Archive for the ‘Refuge Centre’ Category
Hi Everyone, As Chantal told you last week, my family and I took 12 days off. Since we started JACK two years ago, we had never had the opportunity to take more than 2-3 days off all together. When you are starting up a Centre like JACK, it isn’t easy to find a reliable person ready to take over such huge responsibilities. So, Chantal felt fine to run JACK on her own, obliged us to have a break and did an excellent job! THANK YOU again, Chantal, for having devoted your time to the Refuge and to the chimps! In a previous post, I spoke about the welding machine we ordered and wanted to buy with your donations. Well, a few days ago, Franck bought the machine and it is now at the refuge.
Because the price of the machine had been increased, Mister Deepak Parnami, the manager of the YAMAHA Shop of Lubumbashi, agreed to make a discount keeping thus the same amount as asked and collected thanks to your kindness. Thank you again, Mister Parmani ! The purchase of this machine is very very important. JACK must improve its facilities and provide better night accomodation to the growing chimpanzee orphans. The works will start in September and will be finished by the beginning of the rainy season (early November). I’ll keep you posted and will send you the pictures !!!
Again a great THANK YOU to all of you : this purchase couldn’t have taken place if you hadn’t sent JACK the money ! And, remember, your donations are crucial to the development of our small rescue center for young chimps seized by local authorities!!!
Roxane
My name is Chantal. I am a volunteer at JACK and I am also baby JAC’s “godmother” as JACK started a chimpanzee adoption programme a few months ago and I have adopted “JAC“.
Roxane and her family needed a well deserved vacation and I proposed to take care of the chimps during their absence. During the summer vacation (July and August) almost all expats go back to their home country and I was all by myself to assume that huge responsibility. But OK, there I was…..with all the recommendations given by Roxane (she left me with quite detailed instructions on whom to contact, what to buy, where to go, what to do, etc…) So let me tell you how a week looks like for Roxane (or at least, like I experienced it). First, you get up at 6.00 am, prepare the milk for the chimps, make sure the yoghurt, fruit, vegetables and bread are ready.
The last check before going to the refuge The day mobile must be loaded, the notebooks where the nannies make their daily reports must be read and, before leaving, you have to check if you need to take any medicine with you and see that the blankets for Mwisho and Coco are ready (they are in quarantine and it’s winter time so they need blankets for the day). My car is loaded and ready to leave
When you have everything, it is already 7.15 am and time to go to the refuge. At the refuge, the first thing to do is to check if electricity is on in the open enclosure and to see if all the nannies are present (most of the time there is one late…).
Checking the electrical fences Then, you have to hurry to feed the chimps who you know are impatient and don’t stand when we are late.
JAC too impatient an crying for his milk Because it is winter, you have to wait till the temperature is high enough (around 25°C) to let them in the open enclosure. While doing so,you check if there is no one that looks sick or hurt.
Once this is done, you collect the dirty blankets, the dirty bottles, the night mobile and check if anything is needed for the refuge. By then it is already 8.30-8.45 am.You bring the dirty things back for cleaning and start running for the food provisions. A call to the bread provider, another one to the papaya provider, another to the two farms (fruit or vegetables), to the store (for milk and other fruit if you need more than the farm can give) and you spend the day driving from one place to the other one (sometimes as far as 30 kms outside the city).
Collecting bread from a local bakery
Selecting fruit and collecting vegetables on farms
By 3.30 pm you must be back for the 2nd run of milk bottles: you prepare the bottles, make sure the night mobile is loaded, see if you have the food for all, prepare coffee (with sugar!) for the night team, count the blankets and put special eucalyptus oil on them (it prevents the cold). Preparing warm milk at Roxane’s place Then, again, you rush to the refuge (as already told, the babies don’t like to wait). At the centre, you must make sure to show only the milk bottles when you get in as Mwisho won’t accept his milk if he sees the food.
Last milk bottles of the day Once Mwisho and Coco of quarantine have had their drink, you prepare the fruit and vegetables in the night enclosure and get the babies in for their milk. Once this is done, you let them in the main night enclosure where they get their meal.
