Chimpanzee Conservation Centre

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Oct 19 2009 | By: chris colin

I am sorry for not sending any news recently but I got fresh news yesterday and today.

 At the sanctuary:

Fatim is still doing great even if she gets some throat problems (her tonsils are swollen). Melanie, our vet, thinks she might have a local infection because her immune system is still low. But her general attitude is excellent, she plays, eats, drinks! Only her voice is distorted, like a smoker’s voice! Melanie started some antibiotics to help her to face this small infection and Fatim is still under Fluconazole, the mass has completly disappeared now but we have to continue for one month after the last symptoms.

-Coco is our oldest chimp, we think he is about 27. We rescued him in March 2000. I will explain you more about him in a next post as his story is long. He was not doing well at all during the past weeks, refusing to eat and play. And suddenly he started to eat again! A mystery!

From the release site:

- Nanou had been seen carrying a corps of a small mamal, maybe a primate but it could not been confirmed as she refused to be approched enough. When she was last seen, it was gone unfortunately! Maybe she had a miscarriage or it was an animal prey she hunted. If it is a miscarriage, it is not abnormal as Nanou is a young adult female, she never gave birth before and it is the firts year of the release. In any case, nobody noticed any sign of pregnancy. 

The others are doing great, Zira is still hanging out with her wild friends!

For the bad news, Matthieu, our manager, gave me a call an hour ago. The boat engine broke down this morning while they were coming back from the release camp. Matthieu and Mamadi, our boat driver, had to walk 10kms back to the Center. They may be able to get  it repared in Faranah tomorrow if it is not serious but if it is serious, they will have to take it to Conakry where we can find boat mecanics. But this engine is really old and we have been encountering more and more problems with it. Therefore there is no telling wether it can be repaired at all. Ideally if we had enough money we could buy a good second hand or a new engine in Conakry directly. We use the boat to move back and forth between the sanctuary and the release site and I do not know how they are going to manage at the moment. Wether the old one can be repaired or not, we will need to get a new one, I will keep you posted on the situation.  Keep an eye open!

Matthieu in the boat!

Take care!