J.A.C.K.

Athanga, Bihati and Padda are doing well.

Yes, dear Friends, although Bihati and Athanga had slight flu upon arrival now all is fine and this was certainly due to the climate changes (Kivu is a bit warmer than Katanga!).

It is a good thing their caretaker, Papa Faustin, came with them to assist them in their new life.

Padda, the youngest male, likes to demonstrate his strength and is always trying to intimidate once you come close.

His right ear has a real particular shape and maybe it was caught in a snare…

Bihati is a lovely young female who really loves contact and plenty of attention.

She has one particularity: her right hand is completely black. It apparently wasn’t burnt, but she actually has something like a big black stain on the upper side of her right hand.

Athanga, although extremely strong, is very quiet and loves to be touched too.

Our team is very impressed as Athanga’s face is similar to Pasa’s and they both really look like brothers.

I know, these chimps are – again! – in cages and behind bars. But because they have been checked by the MOUNTAIN GORILLA VETERINARY PROJECT which said they are healthy, these three new orphans won’t stay that long in their quarantine facility. We need a few weeks to get to know them and vice versa and I’m sure by mid April they’ll be presented to the main group of J.A.C.K. Again, a new experience will then be offered to them….

I’ll update again soon

Thank You,

Roxane

Hi Everyone!

The 3 abandoned chimps from Goma I talked about early last February finally arrived at the J.A.C.K. Sanctuary in Lubumbashi.

It has been very tough to find a means of transfer for these three youngsters as the fastest way, of course, is to transport them by air. Goma isn’t that far from Lubumbashi, but there aren’t a lot of planes flying directly and not a lot of flying companies agree to load chimps.

Remember, I told you the 3 young chimps (+ 2 adults) had been abandoned by expats wishing to start a sanctuary and who simply left the country as they could no longer afford taking care of the animals.

J.A.C.K. agreed  to take the 3 younger ones (2 males and 1 female) because we had no facilities available yet for the two adults who are said to be sent to Lwiro.

This rescue and transfer couldn’t be possible without the participation of a strong team made of different associations and NGOs.

Bihati, the female

J.A.C.K. wishes to thank the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA) which covered all the food and transfer expenses with funding supplied primarily from the International Primate Protection League (IPPL) – UK, in association with the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund’s Rapid Response Fund, the Columbus Zoo, and PASA itself.

The I.C.C.N. played an important role too as the animals were confiscated by the local authorities and I.C.C.N. organised all the paper work.

We won’t forget the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project team which did all the health checks, visited the chimps regularly and prepared the chimps for the flight to Lubumbashi.

Thanks of course to Sam and Eddy and the African Conservation Fund which followed each steps of the transfer and of course managed to get the flight straight to Lubumbashi.

Attangha relaxing

Attangha, Bihati and Padda are now adjusting to their new life and great thanks to Papa Faustin who has been working with them for several weeks now and who has agreed to fly to Lubumbashi in order to help us to assist the newcomers and give them the love and care they deserve.

Before I end, J.A.C.K. wants to thanks its donors : PASA, the Sweden Chimpanzee Trust, Little Jak Association, le Parc Zoologique de Saint Martin la Plaine, le Zoo de la Palmyre, Kitty and her friends/family from Johannesburg, BELL Equipment and YOU, friends of J.A.C.K. who have donated on our wildlifedirect blog and helped us building new facilities so as to be able to accomodate these new chimpanzees.

Padda, the youngest male

Roxane

Yes, friends of J.A.C.K., the twins that have had their quarantine period at my place are now at the project and…. introduced to Santa’s group!

 Bapu and Pundu when they arrived last November

Bapu and Pundu were in an extremely bad condition when they arrived last November and because both completely recovered, put on weight and had a sens again in life, we decided to present them to the other babies.

 presentations…

All went well. Papa Augustin stayed with them during the presentations.

 Although very shy Pundu seemed to be extremely happy to meet other chimps.  It was Santa who hugged him first!!!