When everything is OK with the chimps, it’s time to take care of our two new little boarders: bush-babies. They usually come out of their “nest” around 5.00 pm and wait for us to feed them. They are just adorable.
JACK has started a new project with bushbabies, also eaten and poached in DRC By then, it is already around 5.15 pm and if everything has gone right, the nannies have now departed and the night team has arrived. You check the open enclosure, make sure the pool and the chimps’playground are clean and if there is no rubbish thrown by visitors.
Cleaning the refuge and the playground Then it’s almost night (sun goes down pretty early in Congo in the winter season) and time to go back home to clean the boxes and the milk bottles to start a new day. But this “ideal“ day occurs only once in a while. What I forgot to mention is that Roxane not only takes care of the refuge but she is also teaching, managing a hotel, updating JACK blog, taking care of her kids and husband ! She is just AMAZING! For me this has been an interesting experience though being all by myself was sometimes stressing especially as I live in the suburbs of Lubumbashi while Roxane lives in the center and, apart from the refuge, I had to take care of two dogs located in different parts of the city. Driving in Lubumbashi can be extremely irritating, not only because people don’t seem to know anything about driving rules but mainly because as a foreigner you keep being harassed by the local police who want you to pay them a drink: there is not a single day when I wasn’t stopped sometimes up to 3 times. Almost everything went well: one of the nannies got hurt and had to be hurried to hospital for sewing the deep cut she got as she was bleeding a lot. Mwisho took my finger instead of the banana I handed him and bit it: lucky for me it was a “gentle bite” and though it was painful and we could definitely see his teeth printed deep into my finger, he didn’t shut his mouth otherwise I would probably have only half a finger left over by now. Like in most parts of the city, we have no water since 72 hours at the refuge so I had to bring containers from Roxane’s place to fill in the big container we have at the refuge.
Water is needed to clean the blankets and the enclosures but also to prepare food and milk Shasa has now taught little Jac (Jac is my godson and he is the “naughty boy” of the group: he does all kinds of mischievous tricks but I just adore him) to bathe and they do this every morning and afternoon, sometimes taking up to four baths a day. Shasa bathes completely while Jac bathes till the waist. The other chimps don’t seem to like bathing as they never get into the water.
JAC bathing
JAC, my “naughty boy” in my arms Coco and Mwisho have become good friends and play together quite a lot which is real nice to watch. Coco had unfortunately caught a cold because Mwisho usually steals all his blankets and in the morning, we often find Coco with only one blanket while Mwisho has got 5. Today, Coco is doing fine and the flu has gone.
Coco and Mwisho playing Roxane and her family are coming back tomorrow at noon and l am leaving for Belgium tomorrow at 3.00 pm: THANKS GOD, the chimps are doing well, they are happy and safe Written by Chantal Jacques (volunteer at JACK refuge and Jac’s godmother)
Hi all! Just wanted to give you some update of Jac, our little friend I started blogging with…
Introduced into the main group last February, Jac received protection of the eldest female, Shasa.
SHASA taking care of Jac
Today, Jac has found his place in the main group and gets on well with all his mates.
Jac has made a lot of progress and his appearance has changed completely: compare both pictures below - you can hardly say it is the same baby chimpanzee… BEFORE (september 2007)
AFTER (June 2008)
Rescuing him has been a tough and stressful experience, but it was worth doing it! Jac has recovered all that pain he suffered from and now seems to be happy among the other chimps of our group… Dear Friends, although now each of you can see the donations on the blog, I do thank you again for your help and support. Donations are very important for the development of our Refuge. Thank you a lot! Roxane
Dear Friends, Today, I dedicate my post to a very particular lady from Sweden called Ing-Marie Persson. She runs a Trust called Sweden Chimpanzee Trust and has a park in Sweden named Furuvik.
Mrs. Ing-Marie and Manda The Sweden Chimpanzee Trust is a non-profit organization for the conservation of the endangered chimpanzees. It is coordinated with the Jane Goodall Institute, the Wild Chimpanzee foundation and Pan Africa Sanctuary Alliance(PASA).
