J.A.C.K.

Dear Friends of J.A.C.K.,

Yesterday, most of the youngsters of the chimp nursery group were gathered around the fake termite hill because we had organised their favourite treat inside: some honey and some strawberry jam …

All had small sticks to ‘fish’ for the treat except young female Maïka who decided she would steal Dian’s…

This of course ended in a fight as Dian didn’t want to share her place nor the thin stick she had found to fish for honey….

Yes, dear Friends, this is wonderful news: young female Kina who was recently suffering of severe eye infection is now back in her group which we hope will help her recover totally!

Kina isolated

Because Kina’s eyes had been terribly swollen and because she had been kept isolated in a semi-dark quarantine facility, Kina pulled away some small parts of skin around her eyes as if she had been trying to facilitate her sight. Local antibiotic ointment worked very well. Her infected eyes and open wounds were cleaned on a daily basis and the vet decided she would return into the group to make her recover more easily…

Kina back with the others!

Kina’s eyes are being cleaned every day, especially in the evening when back in the night facilities, and antibiotic ointment is still used to be sure no other bacteria might interfere in the eye recovery…

Kina enjoying enrichment

Today, Kina has a very particular look: her eyes are have now a slight pink colour where he has pulled away the skin… We really hope this nightmare will come to an end very soon because Kina has given J.A.C.K. team sleepless nights!

Kina’s new “look”

J.A.C.K.

Yes, rainy season is coming soon and the 7 members of our team really need new strong boots. If you think you can donate and offer our team  good boots, please, join us on the Paypal button on top right of this webpage.

Many thanks for what you can do for our caregivers!!!

J.A.C.K.

YES!

Again great news!

Lynn, one of our recent arrivals who has been staying with us at home for several weeks  has been checked by our vet Jean-Claude and is now ready to be introduced!

Lynn having fun in the trees of our garden

Remember, Lynn was staying at our place because of the  bad weather (it is still winter here!) and because quarantine facilities were too cold especially at night and early in the morning…

Lynn bored in the garden

Lynn was feeling extremely bored. Our garden had no secrets any more for her and although Papa Marcel did all he could to keep her busy, you could feel she was longing for something else…

Therefore, Lynn got  slightly sedated the other day for a general check-up including TB-Tests that were kindly donated by a friend of J.A.C.K., Stephany J. Thank you again for this, Stephany!

Lynn TB-tested by Vet Jean-Claude

Lynn will be transferred to the sanctuary tomorrow, and, of course, I’ll keep you updated!

Lynn

Have a nice day!

Roxane

Dearest Friends of J.A.C.K.

Many of you responded immediately to our appeal sent last week. As a result, our small sanctuary was donated 1045 USD and 400 EUROS ,  which will allow us the coming weeks to continue giving the best care as well as a safe, caring home to these wonderful creatures …

Special pant hoots from our orphans to Fran B., Amy M., Oliver T., Alain S., Marc H., Jacqueline M., Brenton H., Kinzli, Wade F., Kathy S., Cherie B., Patti C., Kim H., Sherri S., Christine C., Wanda H, Marie-Odile L., Eychenne E., Katherine Sp., Ryan K. and to Ine W for their generosity.

Thank You for supporting the orphan chimps rescued by J.A.C.K.. Times are hard in the DRC and your support is greatly appreciated!!!

J.A.C.K.

Dear All,

Remember, last November, 3 babies chimpanzees were transferred to my house because   (1) Tommy had severe bone infection, (2) rains and cold weather  started and (3) we didn’t have appropriated facilities for these very little ones…

Thanks to your donation and the support of our sponsors*, an extra infant facility is being build so that the young ones can have a dry and clean place to stay during long days of rain and cold.

The infant group wishes to thank the following donors who supported via our Wildlife Direct website: Elise S (50USD), Oliver T (25USD), Nathalie H (170USD), Petra/Sasha (200USD), Kinzli (250USD), Amy M (10USD), and John D (25USD).

Tommy also thanks Marc H. for having sent 25USD to buy bandages and Shasa, the dominant female of our main group, is grateful to Renato B. for his generous donation (100USD).

Don’t forget that J.A.C.K. is living on donations only and that your precious aid goes straight to the welfare of our boarders!!

