CERCOPAN

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

2 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Sep 26 2009 | By: cercopan

by Amy Baxter

  A few months ago CERCOPAN applied to Brevard Zoo, for some football equipment to distribute to the local schools in our host village, Iko Esai.  Football is extremely popular in Nigeria, with everyone having a team they support and with the National Nigerian team renowned for their excellent playing.  We were lucky to be granted this equipment and it was gratefully received by the local schools.  Later a letter, also to be used as an article in the community newsletter, arrived in thanks for this equipment from the local secondary school and we would like to share it with you.  It is always nice to receive letters of this kind and greatly encourages us with the work we are carrying out.  The letter was entitled ‘Youth Empowerment through Academic and Sports Development: The CERCOPAN Initiative’. 

 Members of the school team wearing their new primate conservtion football strips (CERCOPAN Community Liason Officer Mike Ekpe Centre)

‘’The conservation of our rare fauna and flora, especially the dwindling or diminishing population of monkeys and their habitats in the remaining tropical forest of West Africa, seem to be the primary concern of CERCOPAN – an NGO with a mission.  The CERCOPAN mission is to conserve; their vision is to enhance the increase of the depleting primate population, and possibly return them to the wild.

                Since the advent of CERCOPAN in Nigeria, the organisation has done much to improve the welfare of the host community, both socially and economically, in spite of their financial constraints.  The organisation has left none in doubt of their commitment and special mission in the hunter forest of Iko Esai in Akamkpa Local Government Area of Cross River State.  Like any other new organisation or establishment, people are often sceptical of their real intention, judging from the experiences of the colonial era.  So was the case with CERCOPAN.

                The host community of Esai land was divided in opinion about the ultimate objectives of their mission in the jungle of Iko Esai.  However, the coming of CERCOPAN into Iko Esai community has been seen as a blessing in disguise; the host community has started to reap the dividend of CERCOPAN’s presence.  We can now talk of improved water supply, skills acquisition and man power development, etc.

                Most importantly, Iko Esai is now designated a tourism destination and centre for educational research – innovations which were hitherto unknown.  Soon and very soon, the impact of CERCOPAN initiatives shall be harnessed and felt both locally and globally.

                Socially, the advent of CERCOPAN has impacted much of the social lives of the people.  The history of educational development in Esai community and its environment will be incomplete without mentioning the contributions of CERCOPAN.  Just in a nut-shell, CERCOPAN has created educational awareness through conservation education, inter-schools competitions and the upliftment of sports in schools.

                Mention should be made about the recent CERCOPAN magnanimous gestures towards the Esai Community Secondary School, which was given a face-lift during the last inter-house sports competitions, where CERCOPAN undertook the painting of the Academic/Administration block, which has improved the aesthetic view of the school.

                Furthermore, CERCOPAN made their impact felt during the inter-house sports fund raising.  Prior to this moment, CERCOPAN had donated sets of gaming equipment to the college, which has boosted sporting activities in the school.  To be more precise, right now the secondary school’s football team is making history in football game.  Hopefully, the school’s football team shall create much impact in the near future.

                Most recently, CERCOPAN has done it again!  A set of football kits, including jerseys, footballs and a football pump, were donated to the school.  This will surely further boost our team’s quest for laurels and glory.  This gesture is not only timely but highly commendable.  The students, members of staff and management say thank you for the support.

                In conclusion, we in equivocal terms fully endorse the CERCOPAN educational empowerment initiatives, aimed at empowering our youth for future development.  As your organisation continues to support and encourage academic excellence, the future leaders of this community shall grow and live to appreciate your gestures.  We shall collectively learn to conserve our dwindling and endangered species for the present and future generations.

                                Thank you.

                                                Elder Robert O. Nkang

Iko Esai school children playing football in their new strips

No responses yet

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

5 responses so far

Category: Cercopan, Communities, Life, Nigeria, Rescued neglected bush dog | Date: Sep 14 2009 | By: cercopan

  As many of you may remember, a few months back we rescued a bush dog, Ticky, from appalling conditions in our host village Iko Esai.  She was found under a broken umbrella in the pouring rain, covered in sores and being home for a vast number of parasites including ticks, fleas and worms.  She was too weak to even stand and we discovered the reason was because she had been removed from her mother before she was ready to finish nursing.  Sylvain, our mona research coordinator, gently carried her back to our camp along the difficult 30 minute bike journey, through flooded rivers and with thunder crashing around our ears.  It was there we began to nurse her back to health and she started her new life as our camp mascot, surrounded by love and care.

Ticky being nursed on her first night at Rhoko Camp, after ger initial rescue 

 In our last ‘rescued dog’ update we announced she was firmly on the road to recovery and we are pleased to say she has now finally reached her destination!   Her patchy fur has fully grown back and all her wounds are healed.  She has put on plenty of weight, with a big belly hanging around her spindly little legs!  Her true character is shining through and she is excelling at her guard dog duties, taking her cue from our older camp dog, Simon.  Perhaps her bark isn’t quite as threatening as Simon’s, with its squeaky tones intermingled with low growls, but she is always on the lookout for passers-by.