Its role is (1) to actively support the preservation of chimpanzees, (2) to educate, inform and to raise public awareness on the situation of chimpanzees in Africa , and (3) to collect funds to support maintenance and research of chimpanzees’ natural habitat.
Mrs. Ing-Marie Persson and Dr. Jane Goodall Franck met Ing-Marie at the PASA meeting in TACUGAMA and since then we have become good friends .
Mrs. Ing-Marie, Mrs. Sheila Siddle and Franck Thank you Ing-Marie for your friendship and also for your trust in JACK ! I know we’ll do a long way together….
Roxane
Dear All, Last week, I remembered you about the money you sent end of April/early May for the purchase of the welding machine. The bank has called us saying your money finally arrived. But, when Franck went to buy the machine, bad news: no welding machine was left. Here, it’s always like this: once you see something very particular in a shop, you have to buy it at once !! So, JACK has immediately ordered a new one that will come midth /end of July. But, don’t worry, once again, I’ll keep you posted and send you the pictures of the machine.
Also, in addition to your single donations of May, we received your one-time donations of the previous months and wanted to show you what we did with this money.
We had no gate at the entrance of the Refuge Centre. Visitors very often managed to enter the complex, reached too easily the quarantine area putting the isolated chimpanzee babies at risk (quarantine place is close to the main entrance of the Refuge!!!) Therefore, we decided to put a gate to prevent anyone from coming in. BEFORE: NO GATE = NO SECURITY More things have to be done to improve the complex (build extra night facilities, bring electricity as we still have no power, add extra fencing around the complex). Proof of purchase But, today, and mainly thanks to your donations, security has been enforced ; this, again, is a new step in JACK’s everyday life. THANK YOU !!! Roxane
Sorry for editing so late; had to leave DRC for three weeks because of medical problems. Now, all is fine, and I can finally send you the latest news. It was a real pleasure to us to welcome Samantha Newport ( Communications Director of WildlifeDirect) end of last January. She had decided to come to Lubumbashi for 1 1/2 day in order to visit the Refuge Centre and also to train me in blogging. So, Franck and I knew we would spend just a few hours only with her and that the visit would be immensely short! Samantha appreciated a lot the Centre and loved to see all the young apes running and playing around in the main enclosure. CHITA had become her favorite chimp: he’s the alpha male and is an adorable and very pacific “boss”.
Samantha and Chita
Chita enjoying his milkbottle in Sam’s arms During her stay, Samantha noticed the different things that have been recently built thanks to your donations in order to improve security. Remember, in a previous post, I told you visitors liked to lean and climb/sit on the wall of the main enclosure to watch the chimps.
Visitors love to climb and to sit on the wall
Visitors But, today and thanks to your help, it is getting more difficult to do so, as with your donations: (1)a second electrical fence has been fixed above the first one and very close to the top of the wall to prevent people from sitting. It also represents an extra security as the chimp babies are now growing and might be interested in jumping over the wall…
Fixing a second electrical fence (2) boards have been drawn, painted and placed along the main enclosure: visitors must understand that it’s forbidden to feed the chimps.
New boards have been drawn (3) every weekend, when most visitors come, one young Congolese student, called Ghislain, stands at the entrance of the enclosure, welcomes visitors, gives any kind of details on what J.A.C.K. does and checks if people don’t throw things over the wall. He’s our first fence! Of course, there are surrogate mothers inside the enclosure with the babies, but when someone throws something, it goes too fast and it is sometimes too late!
Ghislain (white cap in the middle)giving details to visitors
Ghislain (4) since last weekend, an extra wired meche fence has been set up not far from the wall sothat people don’t even go too close to the enclosure any more. If you stand on that little hill, you still have a nice look of the chimps in their environment. Now, lets cross our fingers that visitors won’t climb onto the fence….
