CERCOPAN

Category: Baby owl with broken wing, CERCOPAN staff fighting to save rainforest and endanger, Cercopan, Conservation, Nigeria, Rain Forests | Date: Nov 14 2009 | By: cercopan

by Richard Carroll, Rhoko Manager

It seemed like an ordinary day, at least in as much as those exist in CERCOPAN, either way there was little to hint that another bundle of joy was about to drop into my lap. I’d dropped the week’s supply of monkey food down with keepers and had taken the opportunity to call Calabar HQ from the 2 metre radius mobile phone network hotspot. I don’t know how these things work; generally I just accept the magic that allows me to talk to the outside world from the forest… even if I need to walk 15 minutes to a fallen tree which randomly has access to two networks. Anyway, following all that I arrived back to the education centre to be greeted by Usor, one of our research assistants whom I had last seen half an hour earlier heading off into the forest to follow wild putty nosed guenons for the day.

“Usor, what are you doing here?”  Usor didn’t immediately reply, but stood to one side to reveal a small bundle of fluff and feathers on the ground behind him.

“I found it on Camp Trail near Okibomi; it was just on the path it must have fallen from a tree” he explained as I stooped to investigate further. Two orange eyes peered back at me from the sprawled heap of downy plumage and a small hook-beaked mouth opened and closed threateningly..imagine an aggressive feather duster. An appraisal of this strange creature rendered the following conclusions: one, I was being confronted by a very young, rather put out owl; and two: it had a broken wing.

My first thought had been to find which tree it had fallen from and to return it to the nest as soon as possible.  Seeing the one wing hanging at an awkward angle on the ground had put paid to this idea of a quick fix. A slight uneasiness was beginning to form in my mind, I can never turn down an animal in distress, but I have very little experience with caring for young birds and none regarding how to fix a broken wing. I knew that without that the right care this baby owl would never be able to fly and being without access to a vet currently; that responsibility had fallen on me. I went back to the fallen tree and once again called Calabar, informing them of our new arrival and begging them to unearth some advice on how to proceed for the best.

Back at main camp, a search amongst our Spartan food supplies revealed only a tin of corned beef as a potential food item; hardly ideal, but more palatable to an owl than potatoes or instant noodles. The anticipated lunchtime radio call furnished me with a better understanding of nutritional do’s and don’ts for owls and, between the bursts of static, a rundown on how to fix a broken wing; all teased out from the internet by Amy.

Over the next few days we gradually managed to adapt to a suitable menu for our newest addition, initially feeding time was a constant battle. Hours were spent attempting to convince this fussy little eater that, really, a mix of tinned meat, fish, raw egg and maggots was very tasty. Sylvain and I tried all manner of feeding strategies, once again convincing several staff members of our lack of mental stability as we experimented with a variety of potential ‘mother owl’ noises to encourage a feeding response.

Fresh lizard, rat and chicken- all go down very well, though the preparation of such items is rather grim. It helps that we both have a background in biological sciences so, in many ways, preparing these meals is very reminiscent of dissection classes.

As for the broken wing, well its early days and we won’t really know for a while. However, the bandaging seems to have held everything back in the right position and despite our as yet unnamed little friend being an awkward patient, removing his dressing during the night, everything looks to be healing okay.

How the owl came to fall from the nest I guess we’ll never know; being so young and carrying an injury means we now have an uphill battle on our hands, to fulfil our dream of seeing him or her fly again. There’s a fighting spirit inside this bundle of feathers though, shining out through those amber eyes and seeing that tenacious spark from within, makes me believe that this little one may just have a chance.

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Category: CERCOPAN staff fighting to save rainforest and endanger, CERCOPAN supporters saving rainforests and orphaned mon, Cercopan, Environmental education saving endangered primates, Nigeria, Orphaned baby monkeys, Saving endangered monkeys, love and friendship in monkeys | Date: Oct 10 2009 | By: cercopan

by Amy Baxter, Temporary Office and Finance Manager

CERCOPAN is pleased to announce that we now have two new additions to our monkey residents!  Saved from an uncertain fate, two young putty-nosed guenons, Flexy and Delight, were rescued by staff and brought to our Calabar compound.  We had a tip-off from a secondary school teacher who visited CERCOPAN with his class not long a go.  While he was here we explained to the class why primates shouldn’t be kept as pets and told them that it was even against the law in Nigeria.  After this short visit to our site, he walked past a compound where he could see two young putty-nosed guenons and he immeditely came to CERCOPAN to inform us.  We were very pleased that our educational messages were successfully absorbed and it gives us great hope for the future that we can continue to change the opinions of Nigerian residents!

