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If anyone is interested in buying these unique pieces of art please contact us. VolunteersWe would like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to Susan and Kathy two of our regular volunteers. Kathy has been with us for 10 months and has been a supporter of the project for a number of years. Thank you Kathy for your hard work and determination, we miss you a great deal. Also thank you to Susan who has volunteered for CWAF twice now. We welcome you to the CWAF family and thank you for all of your support. See you both next year.
Kenneth from Denmark and Aviad from Israel are building a garage for the water container, and standing at the entrance of the volunteer's house.
September 18, 2005
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We have two new baby chimpanzees; one male - TULTUL , one female - KIKI . They are comfortable in the quarantine area and are great company for each other. They will be living with BIRI and NANGA who are similar in age and who are very curious about the new arrivals. We are very lucky that neither of them have any wounds and they seem to be healthy.
Our chimp nursery has had some repairs. Because of termites and weather the original wooden posts have become very weak. We have very clever chimps and Melissa in particular would check daily to see if she could use the state of the fence to escape. We have replaced all wooden posts with iron and now the garden is secure again. Melissa's first inspection of the work included examining all locks on the doors. We hope that with the added hammocks and ropes from Noah's Ark Group, Melissa will be contented with staying home.
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You may remember that we acquired an adult female chimp a couple of months ago. She has been integrated with Max and his group in Mvog-Betsi Zoo . The integration went very well since it appears that Marie Jeanne is just the female Max has been waiting for. They spend their days grooming kissing and hugging each other.
August 20, 2005
Education Center Update
Our education center is multi purpose. Recently we had a group come and perform a play showing the message of bushmeat hunting and its adverse effects on the community and the eco-system as a whole. We are very happy to work with Cameroonians who want to improve their situation. |
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August 12, 2005
Chita: gone but not forgotten
It is with great sadness that we report the death of our young chimpanzee, Chita. Chita was found in Yaounde with a family who rescued her from the bushmeat hunters last year. She was taken to Mefou National Park where she did her 3 month quarantine.
When she joined the group of 10 older chimps she was immediately accepted and Wendy, the alpha female, true to form, 'adopted' her. Early this year she fell from a tree and broke her leg. She was confined to CWAF office in Bastos in a plaster for one month. She rejoined her group where everything was fine until last week. She fell again but this time she sustained a fatal injury to her lower back. Her group misses her as do all the people who worked with and loved her at CWAF.
August 8. 2005
Update on BYI
A lot has happened since we first reported the birth of our lion cub, BYI. For the first three months Talila devoted her time and energy to keeping BYI alive and well. It meant giving up everything including her bed to be with her. They slept on a mattress on the floor together.
When BYI was 3 months old it was apparent that she needed to be with other lions. We were successful in moving her to South Africa. Paul Hart from Drakenstein Lion Park was kind enough to come to Cameroon to collect her. Transfers like this take a lot of work and patience but the reward of seeing BYI living happily with another lion, Shumba makes it all worth while.
Today BYI is very healthy and happy in her new home. Here are some pictures of her from her first days with us to her new life in South Africa.
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Volunteer program
Our volunteer program has been well received and we are very thankful for their enthusiastic help. At this time we have a full house with more volunteers already committed for later in the year. This program allows us to lend a hand to our hard working staff. When a volunteer arrives we can never be sure of their assignment but we can always use their help.
New Arrivals
Nanga's Story
One of our recent volunteers proved to be a conservationist extraordinaire. Dorthe Pedersen from Denmark was coming to the end of her 3-month stay with us as a hard working volunteer. She never refused any job. She was in town to confirm her return flight and go to the artisan market. As she viewed the passing street scene she spotted a man with a baby chimp. She demanded that the driver go around the block so she could get a description of him and be sure of what she had seen. Having done this she returned to CWAF office and a plan of confiscation was implemented. Because of her determination and dedication we now have our newest orphan. His name is Nanga and he is less than a year old. He is fortunate to not have any wounds or parasites but is fighting a chest infection.
This is what she wrote in his daily book;
"Nanga was found on the street in Bastos on the 26 th of May 2005, and came to Mefou NP the next day. Nanga was going to be sold as a pet but luckily he was saved and will now grow up among friends in the forest. Nanga is named after a gorilla keeper, Alfred. He weighs 3 kg . And has 6 teeth. Nanga is estimated to be around 10 months of age." Thanks again to Dorthe and her dedication.