Placing an extra fence
Extra fence thanks to your donations
Visitors can still have a look at the chimps in their enclosure
Visitors can still observe the chimps Before ending, I really wish to apologize that I haven’t been able to write you earlier. Also, I do thank all of you for your patience and support. While I was away, we did receive the following donations: * Free donations: Lucia C (50$), Oliver T (25$) and Pirjo L (50$) * Monthly donations : Theresa S (30), Brigitta S (10) and Theresa S (10). Building this extra protection has been done thanks to your donations mainly and this is something we will never forget!Again, Sam, thanks to you for your indulgence (teaching me took a lot of your time!) and for your visit. Franck and I hope you’ll keep a good souvenir of these short moments spent together… Roxane, Franck and the Chimps
Good morning everyone! This post is very particular as it gives you more information on how we started. But, before giving you all these details, J.A.C.K. wishes to thank Theresa for her wonderful donation that will help us electrifying the day enclosure for the quarantine chimps. Quarantine babies will in that way enjoy an open air area full of trees instead of remaining in their quarantine cages. Thanks again, Theresa! Also, before reading, keep this in mind: J.A.C.K. is the name of our NGO, JAC is the baby that arrived last September (the little one you know already)and JAK is the first baby we started with. Well, our story started on April 6th 2006 when the FIRST seizure of a chimpanzee baby ever took place in Katanga. The sick little one had been seen for sale in Lubumbashi on the back of a bicycle and if Franck and my brother hadn’t called the director of Katanga National Parks (I.C.C.N.), the baby would have been sold.
JAK
JAK at the Zoo That’s the way JAK came into our lives. The authorities who had seized him brought him at the Lubumbashi Zoo. The baby was very dehydrated and suffered from terrible diarrheas. Having poor chances to survive, the authorities accepted to hand over JAK to Franck.
JAK handed over to Franck JAK was a young ape of about 1 and ½ year. When he arrived, he was very weak and couldn’t even walk!! He stayed with us for about 2 months.
JAK sick Meanwhile, other seizures took place in Lubumbashi and Kinshasa (capital of DRC) and, thanks to an agreement Franck had made with the director of Lubumbashi Zoo, we managed to get an old enclosure at the zoo where to put the babies. The abandoned enclosure was made of two small islands restored by Franck: the chimpanzees could run, play and enjoy the sun in their new open air enclosure that was surrounded by a moat. This was the beginning of our NGO.
The small island
4 happy chimpanzee orphans
On the island By September 2006, we were taking care of five little chimpanzee babies during day. There were four males (JAK, BACHI, CHITA and TOUZO) and one female, SHASA. JAK was doing great and had a very good friend: TOUZO. Inseparable, they shared the same games, the same nests.
JAK & TOUZO But our story went through terrible moments. On the 5th of September, very early in the morning, saboteurs set a fire in the night enclosure of the five sleeping babies. Three survived (CHITA, BACHI and SHASA), one died (JAK) and one was severely burnt (TOUZO).
JAK burnt to death
TOUZO severely burnt
TOUZO Franck and I were prostrated with grief. JAK had been the first baby chimpanzee we had started with and now he was gone forever….
Baby JAK
JAK Baby JAK had been taken away from us and we couldn’t let these cruel and barbaric people win. This sabotage was obviously meant to stop us, but we couldn’t stop all we had started. CHITA, BACHI, SHASA and TOUZO needed us more than ever and Franck and I decided to continue our work.
CHITA (on Franck’s back), BACHI (left) and SHASA (right) The manager of the Lubumbashi Zoo had insisted on burying JAK at the zoo, not far from the place the tragedy had occurred. Authorities and friends joined us on that very, very sad day.
JAK’s grave Thanks to Mr. Doug CRESS of PASA (Pan African Sanctuary Alliance) and to Mrs. Sylvia SIDDLE of CHIMFUNSHI WILDLIFE ORPHANAGE (Zambia), a Zambian vet qualified in third-degree burns was sent to Lubumbashi in order to help us. TOUZO was badly burnt as he had jumped through the flames. Special medical assistance was needed to give him another chance.
TOUZO
TOUZO TOUZO strove against pain for one week. The Zambian vet, Ian, did all he could to improve TOUZO’s condition and to heal his wounds.
Vet Ian and TOUZO
Vet Ian did a wonderful job! Thank you, Ian!! But the burnings caused severe damage to his little body: TOUZO was losing fingers and toes, his left eye was lost, his right ear was falling off and about 90 % of his body was peeling … Little TOUZO wouldn’t have been able to walk anymore as the muscles of his legs were completely destroyed.
