,, 2007
CWAF WELCOMES NEW ARRIVALS
Six new arrivals, five baby chimpanzees and a baby baboon have arrived at Mefou National Park over the last month, making for some rather crowded accommodations.
Little Djoum is an infant male chimpanzee was dropped off at the Mvog-Betsi Zoo one day without explanation. No background information is known about him, but the hair on his stomach had been shaved, suggesting that he might have been intended for use as part of a local traditional medicine practice. Djoum was subsequently brought to Mefou. He was very shy and quiet upon arrival, and was originally placed in the care of Neil, one of the volunteers. Over the period of a month, with Neil carefully familiarizing him with the other babies in quarantine, Djoum showed marked improvement and has now been successfully introduced to group.
Sol is an infant female chimp previously owned by a military man in the city. She had been given to the man as a gift, intended as the main course for his dinner table. However, the soldier did not want to keep her because he knew that eating bushmeat is wrong. Consequently, he donated her to CWAF. Sol arrived at Mefou with cigarette burns on her back and ugly scars on her leg from the chains that held her. She was severely traumatized. 
Volunteer Sandy has been working with her daily, feeding, giving her medicine, and spending many hours of social interaction. Even today, however, Sol continues to be very quiet and shy. Although, she has been introduced to rest of group, she is still much traumatized and sits far away from the others. When the chimps are given bottles, she sits at the topmost part of the cage and waits until they are finished. Afterwards, Sandy has to separate Sol from the others to give her medicine or milk. Medicine can be a problem as Sol is prone to tantrums and has to be pacified with a piece of fruit. This behavior is no doubt due to the abuse and neglect she suffered before her arrival at Mefou, but hopefully, with care, support, and the company of the other chimps, she will slowly begin to progress.
Zombla, an infant male chimp, and Achimu, and infant female, arrived at the Mvog-Betsi Zoo together. They play and sleep together as the best of friends, so they obviously have been with each other a long time. Zombla arrived completely bald, as all of his hair had fallen out from a skin infection. Achimu, like Sol, has a terrible scar on her hip, presumably from chains. It is assumed that these two chimps were kept as pets but that the owners wanted nothing more to do with them when Zombla’s skin infection took over. They have now been moved from the zoo to the forest where they are currently doing their quarantine, being looked after by volunteer Elissa. They spend nights in the satellite cage together, and during the day they are allowed out into the quarantine enclosure. The first day they were let out, they ran about playing, climbing trees, and kicking an old gourd about like a soccer ball. They are very confident youngsters. Zombla is beginning to grow hair on his back and head, and Achimu enjoys wrestling with him. At the end of their quarantine, they will hopefully be allowed to join the others.
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Coffeecake is an adult female around 30 years old, who was rescued from Mbalmayo, one of the local towns. It was a three-month effort trying to rescue her because the family that kept her did not want to give her up. She had been kept in a very small cage for 26 years. She had no leaves to lie on, just an iron floor and bars around her. She had no friends, not even children to play with her, and the family made no attempts at contact with her. On the fourth rescue attempt, CWAF managed to confiscate her, and she was brought out to quarantine here at Mefou. Because of her
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imprisonment the last quarter-century, she has few social skills. She had not been touched in all of that time. She sometimes gets nervous and paces about in a tiny area of the satellite cage, giving an indication of just how small a space she was accustomed to. It has taken the volunteers a long time to make contact, but in early February, Coffeecake allowed volunteer Gal to groom her and stroke her back for almost half an hour, a major breakthrough. Now, very slowly, Coffeecake has allowed Ian, another volunteer, to touch and groom her. She tends to reach through the bars as if asking for something, but withdraws when a volunteer tries to touch her hand. She does, however, like to sit by the bars of the satellite cage and listen to Gal read aloud.
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Kinte is an infant baboon born in the Mvog-Betsi Zoo. Shortly after his birth, the alpha-female of the group attacked his mother and stole him. The keepers of the zoo managed to separate Kinte from the alpha-female and reintroduce him to his mother. Sadly, his mother rejected him. Time was pressing because he had not been fed since birth, so the choice was made to remove him from the group and hand-rear him at Me fou. He was named Kinte by one of the keepers because he is a fighter, and Kunta Kinte was a great fighter in Roots. Rachel kept him the first two nights, and then he was transferred to Gal. At four days old he began to show his first two teeth, and at six days he began to walk. When he is bigger and stronger, he will be reintroduced back into the group, where there will be many females willing to act as surrogate mothers.
Also, about three months ago, Mefou welcomed a two-year-old female mandrill named Mbam. Mbam initially arrived at the zoo. She had been kept as a pet on a chain for the early years of her life. She was transferred to Mefou, where she has now joined Mandoumbi, a one-year-old mandrill in the monkey nursery, and they have become the best of friends.
We have had so many arrivals that quarantine is now completely full. We have had to build another enclosure to house all the chimps that are coming through. Mefou is currently at the breaking point and could urgently use your help and support.
Bridge collapses
The north bridge leading to the adult chimp enclosure collapsed in early January, making the river impassable except by foot. The bridge was originally constructed ten years ago by a logging company that came into the forest to cut down trees, making it something of a symbol of the deforestation that continues to go on in the rain forest.
At the present time, the only way to drive to the adult chimp enclosure is via an alternate track that takes an extra hour to navigate. At times, a truck is left on the opposite bank of the river, and staff can drive down to the bridge, cross by foot via a wooden plank, and drive the second truck up to the enclosure, a very tedious process. Workers are frantically trying to build a new bridge before the rainy season, but it is slow going and the resources are limited.