Biri
A conservator from the East sent CWAF a chimp. The box he was in was very small and had been sealed with tape. Babs thought he was dead, the poor little thing was folded up like a paper clip. I say paper clip because he's so skinny. The wound on his arm is to the bone and the wounds in his groin from the rope are nasty. He has worms and is dehydrated; probably scabies the way he's scratching. We weren't sure he'd make it but 24 hours of TLC from Babs, Rachel and Talila and he looks pretty good.
More news
Yeba
At the end of November 2004 CWAF management received a call regarding the discovery of an infant male gorilla near the Dja Reserve, southeast Cameroon. CWAF decided to send the vet Babila Tafon to obtain a clear picture of the situation. Babs took formula, and medical supplies to the infant. Eventually we managed to obtain the necessary papers to bring the gorilla to Yaounde . The gorilla was a strong healthy boy and our vet named him Yeba, meaning universe in his dialect. Immediately, Bruno, one of our long term gorilla keepers was brought to town from the forest site to care for Yeba while he went through his three month quarantine. Bruno's experience and dedication was exactly what Yeba needed.
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After his quarantine, it was time to move onto the next stage. This included going to the forest and transferring onto another carer so that Bruno could return to his position with Alfred as carers of the six bigger gorillas. Volunteers, Kathy Crystal and Susan Eberth became Yeba's new mommies for the next three months. During this time Yeba went from strength to strength and is now a perfectly healthy young gorilla. Since these women are only with the project on a temporary basis, Yeba was introduced slowly to his permanent carers. Fred and Appolonaire are our other gorilla carers and like Bruno and Alfred are dedicated to these youngsters. They have given up their freedom to share 24 hour care of Yeba and another infant Nona.
Nona's Story
On the 16 th of December 2004 Rachel Hogan received a call concerning a two week old female gorilla found in a hunt camp in the east of Cameroon . On the 17 th Rachel left Yaounde early in the morning to go and collect the youngster. When Rachel arrived the gorilla had been moved to the local gendarmerie. There she came upon a disturbing sight. She found Nona in the corner of the room in a small cardboard box. Malnourished, dehydrated, covered in blood and maggots Nona was waiting to die. Nona had gunshot wounds to her arm and hand. She was grey in colour and barely breathing, obviously in great distress. Whilst the driver was arranging the official papers Rachel tended to Nona's maggot infested wounds and immediately started to administer rehydration fluids. They bonded immediately. Rachel continued the care of Nona back in Bastos. Luckily there was no fracture from the gunshot. She responded well to medical attention and had a healthy appetite. Eventually Rachel and Nona returned to the forest site where the transfer of Nona from Rachel to volunteer Kathy Crystal was started. Kathy then became carer for Nona and Yeba. Both gorillas now are under the care of their permanent carers Fred and Appolonaire. They are soon to be integrated into the nursery group . CWAF would like to take this opportunity to thank Kathy Crystal and Susan Eberth for their stamina and dedication.
Phi and Mimi
Phi is a little Olive Baboon. Whilst Babs and Rachel were having a meeting in the zoo Phi appeared on the steps outside the office. His screaming alerted Rachel Hogan to his plight and she carried him out of the zoo in her jacket. Phi was examined by our vet and taken to the forest site to undergo his 3- month quarantine. He lived with a volunteer, Dorthe Pedersen until he was bigger and stronger. He now lives in our quarantine cage with another new Baboon, Mimi. The quarantine cage has been modified to house them since Phi was so small he fit through the caging. Mimi is another young baboon who was donated to the project. When Phi and Mimi complete their quarantine and get a clean bill of health from our vet staff they will be integrated into our troupe in the forest. Thanks again to Dorthe.
Ahmmed, Althea, Yoko, and Mawa
These chimps arrived late 2004. Althea and Yoko were moved into the Nursery on January 25, 2005 the same day Mawa joined Ahmmed in quarantine. John Temple, a volunteer from the UK lovingly cared for the 2 smaller ones until his departure in April.
Unfortunately John didn't get to see the introduction but all went well and their moving into the nursery has brought our group to ten. Thanks Mr. John from your chimp family.
Births
Since all of our male baboons have been vasetomized, it was a great surprise when our baboon troupe had a birth this spring to Luna. Luna is a unique baboon who has only half of one arm. It was damaged in a fight and amputated. It's very heartening to see her carry the little one around and proudly show him to visitors and the other baboons. His name is Doro, which means 'baboon' in one of the Cameroonian dialects.
