News from the Lwiro Chimpanzees

The CRSN - Centre de Recherche en Sciences Naturelles - in Lwiro was built by the Belgians in the 1950s as a centre for natural research including mammals, birds, reptiles and flora as well as seismic activities. The recent wars in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have left the centre without many international researchers and the Congolese researchers that remain are underfunded. During the years of research, CRSN kept 2 chimpanzees and 3 gorillas, as well as other small mammals, reptiles and birds.
The ICCN (Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature) are constantly struggling with the illegal private possession of wild animals like monkeys, chimpanzees and gorillas. Their confiscation efforts would be obsolete if they had nowhere to relocate these animals and they approached the CRSN to accommodate confiscated primates. The research facilities were initially able to accommodate a few animals but are no longer sufficient for the amount of animals currently at the centre.
There are currently 28 chimpanzees and 29 monkeys (of various species) at Lwiro Sanctuary. Many of the chimps were confiscated by the ICCN in and around Bukavu and neighbouring villages. The ages of the current chimps are mixed. We usually receive them as infants and two chimps are now about 8 years old. There is another group of 5-year-olds, about 7 chimps that are 2-3 years old, and the new chimps that have arrived in the past year are between a few months and a year old. The groups are structured according to age but we are slowly integrating the younger ones. As we are able to built larger enclosures, more chimps can be integrated.
AWARE Norway, South Africa and Germany as well as the JGI (Jane Goodall Institute) Uganda and Co-opera (a Spanish NGO) are actively fundraising for construction materials, salaries for local staff and food and veterinary supplies for the animals.
For now, we aim to provide the best care for confiscated primates with a focus on increasing their enclosure spaces in order for them to form healthy relationships in balanced groups. Balanced feeding, veterinary care and enrichment will ensure their physical and mental wellbeing. Future plans for the primates at the Lwiro Sanctuary include a release project into the adjacent Kahuzi-Biega National Park. This, however, can only be done when their safety back in the forests can be ensured.

About our Work
AWARE was founded by myself and Nicole Geller in 2005. We had worked together at a baboon sanctuary in South Africa (CARE) and in a few other wildlife rehabilitation centres and sanctuaries in southern and central Africa (SANCCOB and Wildcare in the Cape, Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Uganda, Sanaga Yong Chimpanzee Rescue Centre in Cameroon). We realized the great problems that are faced by wildlife sanctuaries and rehabilitation centres in Africa. Often, the smaller organisations are insufficiently funded and, although their work is invaluable, they are unable to function effectively. We decided to create an organisation that could support various wildlife projects that needed funding and that we had personally been a part of. We identified Lwiro as a very needy project because it was relatively new and did not have backing from the bigger supporters. I started work in Goma where 5 chimps had been confiscated by JGI-Goma field staff. Their destination was Lwiro and they were moved there in January 2007.
AWARE has added a branch, and we are now AWARE-South Africa (chaired by myself), Germany (chaired by Nicole) and Norway (chaired by Hildegunn Johannesen - who is currently volunteering at Lwiro). We are still a very small non-profit organisation, but our goals are to assist sanctuaries that we have been involved in and to raise environmental awareness in our own countries. Our website is www.aware-africa.org. We also have a blog site that volunteers update. Hildegunn has just added some of the latest happenings.
Carmen Vidal (Co-opera) has started some serious work since she arrived at Lwiro in September 2006. She has been able to put in new roofing and enclose some areas to increase the spaces for the chimps. She has also been able to carry out the necessary veterinary procedures to ensure the chimps and monkeys get the best care. Carmen, Hildegunn and Rachel Simmelmann (a volunteer from Australia), along with the Congolese staff, are speeding ahead with construction for both chimps and monkeys, and are also working on reforestation of the surrounding area.

Liz Roodt and AWARE

Liz Roodt worked with CARE-Phalaborwa, a wildlife rehabilitation centre. Her volunteer work included the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Uganda and the Sanaga Yong Chimpanzee Rescue Centre in Cameroon, before she started in Lwiro, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

D. R. Congo Overview

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