  Her strength has grown even more and now she runs around camp, following us to our huts and playing with us in the grass.  She still tries to play with our older dog, Simon, but he has decided he’s a bit too old for these games and tries to find a quite spot where he can continue to be a grumpy old man.  I think he also gets jealous, as he’s a big dog and is unable to climb onto anything comfortable like a chair (although he was caught having pushed into Sylvain’s hut and asleep on his bed once)!  Ticky, on the other hand, has found one of our cushioned chairs particularly comfortable, and has become an expert at climbing up various small boxes to get on to it!

Ticky; patch-free and chewing the clothes of our volunteer, Sylvain.

The other week our camp manager, Richard, bought back some tasty treats from the city for our guarding duo in the form of two large bones.  Both are nearly as long as Ticky herself and she struggles to get a good bite with her small mouth.  For some reason though, which ever bone she is gnawing on is not as tasty as the one Simon is chewing, and so she always tries to muscle in on his!  He’s not too pleased about this but is showing more tolerance as the days go by!

Ticky trying to get her little mouth around such a big tasty treat! 

  In addition, we have begun general training with her.  She understands ‘sit’ even if she doesn’t always follow the order, and we are trying to teach her ‘stay’, as she regularly tries to follow us in to the forest.  Our favourite one though, and I think hers is ‘paw’, where she lifts up her paw to shake hands.  Perhaps not as practical as ‘sit’ or ‘stay’, but much cuter and it is becoming a very popular welcome with our visiting tourists!

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

Tags: Cercopan, community, Conservation, Cross River State, dog, Iko Esai, Monkeys, neglected, Nigeria, rescued, volunteers

4 responses so far

Category: Monkeys, Nigeria, Orphaned baby monkeys, Rain Forests, Saving endangered monkeys, ecotourism | Date: Sep 03 2009 | By: cercopan

Hi everyone, Zena here. Claire has been having difficulties signing on to the site (slow connection….!) so here I am. Over here in the UK I have been going through a lot of our video footage and putting together a few short films for youtube to publicize what we do - nothing like a moving image to give you a sense of what things are like for the team out in Nigeria! The latest one is the story of moving our first rescued mangabeys to the forest enclosure at rhoko (Sagan talked about this group and the research we are doing in an earlier blog - this is our future release group, and the focus of Sagan’s PhD next year).

Clyde checking on the rest of the tightly clumped group as he plays the ‘rearguard’ role

Four years later they are doing incredibly well in the 1 hectare forest environment, and the original 18 individuals have grown to over 40. Research carried out since the first day of their introduction ‘back to the forest’ indicates there little difference behaviourly between those born inside the forest enclosure and those wild born - a good indication for a successful reintroduction!

Matriarch Odudu enjoys some grooming from low ranking Banja, deep inside the enclosure

Other videos recently uploaded also include one on our released mona monkeys, ecotourism and one of our first world environment day parades. You can see these on the CERCOPANHQ channel. Enjoy!

Tags: rainforest ecotourism, reintroduction, rescued orphan monkeys

No responses yet

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Aug 28 2009 | By: cercopan

After almost a month of worry and sleepless nights, we finally raised the $3333 needed to pay our rent on 1st September!!!! Thanks to Wildlife Direct readers, our monkeys have a safe and secure home for another year. 

A huge thank you to all  Wildlife Direct readers who have given their support either via donations or the wonderfully uplifting posts we have received. Special thanks to Paula and the Willdlife Direct team who have been absolutely amazing and also to the anonymous donors on the website. I speak for everyone here when I say that knowing you were all with us every step of the way during this difficult month has made such a difference to us.

We could not have done this without you! I am sure that tonight for the first time in a long while I will sleep easy. I will also be sure to lift my glass to all of you when I celebrate this evening  

Baby Mangabey Pica, one of over 120 monkeys you have helped.

8 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Aug 28 2009 | By: cercopan

by Sam Trull 

Good news from CERCOPAN…after a period of prolonger recovery, Akai, an adult male putty-nosed monkey returned to his group for the first time in almost a year yesterday!  The problem started when the females of his group decided to join together to form a coalition against Akai. This led to his becoming very low ranking in the dominance hierarchy and as a result gave him less access to the highest quality food. Female putty’s can be very tough and unforgiving to males, especially if they want to mate and the male is not interested which seems to be how this situation initially began! His dispute with the females led to a nasty tail wound and a vitamin deficiency. As soon as we noticed that Akai’s health was deteriorating we took the difficult decision to separate him from his group in order to receive treatments, be monitored more closely and be fed up.  

Akai has had many ups and downs throughout the past year of his recovery.  After treating his vitamin deficiency first, CERCOPAN staff were able to focus on his tail wound. Tail wounds are notoriously difficult to treat and often do not heal well… if at all. Akai’s injuries ultimately resulted in four different amputation procedures, before the wound healed perfectly.  Luckily, the treatment and all of the care and attention worked wonders and shortly after he began to turn the corner, although it still took many months for him to recover completely.  Once Akai was fully healed, we began the process of re-introducing him to his group.