Red capped Mangabey's had another birth late 2004. This brings our group up to five. All are well and are even though the little ones can fit through the caging on the satellite they don't leave their parents sight.
Transfers
Jack is a fifteen-year old chimp who was confiscated by MINEF. He spent his 3 -month quarantine at Mvog Betsi Zoo and was transferred to MNP on the 4 th of June 2005. He has just begun his integration and will be joining the others in Wendy's group in the next couple of weeks.
Eleven monkeys were transferred to MNP from Mvog Betsi Zoo at the end of May. They are currently living in a double satellite cage until their forest enclosure can be finished.
Our baboon group has received 7 members from the zoo. Since we now have a large forest enclosure attached to our original enclosure there is plenty of room for all if disputes arise.
Construction
Construction has become an ongoing activity here. Thanks to volunteer Martin Peddie and all his hard work on construction during his stay with us. Our gorilla garden is secure with the new metal posts as well as the building of the double monkey satellite cage.
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Our new hospital is coming to completion and our new double chimp enclosure should be finished soon. As always we will need more housing for animals as well as improvements to existing fences since more orphans arrive on our doorstep at an alarming rate.
Sunday, January 02, 2005
2 baby gorillas
DEAR ALLAt the past 2 weeks CWAF received 2 baby gorillas, a male and a female.
NONA
Nona was found about 15 days ago by Gendarmes and Ministry of Forest inspectors in a hut at the forest at the east of Cameroon. Nona's dead mother was partly cut next to her and partly in the process of smoking her flesh on the fire. Nona was taken to the local police station where she was held inside a very small carton box for 4 days without food or water. When CWAF staff came to take Nona her body was covered by blood and worms and she was dehydrated. Nona was then transferred to the CWAF house in Yaounde where she was treated for her wounds and given food and water. Nona is doing well now, we give her a lot of TLC.. we all wish her good health. As all Gorillas, as soon as Nona will finish the quarantine period she would be transferred to the forest along with the other baby gorillas.YEBA
Yeba is 2 months old, was found in the forest on the border of Cameroon and Gabon lying next to his dead mother's body. Yeba was taken care of by a volunteer in the forest for about a month and about 10 days ago was transferred to CWAF. Yeba is healthy and he is very aware of the environment. Bruno, one of CWAF'S gorillas keepers is with him 24 hours a day in a special quarantined zone, in which he will stay for 3 months until he will finish all necessary tests and finally will be taken to join the young gorilla group in Mefou National Park.BYI is doing fine!
Our little cub is doing find, she is healthy and she is one month old now. We will keep you up-to-date with BYI's situation.
Monday, December 13, 2004
Posted by Igal
DEAR ALL
3 NEW BABY LION WERE BORN AT THE "MVOG-BETSI" ZOO EXACTLY 3 WEEKS AGO UNFORTUNATELY ONLY ONE FEMALE SURVIVED. BOTH HER BROTHERS DIED AT THE FIRST AND SECOND DAY AFTER THEY WERE BORN.
"BIY" IS DOING FINE NOW AFTER A 3 WEEK PERIOD OF INTENSIVE CARE FROM THE "CWAF" CREW, FOR THE MOMENT SHE IS STAYING WITH US SINCE THE MOTHER "REFUSES" HER.
MORE NEWS ABOUT "BIY" IS YET TO BE POSTED, PLEASE STAY TUNED TO OUR SITE'S NEWS BOARD FOR THE INFO.
Monday, December 4, 2004
Posted by Igal
Hi to all of our supporters.
It has been a while since we have been able to give you news, so here we are with an update of events.
Mefou National Park.
Construction
We have a new Nursery which includes accomadation for the volunteers. We also have a Veterinary room and bathroom.Today the nursery houses six young Chimps between 1-2 years old.
A new quarantine area which at present is housing two new Chimps, Yokko 1 year and Althea who is four years old.
We have added a new satellite cage onto the large Chimp enclosure.
The extension of the Baboon enclosure is now finished and we hope to move the Baboons from the zoo in the next few weeks.
Aflow of water has beed found in the village and we now have a new well installed which makes carrying water much easier for us all
Integration
The move of 4 young Chimps from the nursery to our small Chimp enclosure went extremely well and the babies are now settled and enjoying there new family.Mekongo an adult male has also joined this group and is doing well.
Cheetah a female Chimp finished her quarantine and has now joined this group as well.
Births
Our Red Capped Mangabeys gave birth to a male. He is now three months old and is doing very well.