Bapu staying close to Papa Augustin

Bapu made a lot of noises, showed she could intimidate the others but she was content too!

Bapu chasing Maïka (left) and Santa hugging Pundu (right)

We are happy all was fine and that they now can enjoy a “chimp” life with the others!

I already miss these everlasting sleepless nights I took care of you… But I am soooo proud of you! Well done, the Pundus!

Roxane

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.

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.

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

Hi Everyone!

Hope all is well for each of you!

Yesterday we had the spectacular visit of big red ants which is rather scary as chimps do not like these crawling little animals moving rapidly and… biting so hard once felt under attack!

We actually couldn’t open the gates to put the chimps of the main group in their open air enclosure: “highways” (columns) of safari ants were crossing the place from one side to another. So, in the morning, Mwisho and his group were kept inside.

But then, the ants started invading the night facilities where the group had been held. I know by experience that when these ants have decided to go through one place, you’d rather let them pass instead of trying to chase them away; this makes the problem worse as the column spreads (picture below) in search for another way…

What I use to keep them away? A tip from my Grandma: mix flour and salt and protect the places where you don’t want the ants to enter. The flour reduces their rapidity in moving (it’s like they are stuck in the mud!) and the salt stings them… So, they’ll pass their way. It usually works!

When protecting the enclosures with flour, it seemed we had had snow in Lubumbashi and because I had to put some  mixture inside the night facilities, the chimps (especially Bachi and Chita!) had real fun in playing with the white powder! (first picture below)

The safari ants left the main outside enclosure around 2 pm. Mwisho and his friends could finally enjoy the open air playground and we were lucky at night the ants didn’t come back! They still were inside the complex, but didn’t return to the enclosures.  It is raining this morning, so maybe they’ll have gone by the end of the day.

No chimp was really attacked, except Elia who got bitten many times and who managed to kill the few ants climbing on her legs. Elia is fine and I’m sure these bad times now belong to the past!

Roxane

Dear All,

The 3 expected chimps from Kivu didn’t arrive. Chimps being unpredictable, we have been told one chimp refused to get into the crate.

Franck and I were very disappointed as the last three weeks had been constant work to finalize everything before the arrival of the new comers…

We still don’t know when the animals will come. The flying company we have worked with so far no longer flights between Goma and Lubumbashi and it won’t be easy to find another company ready to board 3 chimpanzees and Faustin…

© 2009 Pierre

I’ll keep you informed once we get confirmation of transfer. I don’t think it’ll be for this week….

Thank you,

Roxane

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

Sorry for updating so late: power cuts have been part of our every day life for the last weeks not to mention the heavy rains preventing any Internet connection.

Remember, some days ago, Rosie was introduced to the baby group. She has now found a place in this group and Santa is taking good care of her. On the picture below, Santa is hugging both Rosie (left) and Dian…

This time, Pasa and Africa, the 2 eldest babies of the ‘Kivu 4′ group that arrived last year in February have started their introduction program.

Yes, because J.A.C.K. is running out of space and must get funds to build extra quarantine facilities, we have no other choice than present chimps to one another (if they are ready and strong to do so!) and to empty our current facilities…

At first, both have been introduced to the big open air enclosure of the main group. The group was already inside for the night and Pasa and Africa have been allowed to discover this new area.

It seemed they were completely lost!

Then, the little ones have had the opportunity to meet young members of the main group.

Pasa and Africa do get on well with youngsters such as Doguy, Zamba, Wanza. Our dominant female, Shasa, also does take good care of them and this is a good sign.

But it was high time Africa and Pasa met ‘the boss’: Mwisho, the alpha male. The first presentations went well and Mwisho really appeared to be protective.

The second day (yesterday) was horrible: once the gate open, Mwisho simply attacked to 2 babies who tried to run away and sought for help and protection from us….

Today, Africa and Pasa spent some time with the others of the main group, not with Mwisho as we absolutely wanted the babies to get confidence in the chimps again…

What about Dian?