His information indicated that the owner sold monkeys commercially and so we were even more concerned and determined to rescue the pair and to stop any more trade.  Our Education Assistant, Martina, stopped by the compound on the way to work to investigated the situation further.  She was very concerned upon arrival about the number of ‘area boys’ close by, a group known to be involved in criminal activities and often very dangerous.  She left without entering the compound but could see one putty-nosed guenon from where she stood.  Our bravest lads decided they would all go together to confiscate the putties, feeling strength in numbers was the best pproach on this occasion. They had expected a long debate with the owner to persuade him to give up the pair, but the whole situation turned out to be much easier than expected…….

Vet nurse Austin with Flexy and Delight

The owner knew CERCOPAN and had visited in the past as he loved monkeys.  He recognized Martina immediately and said he had expected to receive a visit from us at some point.  Our staff asked him is he knew keeping monkeys was against the law and he did, as did his wife who had been nagging him to take them to CERCOPAN for some time!  He had planned to go but had become so attached to the pair, that he had been postponing the visit.  He admitted that had previously  traded in monkeys, selling them for about 8000 naira each (approximately ₤30) but had often kept them for a while before selling them to enjoy their company.  When our team had arrived the monkeys were running around the compound, having escaped from their enclosure, but were quite happy to stay around the family home.  They were playing in the trees and climbing on the roof, not a bit disturbed by this large group of people watching their antics.

While arranging the hndover of the monkeys with the owner, we discovered one of them didnt actually belong to him. They had been placed together by the two separate owners to keep each other company.  He was very hesitant to give up the second animal, explaining that the other owner would think he had sold the monkey to make money. The next hour was spent trying to contact the other owner and then negotiating with him and his family. Eventually, our staff finaly talked him into releasing the monkey into our care and Flexy nd delight were brought home to CERCOPAN. They are a friendly and confident pair, even around humans.  So much so that they didn’t even need a travel box on the car journey home, cheerfully clinging to each other and Egu, our head keeper’s, arm.

Now they are waiting at CERCOPAN for their medical tests so they can be moved in to a big group with other puttys.  We have 3 other young puttys and 1 slightly older individual already waiting to move out from quarantine and they will form one big happy group once Flexy and Delight are ready.  They won’t be without their guardian though, making sure they all stay in line; Double Chief, an old male, with be put in charge of the nursery group and will make sure no one misbehaves!

Tags: African Wildlife, Cercopan, Conservation, Orphan monkeys, Primate rehabilitation, putty-nosed guenon

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Category: CERCOPAN staff fighting to save rainforest and endanger, Cercopan, Communities, Conservation, Education, Environmental education saving endangered primates, Monkeys, Nigeria, Orphaned baby monkeys, Saving endangered monkeys | Date: Oct 05 2009 | By: cercopan

Usually a trip to Agoi is an anticipated event, often for an exciting occasion when the local community are even more cheerful than usual and their specially brewed, extra ‘hot’ spirit is more readily available.  This trip however, was quite different from those usually encountered.

We had received information that a drill monkey was being kept as a pet within the village.  Our first response was to inform Pandrillus, another primate organisation based in Calabar who specialise in drill monkey and chimpanzee rehabilitation.  Due to their current schedule and as Agoi is so close to our forest site, they asked us if we could go and remove the animal from the situation.  CERCOPAN will never buy an animal, as it encourages people to try to catch them for financial gain, and we try to avoid getting the police involved as it deters people getting in touch to donate animals already in their possession.  In these cases we try to negotiate with the owners and hope to persuade them to give up their animal, making them understand why it’s better for the individual and for them.