Mvog Betsi Zoo
Construction
Two small satellite cages have been built for the Guenon enclosure.
Two climbing constructions have been built. One for the Mandrill and the other for the Tantalus, both are being enjoyed.
New Arrivals
Jack an adult male Chimpanzee, 15 years old. Jack spent his life chained to a tree in a village in the East of Cameroon. He had no shelter from the sun or the rain. He has been with us now for two months and once he has finished his quarantine time we hope to move him to the forest site where he can be with other Chimps.
Two Agile Mangabeys are in the quarantine.
1 Patas and Guenon are also in quarantine at the moment.
Education Centre
We have now moved into our Education Centre and have already started to plan programmes. These will include visiting schools and having school groups visit our forest site.We also plan to visit local churches and village meetings in the hope to educate the people of Cameroon regarding their beautiful wildlife. We wish them success.
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Saira Robertson who has now left to return to the UK. We would like to thank her for all of the work she has done for us over the last four years and wish her great success for the future.
Thank you
Rachel.
Friday, July 23, 2004
Posted by Igal
DEAR ALL
PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY THE NEW ADDRESS FOR
THE CAMEROON WILDLIFE AID FUND IS cwafcameroon@yahoo.co.uk cwaf
business only please
ALL PERSONAL MAILS FOR SAIRA SHOULD BE SENT TO
sairarobertson@yahoo.co.uk
HOTMAIL IS NO LONGER IN USE AS IT IS PROVING VERY UNRELIABLE.
THANKYOU
SAIRA
CWAF CAMEROON
Thursday, October 23, 2003
Posted by Mark
October Update
New arrivals at Mvog Betsi Zoo
Male chimp ERAN approx 18 months old and female chimp EMMA approx 4 years old. Both doing well, Emma already integrated with Raoul & Pedro now introducing Emma to Eran as all 3 are too much for little Eran all at one time. Eventually all will be together.
Greycheeked Mangabey and Mona monkeys are enjoying their new life in enclosures not cages.
Mefou National Park News
Sad, sudden and unexpected death of Rambo male chimp 7 years old. He had spent the morning being angry at having to be locked in the satellite cage as
construction repairs were carried out on his enclosure. When left at 1pm Rambo appeared fit and well, eating and when workers returned from break at 2pm he was dead. Post mortem results awaited.
Gorilla garden under construction for the 4 infant gorillas Nkan, Shai, Nyum & Mvie.
Solar panel installation providing 24 hour electricity to all CWAF village
and enclosures.
Sunday, august 31, 2003
Posted by Mark
MVOG BETSI ZOO
NEW ARRIVALS
Tantalus
Ayi juvenile female Escaped from her owners entered our enclosure, now in quarantine.
Borngana adult male Caught running wild in city centre
Kristy juvenile female Donated
Blake infant male Donated
Red Eared Guenon
Jamie adult male Donated
Patas
Chips adult female Donated
Chimpanzee
Raoul infant male Confiscated
Pedro juvenile male Donated
Spotted Nosed Guenon
Marshall infant male Donated
Moustached Guenon
Lychee infant male Donated
INTEGRATIONS
ROSIE PACEY the little male Patas is now with the group in the zoo and has had no problems integrating. He holds his own and will fight for food though knows when to submit to the alpha male Ya.
LOLA the little Mona monkey is now fully integrated with Nick our adult male Mona. As suspected due to Nick's temperament there were no problems at all.
ZAK the Tantalus is undergoing integration but is currently escaping through current so things are moving slowly there.
BLAKE, KRISTY & AYI are all now integratted with each other having all received a clean bill of health so as they can be together during their quarantine period.
RAOUL & PEDRO have also received clean bills of health so have also been housed together in quarantine. Throughout the day their laughter as they play together echoes around the zoo.
CONSTRUCTION
Enclosures for our Greycheeked Mangabeys and Mona Monkeys are under construction and should be ready in the next couple of weeks.
MEFOU NATIONAL PARK
INTEGRATIONS
NYUM & MVIE the infant female gorillas have settled well with NKAN & SHAI.
TANGUI has settled well into the enclosure in the forest and is now only seen at meal times! She loves to climb and we have held our breaths many times as she climbs higher and higher each day.
IMPROVEMENTS
The entire road surface from both Nsimalen and Mfou town has been improved thanks to Avi's discussions with the Minister of Public Works. The journey is now much safer, quicker and more comfortable.