J.AC.K. Sanctuary

* a special post will be dedicated to our sponsors

Dear All!

Yes, we have now ‘bread ‘ hunters at J.A.C.K. as every morning, to get the infants out of their night quarters, we hide pieces of bread in the open air enclosure and they just run for the food!

Pundu in front of the picture

Pundu is the best hunter and the fastest too!

hiding bread in the trees

Before the gates are opened, the person in charge of the infant group  has to hide bread.  It was Mama Maguy’s turn yesterday.

Maman Maguy hiding bread

This is part of enrichment and it trains the chimps to hunt for their food.

Maman Maguy

 Remember, the orphans at J.A.C.K. will one day return to the wild and must learn food comes from the forest and not from humans…

once the gates are open, the infants can "hunt" --- Pundu is top right with his hands full!!

Thank You,

J.A.C.K.

Dear All,

If you have a look down at Lubumbashi from a plane, you can see that the entire city is hidden under a huge cloud of dust!

Many people don’t like this period as dust enters any corner of the house, covers the most colourful trees and flowers of  your garden and keeps your hands and clothes dusty any time.

The chimps of our sanctuary actually don’t bother at all (except  young Doguy whose right eye is crying  during day when being in the open air enclosure!).

dusty dry season

 Most of them do play in the dust or even roll into it!

playing in the dust

I was lucky I had my camera with at feeding time last night. The infant group had played all day long in its outside quarter and when all of them came in for their milk, each of them had turned into little ghosts…

Maïka

Maïka had the most spectacular face: it seemed she was ready to go to a Halloween party with her white face and her red lipstick!

Maïka white face and red lips!

Elia, Pundu, Bapu and Santa, Dian … all had natural make-up on…

Elia

Pundu

Bapu & Santa

Dian

I believe Rosie was the only one who looked neat and clean…

Rosie, clean

… because even Kimo was ready to party too!!!

Kimo

J.A.C.K.

Dear All,

Eliawas introduced to the infant group about 1 month ago. Although no longer infant herself, it was suggested  to put her with younger ones to stimulate her brain and to help her in her autistic behaviour.

This young female now seems to see life differently!

Elia (top) playing with Kimo

Yes, Elia plays all day long, runs with the other chimps, hugs them and even fights with them! [kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/Y_qOT8oAO9E" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /] On the footage, Elia is the tallest chimp teasing Maman Angéline and who likes to sit on the tyre.

Elia  still has her plastic bottle with her at night and doesn’t mind now to share it with her friends during day!

Elia a few minutes ago...

At night, Elia sleeps with baby Maïka who was actually the first infant we introduced her at the early beginning of presentations with members of the infant group.

Elia (right)

Today, Elia has become part of the infant group and we are happy Elia is progressing well because another great news is that she hasn’t had any of her rocking movements since she entered the group!

Elia (2nd left) playing with the others of the group

Well done Elia! We are again very proud of you!

J.A.C.K.

Hi Everyone!

As previously mentioned, J.A.C.K. is also a bushbaby or galago project.

These little mammals are poached for their meat and because of their small size, about 3 to 5 adult galagos are needed to compose a local dish.

© Barry Kok ........ http://www.pbase.com/barrykok/bushmeat

Galagos are nocturnals. They sleep in the trunks of big trees and live on insects, fruit, tree gums and other small mammals. They are extremely vulnerable…

At J.A.C.K. we now take care of 5 young galago males.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/S197YTl0rhg" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Thanks to a huge French foundation protecting animals, la Fondation Brigitte Bardot, J.A.C.K. has been able to improve its former galago installations and to build brand new ones.

 Building of new galago enclosure s

 Enclosure nearly finished

 Transfer of young galago 

 Galago in new facility

3 new enclosures have been recently built and 4 old ones have been completely modified.

J.A.C.K. really thanks the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for its trust and for its kind generosity.

Tout grand MERCI à la Fondation Brigitte Bardot pour son aide précieuse mais aussi pour la confiance qu’elle témoigne au projet de J.A.C.K.

The aim of J.A.C.K. is to release these animals. They will also go onto the land we have found to start the next step of our sanctuary: the pre-release. The galagos of our project deserve their place into the forest too…

Thank you,

Roxane