Rescued Juvenile Drill monkey     

When we first sent our CERCOPAN representative to see the owner we found it very hard to get our message across.  The owner, did not want to give up the animal.  He said he had paid 4000 naira for the monkey, now a juvenile male named Chris, from a hunter back in January of this year.  He had been caring for it since then and it had been living in a small wooden box constructed from wooden planks at the side of his house.  The box only had some small holes to see out of and soon he would grow far too big for the box, as adult male drills grow to a huge size.

Adult male Drill Monkey

When our first approach was not working, we attempted to negotiate with someone who had the power to sway the owner’s opinion; the local chief of the village.  The chiefs of a village often have the final say in many decisions and solve many disputes involving village residents.  After consulting the chief he spoke to the owner and began to change the owner’s position on the situation.  To begin with the owner still wanted a reward in the form of guaranteed employment.  Again we had to explain that if we agreed to such terms we would continually have this problem in future situations, and inadvertently increase the number of primates removed from the forest when others decided to use them as a means of getting a job.

Eventually he understood our position and we reached an agreement whereby he would receive a certificate stating that he had donated the drill monkey to us.  We left to prepare a certificate and returned, again to a big discussion about the situation.  Luckily we still managed to make him see he was doing the best thing and Chris was handed over in front of a crowd of around 50 people.  In addition to his certificate we presented him with information leaflets about why it is wrong to hunt monkeys and a poster urging people to protect the highly endangered drill monkey.

To make the entire event official, various traditions had to be adhered to.  After the exchange of monkey and certificate, further exchanges had to be made involving kai-kai; the locally brewed spirit that happens to be particularly strong in Agoi.  This isn’t the kind of exchange where each party buys a bottle and the other takes it home to drink leisurely in their own time - this is when both parties buy a bottle and both bottles must be finished by the end of the gathering.  A little speech was made by both sides and then each departed, swaying slightly from side-to-side!

Chris was brought to our Calabar site late the next evening where he remained in our quarantine area overnight and where he had more space than he had been used to before.  He seemed to enjoy it so much that, by the next day, he was so eager to run around more he managed to escape our trained staff and cause havoc around the office.  After destroying several office items, chewing keys off computer keyboards and peeing on important papers, we finally managed to calm him down and return him to a travel box.  After that he was taken to Pandrillus and reunited with those of his kind.  Now he is busy making new friends and learning what it is really like to be a drill monkey!

Tags: African Wildlife, Cercopan, Community Conservation, Drill monkey, Endangered primates, Nigeria, rehabilitation

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Category: CERCOPAN staff fighting to save rainforest and endanger, CERCOPAN supporters saving rainforests and orphaned mon, Cercopan, Conservation, Monkeys, Nigeria, Rain Forests, Saving endangered monkeys | Date: Oct 04 2009 | By: cercopan

On the 30^th September, one of our youngest mangabeys found his adventurous streak and took a trip to the ‘outside world’.  Despite being in a large 1 hectare, semi-free ranging forest enclosure Judim, approximately 6 months old, decided he was ready to explore a bit further afield.  The primate keepers at our Rhoko forest site were very surprised when they arrived one morning to discover the small mangabey climbing the trees outside the enclosure.  It is particularly rare that we have mangabey escapes at our forest site, mainly as their enclosure is so large they are usually quite happy inside, and also because we have an electric fence running around the outside making it particularly difficult to climb out without a little buzz!  The only time we worry about escapes is when a storm has caused a tree to fall on the fence and we have some teenage males looking to find exotic girls from another troop!

Judim our little adventuror!