COMING SOON
The large solar panel bank has recently arrived in a container from Israel. Next month we will start to construct it in the forest giving constant current to all enclosures as well as the village.
CWAF NEWS
JO PAPI is now on his 3 months training in Canada at Hemingford Safari Park. He is enjoying the work very much and appears to be a bit of a star over there. He is involved in local radio station broadcast and has used his time there to visit associated groups/projects such as Toronto Zoo & CABA (Canadian Association for Bushmeat Awareness).
Donations have been received locally from:
American School Of Yaounde
Groupe ARNO
Jene Cambanis
Mr Teo
Mr Hamed
Genie Militaire
All visitors to Mefou National Park
Thursday, August 28, 2003
Posted by Mark
African Heart Beat proves a great night for the great apes
Bristol Zoo Gardens held a carnival evening African Heart Beat on 18 July 2003 and raised over £10,000 for CWAF.
Valerie Davey MP visited Dr Jo Gipps (Director) and Dr Bryan Carroll (Deputy Director) to celebrate the fundraising success of African Heart Beat, congratulate the Zoo on its work to raise the profile of the growing threat of the illegal bushmeat trade and catch up on international efforts to combat this trade.
African Heart Beat transformed the Zoo into a hub of West African rhythms, carnival colours and hot African atmosphere. Visitors were encouraged to try their hand at the art of African dance and drumming in open-air workshops with Pax productions, the Bristol-based multicultural performance group. The evening culminated with a stunning performance by Baka Beyond, who played their trademark mix of West African rhythms, inspired by the Baka forest people in the Cameroon , underpinned by Celtic and Gaelic melodies. Visitors enjoyed a carnival atmosphere and the reward of supporting a great wildlife cause.
During her visit, Valerie Davey MP took time to visit the Conservation Education Centre, to see how the Zoo will continue its awareness-raising drive during the summer season, through its Walk on the Wild Side campaign. Young people are invited to experience the Cameroonian rainforest and learn what life is really like for the people and animals that live there. The campaign includes a rainforest trail, a chance to track wildlife and jump around at a jungle story, complete water challenges and a mask colouring competition, all to highlight the threats facing West African wildlife and raise money for CWAF.
Dr Bryan Carroll said,"It is wonderful that Valerie Davey MP supports efforts to raise public awareness on the threats of the bushmeat trade and the Zoo's Walk on The Wild Side campaign. EAZA member zoos are continuing to highlight the impact of illegal hunting and trade in great apes and other threatened wildlife for human consumption. EAZA Zoo?s presented a petition, supported by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) that voiced the concern of over 1.9 million European citizens on this issue. In January 2003, I attended the EU Parliament and presented compelling evidence to a European Union Petitions Committee hearing, that has persuaded the committee to report on the illegal bushmeat trade at the European Parliament".
Dr Jo Gipps, Director of the Zoo said, "We are delighted that people entered into the spirit of African Heart Beat and supported our important conservation work in the Cameroon . A big thank you to our sponsors, White Young Green and Turner & Townsend, who helped to make this event possible".
Everyone at CWAF would like to thank all those at Bristol Zoo Gardens who put in a lot of time and effort to make the evening a great success. We would also like to thank everyone who came to the evening, both carnival revelers and entertainers, to make all the hard work worthwhile in raising vital funds for the project in Cameroon.
Wednesday, julyr 23, 2003
Posted by Mark
New arrivals
Eminem who we call Marshall. Infant male spotted nosed guenon. Hand reared
by volunteer Kathy Crystal.
Ballas 10 yaer old male chimp being quarantined in MBZ until space for him
in Sanaga yong.
Blake infant male Tantalus
Janey Juvenille female Red Eared Monkey.
Updates
Zak adult Tantalus now being integrated into the group.
Rosie Pacey doing fine soon to be integrated
Construction update
25m x 25m Electric enclosure finished for the red capped Mangabeys in Mefou
Satellite cage doubled on large chimp enclosure in Mefou
Rain collection system finished in Mefou.
COMING SOON
Enclosure renovated to make 2 new enclosures in the zoo for Grey Cheeked
Mangabeys and Mona Monkeys
Zoo keeper Jo Papi heads off to Canada on a 3 month work experience at
Hemingford safari Park in Montreal
Our newly named gorillas in Bastos, Mvie meaning Earth and Nyum meaning Sun, are both doing really well and are soon to go to the forest with Nkan and Shai. Enclosure desperately needed money being raised now all donations welcomed.
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