TOUZO was dying and still loved to be hugged Little TOUZO died just one week after the fire. He now rests in peace next to JAK as they had been inseparable and very best friends.
JAK & TOUZO together to all eternity As I told you in my former post, “life here can be very tough”. Some of the pictures I have sent aren’t nice at all, sorry for that, but they are part of our history and people must exactly know what happened. This event was a real nightmare, and Franck and I were deeply affected because two very precious and cherished creatures had been taken away from us.
Farewell precious little ones… In order to keep that first seizure still alive in our minds, Franck and I decided to use JAK’s name for our NGO. To put emphasize on the seizures, a “C” was added to obtain “Jeunes Animaux Confisqués au Katanga” (= Young Confiscated Animals in Katanga). The tragedy was a tough experience, but it made us stronger as people around the world - and in DRC! - started to have some interest in our work and now we can feel we are no longer alone.
J.A.C.K. stands for Jeunes Animaux Confisqués au Katanga – Young Confiscated Animals in Katanga . It is a self-funded NGO set up by Franck and I in 2006 in Lubumbashi , capital of the Southern Congolese province of Katanga .
DRC & Katanga What you must know before I start telling you our story is that DRC had ratified CITES agreements protecting Great Apes in 1976 and that, since then, nothing has been done to protect Chimpanzees throughout Katanga .
Chimps for sale on a market (2006) For years, we have seen babies used as pets in expatriate families, and we have witnessed these poor little ones being sold for small change on the streets of Lubumbashi .
Chimp for sale, 1995 Over the past 13 years, Franck has recorded alarming observations of ape infants arriving in Lubumbashi for the local ‘pet’ demand or heading for Zambia and South Africa for international trade. In 1995, Franck asked worldwide wildlife conservation institutions to do something. But, the answer was: ”DRC (former Zaïre) is a dangerous country: due to its political unrest, no action can be taken”. It was clear that nobody wanted to help nor to be involved.
Chimp for sale, 1996 Franck’s informal report emphasized two main appalling facts which, unfortunately, are still valid today: (1) Per month, about 3 babies are passing through Lubumbashi . If you keep in mind that an estimated 10 animals die for every baby taken, an average of 30 chimpanzees die per month and over 400 are lost from the wild every year… Over the ten year period since records began, therefore, the traffic through Lubumbashi alone accounts for in excess of 4000 chimpanzees lost…
Baby chimpanzee for sale at Kindu market (2) Poachers do capture young infants on demand. People “ordering” young chimpanzees are expatriates, but also members of the Congolese Army and other “high ranking” Congolese who use their uniforms or their power to detain, smuggle and sell little chimpanzees.
Beaten up, hardly fed and died as authorities couldn’t seize him; this poor little one belonged to a Congolese soldier. It is not in the local mentality to protect wildlife. Most of the country is underfed and eats what can be eaten. A good example of this can be seen in their Swahili language: the word for “wildlife” (“nyama ”) is the same word used for “meat”. Great Apes are a valuable dish in Northern and Western DRC , and also in the North of Katanga.
Bushmeat People here just ignore that Chimpanzees and Great Apes are protected and continue their ancestral habits of hunting and killing these wonderful animals. One Congolese tribe believes that if you cook and crush the bones of an ape, the child who will drink this powder will be as strong as the chimpanzee that was assassinated…. Local beliefs are still very strong, mainly in the forests, and do play a part in the Great Ape extinction.
Bushmeat So, Franck and I couldn’t stay observing and see all these horrible things happen here in Lubumbashi. We wanted to do something to help Great Apes. Therefore, our Chimpanzee Refuge Centre was created in 2006 and the NGO J.A.C.K. now exists to facilitate wildlife confiscations by the authorities through providing a safe place for the orphans to live for the time being. Another post is coming soon about the way we really started, as here, you’ll see, life can sometimes be very tough! J.A.C.K. Dear Theresa, thank you so much for your prayers and for your donation (100$). More details on Jac and the other 12 orphans will be posted soon. Zamba & Doguy |
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