What was even more surprising about Judim’s escape was that usually he was such a quiet, nervous infant! It is very rare to see him away from his mum, so where this daring notion came from is anybody’s guess!  We think he must have crawled under the electric tape to where the normal metal fence is and then started to climb up, being small enough to not touch the electric tapes about 25cm away.  Once he got to the top I don’t think he realised he would be separated from his mum if he played in the ‘adventure playground’ the other side of the fence. Once he was on the other side and this separation dawned on him he wasn’t too happy, nor was mum for that matter! Both mum and infant started to get distressed, and Judim tried several methods to try to get back in with the other mangabeys.  The CERCOPAN workers who had gone to help tried to reduce their stress by not getting too close and attempting to distract the rest of the group with food.  It would be impossible to pick up the infant and return him to the enclosure without being mobbed by the group, so everyone was forced to wait while Judim worked out a method to return himself.  Eventually, after several different tactics had failed, Judim cimbed a tall tree over-looking the enclosure.  Here he weighed up his options and chances of leaping back in to the enclosure and, with baited breath, the staff looked on. With every other possibility exhausted and now clearly desperate, Judim took the death-defying leap and luckily landed safely in his mother’s arms.  Both mother and Judim were extremely relieved and joyful about being united, but I’m pretty sure Judim got a serious telling off when these emotions wore off!

Tags: African Wildlife, baby monkey, Cercopan, Conservation, Red-capped mangabey, Wildlife Rehabilitation

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Category: CERCOPAN battles illegal loggers, CERCOPAN helping communities in Nigeria, CERCOPAN staff fighting to save rainforest and endanger, CERCOPAN supporters saving rainforests and orphaned mon, Cercopan, Communities, Conservation, Education, Environmental education saving endangered primates, Monkeys, Nigeria, Orphaned baby monkeys, Rain Forests, Saving endangered monkeys | Date: Oct 01 2009 | By: cercopan

 The October edition of the CERCOPAN monthly newsletter can be dowloaded from the link below

cerconews-october-2009-edition.pdf

Hope you enjoy it! Look out for the next issue on the 5th November.

Tags: African Wildlife, Cercopan, Community Conservation, Conservation, Endangered monkeys, environmental education, Guenons, Mangabeys, Newletter, rehabilitation

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Category: CERCOPAN staff fighting to save rainforest and endanger, CERCOPAN supporters saving rainforests and orphaned mon, Cercopan, Conservation, Life, Monkeys, Nigeria, Rare monkey babies born, Saving endangered monkeys, love and friendship in monkeys | Date: Sep 17 2009 | By: cercopan

Back in June Peace, a female mangabey from Callistus’ group, had her first ever infant, Pica.  Pica, a beautiful baby girl, arrived just 2 weeks after the birth of Marvelous; a bouncing baby boy, born to Mercy.  As Peace’s first infant, she was rather unsure how to look after Pica and seemed confused as to what her motherly duties involved.  As the first few weeks passed, her mothering instincts began to develop and improved somewhat, but unfortunately, as we carefully observed the pair we could see that Peace was still not fulfilling some of the important jobs she needed to do.

Peace and Pica: at times her mothering instinct kicked in. 

Peace easily lost interest in Pica, and so Pica spent a lot of her time riding around on the back of her older brother, Marley.  These two got on famously and Marley was always there to lend a helping brotherly hand!  She really enjoyed playing with him and he enjoyed playing with her, unless he wanted to play-fight with some of his older friends!  When Marley was not around though and Peace wasn’t interested, we had the problem that, in this prolonged wet season we are experiencing here in Cross River State, Nigeria, there was no-one to shelter Pica from the elements.  Being so small she felt the cold easily and when there was no-one to cuddle up to when she was wet, the staff at CERCOPAN began to worry.  In addition to this we had noticed that Pica was not putting on weight like Marvelous, who was only 2 weeks older.  As we continued to pay close attention to Peace and Pica’s relationship, and the nursing behaviour of the pair, we eventually came to the conclusion that the best course of action was to remove Pica from the group and hand-rear her until she was strong enough to return.  It was a tough decision and always a last resort here at CERCOPAN.

  Despite the vast experience CERCOPAN volunteers have in hand-rearing rescued, orphaned infant monkeys, Pica proved to be somewhat more difficult.  Never before had we had the problem of the mother still being in the vicinity and in ear-shot of the infant.  Pica refused to eat while she could hear her mother, and the two were continually trying to communicate with each other.  Our best option was to take Pica to our volunteer living-quarters two doors down the road and here she became much more settled.  Now she is a happy little monkey who loves lots of attention when she’s fed. She runs around the room where her travel box is being kept, climbing and jumping off the furniture.  She is putting on plenty of weight and we are really happy with the progress she is making.  We can’t wait for the time when we can reunite her with her mother, her brother and the other members of her group.

