Limbe Wildlife Center, Limbe, Cameroon – People and Gorillas
For years I'd been hearing and reading about the horrors of the
bushmeat trade - where animals, often endangered or threatened, are
killed for their meat - not for needed protein to sustain human populations,
but as a luxury, like caviar, to a growing middle and upper class. The
increased wealth of local populations is frequently the result of logging
interests, destroying old growth forests for quick, short-term profits.
The forests can regrow, given enough time, but for many species of animals
and plants, the rampant destruction currently going on will mean extinction.
Gorilla Haven
is designed to help captive gorillas lead more enriched lives. It makes
sense that we also be actively involved in helping gorillas in Africa,
where gorillas are extremely rare in captivity, and where their numbers
in the wild are dwindling fast, due to deforestation, human population
encroachment and the bushmeat trade. Unlike chimpanzees or monkeys, gorillas
seem to give up and die rather than endure the hellish lives captive primates
often face in Africa and elsewhere.
Inspired by stories in the IPPL Newsletters, Gorilla Haven has
supported the Limbe Wildlife Center for several years. In May 1999 I visited
Limbe to see first hand just how and if our money was being put to good
use. This was immediately confirmed when I met the people and animals
at Limbe, and saw how much could be done with relatively little money.
Zoos spend millions of dollars on fancy exhibits, which is a great way
to inspire and educate the public about the plight of animals in their
native habitats, as well as to provide a better life for their captive
charges. However, if a mere fraction of such spending could be sent to
help Limbe, the effects could/would be astounding. For US$ 50,000 a year,
Limbe can operate. For US$ 100,000 a year, Limbe can build larger, better
enclosures. For US$ 250,000 a year, Limbe can thrive and also expand their
unique and effective education program, the Limbe Wildlife Center Nature's
Club, into other parts of Cameroon, including the bush where hunting
endangered animals is unfortunately still accepted. Alas, currently they
cannot raise operating costs and each day is a struggle for survival.
It's clear without IPPL's, Gorilla Haven's and other's help, Limbe
wouldn't be as far along as they are today, but the need is constant and
the future is far from secure.
The goal of Limbe is to release all animals back to the wild, if and as
possible, but with great apes this is problematic, if not impossible,
since hand-reared or captive animals cannot survive in the wild. Hopefully
if funds are raised, Limbe will be able to release these gorillas (as
well as other animals) to a large preserve, where the animals can be protected
from hunters and provisioned, but left alone to live a life as free as
possible. When I visited Limbe the zoo consisted of all primates (oh,
yes, there was a crocodile and a snake too!), including 19 chimpanzees,
7 gorillas, a variety of monkeys including mangabeys and guenons, as well
as 12 of the high ly endangered drill baboons - over 80 individual
primates total. All the animals at Limbe started life as victims of the
bushmeat trade, survivors of massacres that killed their families. Such
survivals are rare, making their stories even more special.
Limbe's staff is remarkable. Linda Percy and Tony Chasar, two American
volunteers, worked tirelessly, assisting and training a staff of wonderful
Cameroonians. In July they left to go work at Ndoki in the Congo, replaced
by Jackie Belle, who’s continuing their good work at Limbe. Gorilla
keepers, Wilson, Bama and Jonathan are loving, eager and intelligent men
anxious to learn more. No one at Limbe, except Jonathan, who went to Jersey
for some training, has ever seen a silverback gorilla! Abel heads the
Nature's Club, where school children from all over can come to the zoo
(free of charge) to learn about the animals and the environment.
Many of the Limbe staff started working there as volunteers. The concept
of volunteering is usually a concept of wealthier nations, where each
day isn't spent just trying to survive. Since Limbe, like so many people in Africa, struggles to get by with the bare necessities (food, shelter,
healthcare, etc.), the idea that someone with the same struggles would
offer their time to work with no monetary reward in return is truly remarkable.
But remarkable people is why Limbe is so unique.
Stephen's story is classic: Raised in a hunting village, where bushmeat
and killing gorillas and chimps was routine, Stephen caught a viper (a
snake) one day and brought it to the zoo in the hopes of selling it. The
zoo had no money, but they said they'd take the snake and Stephen agreed
to come back later when they had money to give him. He kept returning
to the zoo for money that was never there, but in the process he started
to talk to the staff and observe the animals. Then he started volunteering,
helping around the zoo and before he knew it, he had a job working with
the drills. Today Stephen is a converted conservationist, who doesn't
eat meat and who returns home to his village to tell his father and the
village elders why bushmeat is not a good thing! His brother, Johnson,
is now a chimp keeper, so perhaps there will be at least one less village
hunting bushmeat!
But the gorillas were my main reason for going. Reading about Pitchou's
struggle to survive in the IPPL journals, I wanted to see her for myself.
I will confess I fought back tears several times during my 7 day stay
at Limbe, but they were all tears of joy tinged with the sadness that
such stories of survival were so rare. Pitchou was everything and more
that I thought she'd be. But so were the others: Nyango, Chella, Emma,
Evindi, Jumbo andBenito.
My last day in Limbe a French couple approached us, saying they had a
5 month old baby chimpanzee they were going to bring to the center. Linda
Percy had to turn them away, saying they simply didn't have the money
or the staff to take on the 24 hour demands of such a young baby. Linda
advised the couple to bring the chimp to the zoo in Yaounde, but later
she told me she had to do this horribly painful task of turning away animals
more times that she'd like. The center never pays for animals, so
this is getting out and now hunters know they won't be rewarded for
bringing baby primates to Limbe. Still, other well-meaning people will
pay for a primate baby, convinced they're doing the right thing,
even though they're just contributing to the trade in baby primates
unwittingly. Education is essential.
I'd traveled to Africa at least a dozen times, to southern and eastern
African countries. This was my first time to West/Central Africa and I
was amazed at the potential of Cameroon's people, the country and the
wildlife. The setting is magical, with Mt. Cameroon looming over Limbe,
a coastal village where the Atlantic Ocean gently laps against the shores
and Bioko Island, Equitorial Guinea silhouettes the sunsets each night.
That such a magical place is also the setting for the slaughter of so
many animals and the destruction of so much diversity, so forests can
be logged to meet the supply of ignorant or selfish western countries
is heart breaking. But ignorance doesn't have to have fatal consequences.
The problems of Africa are huge and often I hear people sighing that it's
too much for one person to handle. But one person CAN make a difference.
I saw the difference my money made at Limbe, in the smiles of the staff
and the well adjusted behaviors of the gorillas, who should be basket-cases
or dead, given their unfortunate histories. Even a small donation goes
so much further in Cameroon than it might in a western country.
The mere thought of Pitchou brings a smile to my heart and the money we
sent to help her more than a year ago remains the best investment we've
ever made.
Jane Dewar
Jane T. R. Dewar has a degree in linguistics. Gorilla Haven was established in 1997 "To make every captive gorilla's life as enriched and natural as possible, and to promote education about gorilla conservation in zoos and the wild". It is funded by the Dewar Wildlife Trust, a non-profit organization funded by J. and S. Dewar.
Photos: Jane Dewar
Pitchou and Benito