Dian, the 3rd baby of the ‘Kivu 4′ and because of her very young age, she still remains with the others of the baby group. When rains are not pouring and devastating everything, Mama Angeline and I take these little ones in the small bush we have around the project and they all enjoy climbing and playing in the trees…

I’ll try to come back soon with more news

Thank You,

roxane

Dear All,

124.025 visitors came at our project for free last year among which 80% were kids from different schools!

Conservation and Education go together and a free entrance is also a way to make more and more local people  aware about Environment, about Wildlife and Protection of their national patrimony.

J.A.C.K. needs you to continue having these visitors for free and wish you to continue participating in our action. It is essential for Great Apes that more and more people get interested in their Environment. So, any donation is always more than welcome!

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

Roxane

Hi Friends of J.A.C.K.

Now that 2009 is completely over, I wish to send YOU all our Best J.A.C.K. Wishes for this Year 2010 !

Today, I’ll share the first picture taken at our J.A.C.K. complex : the introduction of little Rosie in the baby group!

Yes! She made it!  And Santa was always behind to protect her…..

!

Pasa (left), Rosie (middle) and Dian (right)

The J.A.C.K. baby chimp group is now made of 7 little ones aged between 1 and 1/2 and almost 3 years old.

Another surprise, the first 2010 footage : Pundu playing with his best friend Gismo, the cat… Enjoy!

Franck and I thank you all for your encouragements and support given in 2009 and hope you still will be with us in 2010.

We also want to thank each member of our precious team. They worked hard in 2009 and some  even have assisted us instead of taking their days off. Papa Augustin, Mama Maguy and all the others,  thank you for your Devotion and for the Love you have for these wonderful babies…

A  PROSPEROUS  NEW  YEAR  TO  ALL  OF  YOU!

Roxane

Hi Everyone!

As to definitely say goodbey to the year 2009 and to end  on a very good note, Franck & I wished to share this particular event with you!

You all know that J.A.C.K. takes care of chimpanzee and galago orphans. This time, J.A.C.K. wanted to do something different. This time, J.A.C.K. decided to organise an unusual event for  young Congolese orphans.

That’s why, on December 24th, about 100 orphan children from Lubumbashi were invited at the J.A.C.K. complex for Christmas.

Madam Thérèse Lukenge Kapibwe, Provincial Minister of Education, Youth, Scientific Research, Woman’s condition and Family,  had also been invited to participate at the event ….

and so were the medias.

The children sang and seemed happy to be at J.A.C.K.  

Most of the faces changed a few minutes later when Father Christmas arrived with his hands full of presents!

Curiosity but also…. fear,  happiness and joy was seen on every faces…

Each child received a Christmas present which was a red bag full of toys, cookies and school items.

Later on, a Christmas lunch was offered to all of them!

But we insist on the fact that our small NGO couldn’t organise this all alone. We had good friends and local donors assisting us . But there was ONE main local sponsor whose generosity has been without limits: the Trust Merchant Bank.

Thanks to the TMB Bank, J.A.C.K. has been able to offer a few moments of joy to orphan kids as for most of them, it was the first time they had met Father Christmas …

Thanks to the TMB Bank, J.A.C.K. organised a big lunch for all these excited kids who are not used to have Christmas parties…

Thanks to the TMB Bank, J.A.C.K. has been given the opportunity to make more people aware about what is going on with Great Apes in the DRC as these  children of today will be the leaders of tomorrow!

Great thanks to the TRUST MECRHANT BANK for this wonderful support! It was appreciated by everyone especially by the kids!

Also, we keep on reminding you that J.A.C.K. is a small NGO and that we need your help to continue taking care of the 29 orphan chimpanzees of the Refuge. J.A.C.K. must develop its education program. 3 new chimpanzees are due to arrive soon from Kivu. J.A.C.K. hasn’t collected the funds necessary to build the extra quarantine enclosure. Please, if you can, donate now… 

Thank YOU for THEM!

Roxane & Franck