Orphan Gorilla Reintroduction: Lesio-Louna and Mpassa
The bushmeat trade has been recognised as the greatest threat to the
immediate survival of Africa's great apes. The current levels of
the commercial bushmeat trade threaten to eliminate the remaining populations
of great apes in West and Central Africa within the next half-century.
One result of the bushmeat trade has been the increase in the number of
orphaned infant gorillas, common chimpanzees and bonobos offered for sale
in major towns and cities throughout their distribution. These infants
ranging from a few months to 2 years old are too small to eat and a far
higher price can be found by offering them for sale as pets.
In a bid to counteract the trade in orphaned gorillas in the Republic
of Congo, the John Aspinall Foundation established an orphanage
in the capital city of Brazzaville in 1986. The orphanage project became
known as Projet Protection des Gorilles.
Projet Protection des Gorilles is a partnership between the John
Aspinall Foundation (previously the Howletts and Port Lympne Foundation),
a UK based charitable organization, and the Government of Congo. Its objectives:
- The confiscation, rehabilitation and release of western lowland gorillas
orphaned by the bush meat trade,
- The management and protection of the Lesio-Louna Reserve, the release
site for the orphans,
- Raising the awareness on a local, national and international scale of the bushmeat trade and the trade in orphan gorillas.
In Congo, gorillas are completely protected by law. By educating people about gorilla behaviour and gorilla societies, we believe we can help to curtail the drastic decline in wild gorilla populations. It is here that we can make our biggest contribution to great ape conservation by using our high visibility to push this message of conservation. This "tipping" process, educating ordinary citizens about the bushmeat trade and conservation issues, has already been seen to work with government agencies and ordinary people who have had contact with us. We believe that through education and awareness the message will diffuse throughout Congolese society helping to stem the bushmeat trade.
The Gorilla Confiscation Programme
Prior to the setting up of this project, the Government of Congo was
unable to apply internal laws relating to this trade, as there was no
outlet for the orphaned gorillas. The Brazzaville Zoological Park at that
time was under-funded, and not in a position to deal with the numbers
of orphans coming into the major towns for sale as pets.
Without the application of the laws concerning trade in gorilla orphans,
poachers could not only profit from the bushmeat of the parents, but also
go unhindered in the process of selling their offspring. With the advent
of the project, forestry officials had the opportunity to make a realistic
impact upon this trade whilst spreading the message that it would not
be tolerated. Meanwhile those confiscated orphans that survived now had
a future.
The Lesio-Louna Reserve
The project was initially sited at the Brazzaville Zoological Park where
orphans were taken for care and rehabilitation. These orphans have grown
up and formed stable "family" groups. One of the original aims
of the Rescue Centre was to release the orphans back into the wild and
to this end the project started looking for a suitable location.
Initial reconnaissance for a release site for the gorillas started in
the early 1990s and subsequently the Lesio-Louna Sanctuary was established
under the Ministry of Water and Forests in a decree dated 28 December
1993. The reserve covers an area of 45,000 ha and comprises a mosaic of
rolling tall grass savannah and gallery forests, which have over forty
species of plants, that constitute the gorillas' diet. Approximately
25% of the reserve is forested.
The climate is typical of equatorial regions with 1,400-1,600 mm of rain
annually. The dry season occurs between June and September and a prolonged
wet season starts in October and continues through to the following May.
A short dry season can occur in January/February but frequently is not
marked. The temperature is 20-30°C throughout the year with an almost
constant 80% humidity.
The site was chosen to run alongside the already existing Lefini Reserve,
in an effort to maximise the value of the two sites and in an effort to
pool resources. Originally designated a sanctuary under Congolese law,
the site has been gazetted as a reserve as of 31 December 1999.
Current Gorillas Status
In 1994 the first group of gorillas was taken to the Lesio-Louna Reserve
and this group of 6 were fully re-released in 1996. Since this date another
group of 7 has been released, and a third group of 10 is ready to take
its next step toward reintroduction in the near future.