CHIMP SWAP
Because of the arrival of so many infant chimps, keepers at the adult chimp enclosures have recently switched the two groups to accommodate them. The chimps in the south most enclosure, led by alpha-male Clint, were transferred to the enclosure north of the satellite cage. The chimps in the north enclosure, led by alpha-male Bertie, were then transferred to the enclosure that previously housed Clint’s group.
The reason for this exchange is that the south enclosure is larger. Bertie and the adult female Ashmael have proven to be good parents, with Ashmael taking on the role of surrogate mother whenever new babies are introduced to their group. With so many orphaned chimps arriving at Mefou, Bertie and Ashmael require more space to accommodate them, hence the need for the larger enclosure.
This move was in the planning stages for many months. It was accomplished by moving Clint’s group into the satellite cage between the two enclosures and then darting them so they would be sedated. Bertie’s group was then allowed to walk completely through the satellite cage to the other side. The new babies will be slowly introduced over a period of many months.
VOLUNTEERS
Currently, there are six volunteers at Mefou assigned numerous duties, most of them pertaining to the new chimp arrivals at the moment. The chimps must be fed three times a day and given their medicine (broad-spectrum antibiotics) twice a day. In addition, numerous other duties must be performed to ensure that the chimp enclosure is a clean and happy environment.
At 6:30 every morning, volunteer Sandy arises to give the chimps their first bottles and antibiotics. She walks from the volunteer quarters to the quarantine area, prepares the bottles with formula, and adds antibiotics to the formula. This is often done with the assistance of Gal, the volunteer veterinarian, who ensures the dosages are correct based on the most recently recorded weights of each chimp. Once this is completed, Sandy and Gal give all the chimps their milk through the bars with the exception of Sol, who still remains apart from the group. Sol will receive her milk and medication after the other volunteers have arrived.
After breakfast consisting of bread with marmite or chocolate spread, the volunteers go about their morning tasks. Ian and Elissa, husband and wife volunteers, go to the well to pump water and then Ian must haul the heavy containers of water down the road about half a mile to the quarantine enclosure. Many times, Belinga, a local villager, will help out with the water. While at the pump, Ian and Elissa also pick up fruits from the keepers to feed to the chimps.
En route to the quarantine, Elissa is dropped off at the nursery, where she cares for Zombla and Achimu, the two new arrivals from Mvog-Betsi Zoo. She sits outside the satellite cage cutting their fruit into small bites, and then goes into the cage, lays out the fruit, and allows them into the enclosure. Prior to this, however, she too must give Zombla and Achimu milk and antibiotics, and Gal often comes around to assist as well.
At quarantine, Sandy and Ian will spend part of the morning in the enclosure interacting with the chimps. Sandy enjoys this so much that she jokes about losing her airline ticket so she won’t be able to leave. Ian and Elissa have also both said that working with chimps is “life-changing.” But as charming as it sounds, this work is not all fun and games. Sandy comments that you must be in good shape to interact with chimps, as you can dehydrate quickly when several of them jump on you at once. Ian and Elissa too compare it to being a parent, where you must keep track of your children at all times. At quarantine, there are ten children total at the moment, which can make for a rather challenging morning.
The chimps have to be moved back into the satellite cage throughout the day to be given their milk. As usual, Sol has to be fed separately and is prone to tantrums when it is time to receive her medication. While the chimps are in the satellite, general housecleaning is in order. The area about the cage is swept. The electric current on the enclosure is shut off so the space under the wires can be raked and weeded. This is so the current won’t touch something that might ground it out; also, chimps will sometimes use sticks next to the fence to push the wires open and escape. Volunteers are also required to clean the satellite cage, which can be a messy affair. All of them will tell you that you get used to “chimp poo” in your hair and clothes after awhile.
Throughout the day, the are joined by Neil, who is currently hand-rearing a baby chimp named Lailai. Neil has to have Lailai with him 24 hour a day, seven days a week, as Lailai is still very small and requires contact with a parent at all times the way he would if still with a group. Volunteers who hand-rear find it difficult to do simple things with a small ape attached to them. Often, they have to find creative ways to take a shower, and the nights can be interesting if the infant is restless. Recently, Gal has assumed the care of Kinte, the baby baboon, and in the early days Kinte did not want to settle at night. As Gal and Rachel were handing Kinte off, they both endured nights when they got not even a minute of sleep.
Recently, a new volunteer named Jo has arrived. At this writing, she has only been at the park a few days and is shadowing the others to be assured of her duties.
At the end of an afternoon, the chimps are given their last bottles and put into the satellite cage for the night. The weary volunteers trudge back to their quarters, where they take turns at the shower, which is piped into their rooms from a rain-catcher next to their quarters. Volunteers must hand-wash their clothes and give it two days to dry in the open air so the sun can kill any timber fly eggs that may have been planted in their wet apparel. Dinner is at seven p.m.; at six-thirty, the generator comes on, and Mefou is given two and a half hours of electricity. When the clock strikes nine p.m., the lights go out, and there is nothing to do but sleep.
HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY MIKO
We are proud to announce Miko's 1 st birthday on the 22 nd February 2007.
Miko is doing really well and will soon join the other baby chimps in the forest.
Miko was rejected by his mother Yao one year ago, since then he has been looked after by CWAF's Director Talila SIVAN. Miko has required 24 hours care as he still feeds in the night.
Miko is now on solid food, although he dislikes bananas!! But loves mangoes, papaya and tomatoes. Presently Miko spends 3 times per week in the forest with another young chimp Lélé.
We will keep you update on Miko's progress in the forest. He also enjoys playing with Marshal the spot nosed guenon who lives with Talila.