When an adult monkey is taken out of their group, they can’t simply just be put straight back in, a gradual re-introduction process must take place in order to avoid as much aggression as possible. About a month ago, Akai was placed in a satellite enclosure next to his group, so they could see each other 24 hours a day and interact, but not actually occupy the same space.  This allowed time for the monkeys to gradually get used to one another again through mesh and also allowed CERCOPAN staff to monitor their behavior and make sure that positive interactions were increasing and aggressive interactions decreasing over time.

Yesterday it was decided that Akai’s behavioral exchanges with his group were going very well and that it was time to try everyone together again.  Luckily, all monkeys have been getting along great and better still  Akai has re-entered the group with a much higher rank than when he left!  We will be sure to keep everyone posted on his progress.  It’s been a long road to recovery for Akai, but after seeing him forage with his friends again, I know that it was well worth the wait.

3 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Aug 25 2009 | By: cercopan

by Sam Trull

One of our most playful, fun-loving, and kind-hearted monkeys died last night.  Regiy was a three year-old putty-nosed monkey living in a group with 4 others.  He was often seen playing with his best friend in the group, Cross, taking turns jumping on each other or swinging on a rope.  One of my favorite monkeys to visit, Regiy always greeted me with a play gesture; turning around sticking his bottom high up in the air and then trying to pull my fingers through his legs so he could wrestle with them.  He would then proceed to pounce up and down on my hand with such intensity, that you would think I was the most fascinating toy he had ever encountered.  After a minute or two of greeting me, he would go back to playing with Cross as monkeys clearly have more fun with other monkeys.    

Regiy

Having arrived at CERCOPAN when just an infant, Regiy’s story is like so many other orphaned monkeys here at CERCOPAN.  His mother was shot a killed for the bush meat trade then he was ripped from her lifeless body and stranded in a market to be sold for a profit.  Even though Regiy’s life was short, he was at least one of the lucky ones.  He has spent the past three years playing, grooming, eating, and sun-bathing amongst other monkeys.

 Regiy with best friend Cross - always insepearable 

Just few minutes ago, I decided to take a walk outside.  I wanted to see how Cross was doing.  I wanted him to know that I too, was sad to see our friend go.  I started walking up to the enclosure and from a distance I could see Cross, next to the wire, sitting by himself.  I instantly felt bad for him as I wondered if he had been bored all morning, having lost his favorite playmate.   Stepping closer to him, we made eye contact and in that moment I think he knew why I was there.  Having placed my fingers next to the wire to say hello, Cross took one more glance at me then turned around.  As he then began to lift his bottom, like a wire was attached from his waist to the sky; I smiled at the hilarity of his posture and of course, I smiled for Regiy.

5 responses so far

Category: CERCOPAN supporters saving rainforests and orphaned mon, Cercopan, Monkeys, Nigeria, Orphaned baby monkeys, Saving endangered monkeys | Date: Aug 22 2009 | By: cercopan

Exactly a week ago, CERCOPAN staff rescued an as yet un-named infant putty nosed monkey female (see previous blog) with a seriously injured left hand.  In only a week, this young monkey has transformed from a traumatized little girl, into a confident and adventurous individual!  Not wanting to encourage too much movement of her hand she stays in a travel box most of the day, but does come out for play sessions around the volunteer office and living room, stopping occasionally to rest on the back of one of our chairs (see picture below). 

Truly a character, this monkey knows no fear!  She leaps around so happy to be free! Climbing everywhere and trying to use her broken hand.  She is also very vocal, and makes it known to me frequently when I am not paying her enough attention.  Enjoying the reassurance that my arms provide, she jumps into my chest every time something scares her or I call her back from a dangerous feat!  I can tell already, her progress is going to be interesting, and we will surely keep everyone posted!  Thanks to all for helping to support CERCOPAN, because of people like you we are able to take care of little monkeys like her. 

Tags: Cercopan, Conservation, Nigeria, Orphan monkeys, putty-nosed guenon, rehabilitation

3 responses so far

Category: CERCOPAN supporters saving rainforests and orphaned mon, Cercopan, Conservation, Monkeys, Nigeria, Orphaned baby monkeys, Saving endangered monkeys | Date: Aug 18 2009 | By: cercopan

Fantasic news…thanks to our wonderful readers out there, we only have $1182 left to raise towards our rent!!! Recent donations from Kathy S, Kevin C, James M, Brenton H, Mark H, Ji-in L, Harry V, James M, Julie T, Jennifer S, Wanda H and Christine C have brought us so close to our target and there are still 14 days to go. When we started this appeal with $3333 to raise in little over a month, it seemed almost impossible…..but now we are almost 2/3 of the way there. Thanks very much from everyone at CERCOPAN for getting us here.

For all of you wishing to help our cause, you can now also support CERCOPAN by using ‘everyclick’ as your search engine. Simply add everyclick to your favourites or as your home page (http://www.everyclick.com/cercopan) and then each search you undertake raises money for our organisation. Even if you only search a couple of times a day every click counts.  Encourage your friends to participate too!

Little Ema eating orange

Tags: African Wildlife, Cercopan, Conservation, Monkeys, Nigeria, Orpahan baby monkeys, rehabilitation

5 responses so far