The project was seriously affected by the 1997/1998 civil war and the
following instability in Congo, which forced our staff to orchestrate
a hair-raising evacuation of 13 juvenile and infant gorillas to JGI’s
(Jane Goodall Institute) Tchimpounga Reserve near the coastal town of
Pointe Noire. Five sub-adult gorillas already released remained in the
Reserve and survived the conflict. Yambo, the only sub-adult gorilla still
in an enclosure at the reserve narrowly escaped being shot by soldiers
looting our camp, saved by the entreaties of staff that had stayed behind.
Unfortunately Magne, a 14-year-old male and the last adult left at the
Brazzaville zoo died of an undiagnosed illness 2 days after being evacuated
to an island in the Conkouati reserve north of Pointe Noire. Having lived
most of his life in an enclosure, "Le Doyen", as visitors to
the zoo affectionately knew him, succumbed to the stresses of the fighting
and the long translocation.
One of the main changes caused by the war was the closing of the Brazzaville
Zoo orphanage and relocation of all operations to Lesio-Louna upon our
return from exile in November 1998. The orphanage was not missed, it was
a haven for disease no matter what preventative measures were taken. The
newly arrived orphans benefited enormously from being transferred directly
to the forest and seeing their healthy peers playing and eating; their
mortality rate was reduced drastically.
There are currently 2 groups of adults and sub-adults (with 2.2 and 2.1
members). Both groups are living self-sufficiently in the reserve. Another
group of 4.5 juveniles and infants is to be transferred further north
in the sanctuary outside of the other groups' range soon for a full release.
The gorillas currently released are surviving without supplementary feeding
and are in good health. Group dynamics have changed dramatically as the
groups age and expand their territories. Solitary males and their extensive
ranging habits have caused problems when wandering outside the reserve
but we do hope to translocate these males to an isolated band of forest
to the north of the reserve along the Lefini River.
La Mpassa
In 1998, with over 10 years of experience accumulated from the Congo
project, the John Aspinall Foundation set up an orphan gorilla project
in the neighbouring state of Gabon. The sanctuary is located in the region
of Haut Ogooué. It consists of around 171,800 ha of the Leconi
Plateaux (part of the Batéké Plateaux that incorporates
the Lesio-Louna Reserve across the border), including Lake Loulou and
in the area of the Mpassa River, (the southern border follows the southeastern
Gabonese-Congolese frontier).
As with the Lesio-Louna Reserve in the Congo, Mpassa has no recent reported
sighting of gorillas in the area although there is anecdotal evidence
of their presence until the 1950s before being hunted out. There has been
a recent sighting of a lone chimpanzee near camp but no groups, suggesting
that the riverine forest could be used as a corridor to the larger forest
block.
The Mpassa project benefits from the isolation of its position on the
Batéké Plateaux and the Mpassa River that separates the
human camp from the gorillas minimizing contact between the orphans and
their keeper handlers and fostering independence from an early age.
In October 1999 Kwam and Kwa Kwa, two-year-old males from Howletts, were
transferred from Kent to Gabon, the first captive-born gorillas to be
returned to the wild. Both adapted quickly to the forest and quickly established
their position in the group. They learnt almost immediately what could
be eaten and what could not, Kwam by eating everything and Kwa Kwa by
copying his more experienced peers.
Tragically Kwa Kwa died suddenly of appendicitis in February 2000, but
Kwam continues to do well, vying for the dominant male position with Marco,
another 6-year-old. Apart from a mug of milk supplemented twice per day,
all food is foraged by the gorillas themselves and Kwam’s captive
birth has not been a hindrance at all to his nest making at night. There
are currently 7.9 gorillas in the sanctuary.
The Future
Orphanage projects by nature are expensive but this does not diminish the important role that they play in conservation. The media interest and high visibility of this pioneering project means that the gorillas in the Lesio-Louna Reserve and Mpassa have become ambassadors for their species. Both projects are currently increasing their educational programs in the country to focus on the bushmeat trade in outlying villages and capital cities, each project acting as a springboard to launch the message of gorilla conservation.
Amos Courage, Ian Henderson and John Watkin
Amos Courage manages the African gorilla projects
for the John Aspinall Foundation. He coordinated the Congo project for
4 years.
Ian Henderson has been a coordinator at the Lesio-Louna Reserve,
Republic of Congo since May 2000.
John Watkin is an administrator at Lesio-Louna. He joined the project
in August 2000.
Photo: Amos Courage
The Mpassa area