By Amy Baxter, Mangabey Research Coordinator, temporary Finance and Office Manager

Photographs by Sam Trull

Pica, after having rolled in either mud or food!

Tags: africa, animal, Cercopan, Conservation, endangered species, monkey, Monkeys, Nigeria, Nigerian wildlife, primates, rainforest, rare species, threatened species, volunteers, wildlife

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Category: CERCOPAN helping communities in Nigeria, CERCOPAN staff fighting to save rainforest and endanger, Cercopan, Communities, Conservation, Education, Environmental education saving endangered primates, Nigeria, Rain Forests | Date: Aug 07 2009 | By: cercopan

Hi, I’m Carrie and I am just coming to the end of a six week stay as a short term volunteer at CERCOPAN. I am currently working on my PhD at the University of Florida focusing on Environmental Education and Primate Conservation and hope to come back for a much longer period next year as part of my studies. I have thoroughly enjoyed my stay at Rhoko camp, but the definite highlight of my trip was working with the Rhoko education officer, Mike, and organizing an overnight stay for 12 members of the Iko Esai Conservation Club.

Conservation Club group

CERCOPAN has initiated the formation of over 20 conservation clubs in rural and urban schools; encouraging the youth of Nigeria to actively promote and participate in environmental campaigns and events such as the annual June 5th World Environment Day celebrations and tree planting programmes. This rainforest adventure however, gave the children a chance to experience the sights and sounds of the rainforest first hand and to gain a solid background to conservation and primate ecology…using the forest as their classroom!

Conservation club members learning about monkeys

The students were amazing and I was extremely impressed with their knowledge and their desire to learn more. Everyone was sad when the activities were over and it was time to leave, but all agreed they had a wonderful time and that we definitely do it again soon. CERCOPAN hopes to run such trips for conservation clubs from urban schools in the future, as some of these children have never seen the rainforest before.

It took a long time to persuade the children that this snake was plastic!

Special thanks to Jan Valkenberg (a former CERCOPAN volunteer) who raised the funds for this and other education activities. I would also like to thank the principle of Iko Esai secondary school for allowing the students to attend, Mr. Hans the science teacher, and the students themselves: Nkoyo, John, Promise, Patricia, Peace, Regard, Gabriel, Oboon, Uso, Redual, Erong, and Akima.

Hope you enjoy the photos!

Tags: African Wildlife, Cercopan, children, Communities, Conservation, Conservation clubs, Education, environmental education

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Category: CERCOPAN staff fighting to save rainforest and endanger, CERCOPAN supporters saving rainforests and orphaned mon, Cercopan, Monkeys, Nigeria, Orphaned baby monkeys, Saving endangered monkeys | Date: Aug 01 2009 | By: cercopan

After losing lovable mona Scoopy only a day ago, baby Mona’s Ikom and Okon have now fallen sick with the same condition. My heart sank when Austin our veterinary assistant came into the office to relay the news. I ran out to their enclosures heart pounding, half expecting to find them in the same state I found Scoop. To my relief, they were still moving around and although clearly unwell, I knew they had a chance.  

We immediately removed the babies from the enclosure, administered drugs and put them together in a huge travel box in the vet lab with a hot water bottle and plenty of comfort food. The illness they have is a syndrome which appears to be particular to monas. As this species is rare in captivity, no-one really knows very much about them at all. Whilst we are not yet  sure what causes it, we have some theories and have experts around the world helping us to figure it out. We also now have a committment from Cambridge Veterinary School to help us find an answer.

We originally thought that the problem may be nutritional, some tiny trace element that may be missing from the diet.  Rainforests provide an enormous variety of leaves and insects which are impossible to replicate in captivity, but we really do try our very best. The monkeys in our care are given over 60 different types of food; including fruit, fish, seeds, nuts, boiled eggs, rice and beans, special leaves collected by staff and our own invention ’monkey cake’, which is packed full of nutritional ingredients such as eggs, oats and crayfish. 

Ikom and Okon will now be cared for by our volunteers night and day and will be showered with all of the care and attention we can possibly offer. Mona’s when they are sick crave lots of TLC and the more they have, the quicker they seem to recover! Whenever Im sick, I feel the same and like a bit of sympathy so I know where they are coming from!

I will keep you all posted on any news as it happens…

Baby mona’s Ikon and Ikom comforting one another  in their travel box

Tags: African Wildlife, Cercopan, Cercopithecus mona, Cute baby monkeys, mona guenon, Nigerian wildlife, Orphan monkeys, rehabilitation

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Category: CERCOPAN staff fighting to save rainforest and endanger, CERCOPAN supporters saving rainforests and orphaned mon, Cercopan, Conservation, Monkeys, Nigeria, Orphaned baby monkeys | Date: Jul 30 2009 | By: cercopan

As another working day at CERCOPAN ends, we find ourselves with only 32 days left to find the funds to pay the rent on our Calabar premises for another year. With so little time left and $2828  still to find it is a worrying time for all here.

The response to our plea from Wildlife Direct staff and our readers however has been amazing. Special thanks to Oskar, Wanda, Joanne, Christine, Frances and Brenton who have all pledged their support.

 Thanks so much guys, you are really lifting our spirits!

Baby mona Teddy with volunteer on his first day at CERCOPAN

Tags: African Wildlife, Appeal, Cercopan, Conservation, Nigeria, Orphan Baby monkeys, primates, rehabilitation, rescue, save

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Category: CERCOPAN staff fighting to save rainforest and endanger, Cercopan, Monkeys, Nigeria | Date: Jun 09 2009 | By: cercopan

After fourteen great months, our Office and Finance Manager Kristine Krynitzki has decided to leave CERCOPAN and set off for pastures new. Although extremely sad to see Kris go, we wish her every luck as she begins the next chapter of her career, with plans of returning to university to begin studying environmental law in her home country, Canada.

The task of finding a replacement for such a valued member of staff has been a long and difficult process; however we are pleased to announce the appointment of our brand new Office and Finance manager, Sam Trull.

Sam, aged 28, has already had a long and established career within the field of primate conservation. With over twelve years of experience under her belt and an overwhelming passion for the cause, Sam was the perfect candidate for the job. Beginning work aged 16 at The Duke Lemur Centre in North Carolina, she progressed to the post of Primate Technician and Enrichment Co-ordinator while finishing her undergraduate study of Zoology and Anthropology in her home state. Wishing to advance from this point, more specifically as a primatologist, Sam began a post grad study in Primate Conservation at Oxford Brookes the following year.

Academic accomplishments aside, Sam has also participated in field research prior to arriving at CERCOPAN. Her first experience was in the Bahamas working on a team studying the Bahama parrot during March 2007. Sam then went on to carry out a pilot study surveying for aye-ayes in Betampona Reserve in Madagascar just 6 months later in the fall of 2007.

According to Sam, working for CERCOPAN is the next step in her career as a primate conservationist and she is delighted to have been given the opportunity,

“I’m thrilled to be working with an in-situ conservation project like CERCOPAN. I think the combination of primate rehabilitation, community education, research and forest preservation is a great multi-faceted approach to addressing conservation issues in Nigeria.”

Sam is due to stay at CERCOPAN for a year and, just three weeks into her stay, is already well on the way to being a fully trained CERCOPAN Office and Finance Manager. We wish both Kris and Sam lots of luck for the future.

Tags: africa, animal, Cercocebus torquatus, Cercopan, Cercopithecus erythrotis, Cercopithecus mona, Cercopithecus nictitans, Cercopithecus preussi, Cercopithecus sclateri, Conservation, endangered species, mona guenon, mona monkey, monkey, Monkeys, Nigeria, Nigerian wildlife, Preuss’s guenon, Preuss’s money, primates, putty-nosed guenon, putty-nosed monkey, rainforest, rare species, Red-capped mangabey, red-eared guenon, red-eared monkey, Sclater’s guenon, Sclater’s monkey, threatened species, volunteers, wildlife

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