Reports on Rescue Orphaned Primates

Oct 6, 2015

Can Educating Children in Cameroon Protect Apes?

Please give at http://www.pasaprimates.org/donate

Dear Friends,

I’m excited to tell you about a new project to bring wildlife conservation to every student in Cameroon, as well as a conference PASA will hold to empower primate sanctuaries across Africa and presentations in the U.S. by founders and directors of African sanctuaries. Thank you for making it all possible through your generous support.

Project to Add Conservation Education to Cameroon’s National Education Curriculum

PASA (the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance) recently held a workshop in collaboration with Cameroon’s three PASA member sanctuaries: Ape Action Africa, Limbe Wildlife Centre, and Sanaga-Yong Rescue Center. The workshop participants agreed that the greatest threat to Cameroon’s great apes is human intrusion into primate habitat and the resulting brutal killings and capture of the animals. These sanctuaries conduct community engagement programs that produce long-term improvements in the welfare of primates in their local areas but they don’t have the resources needed to expand this work to a national scale.

The key outcome of the workshop was a plan to add wildlife conservation to Cameroon’s national education curriculum, to educate every student in the country and produce an important and long-lasting shift in the thinking of the people of Cameroon. PASA and the sanctuaries intend to conduct a fairly short-term project with very a long-lasting and widespread impact: every student in Cameroon will have a better appreciation of wildlife. The program will have a vital role in preventing the extinction of Cameroon’s great apes.

Protect great apes by helping to make this important project a reality. To learn more about this and other programs for Africa’s primates, please visit PASA's website at http://www.pasaprimates.org!

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PASA Empowers Primate Sanctuaries across Africa

The Pan African Sanctuary Alliance will continue its longstanding tradition of bringing together the leaders of primate sanctuaries across Africa by holding a Strategic Development Conference in November in Nairobi, Kenya. The main goal of the conference is to help the sanctuaries build their capacity to provide high quality care for primates and expand their conservation programs. Directors and managers of more than 20 of PASA’s member sanctuaries will discuss the challenges they face, share ideas for overcoming them, and talk about how PASA can maximize its impact for the sanctuaries.
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Meet the Founders and Directors of African Sanctuaries!

Directors and founders of PASA member sanctuaries often travel the world to raise awareness about their sanctuaries’ work to protect primates, in addition to their many other responsibilities.

Bala Amarasekaran, founder and director of the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Sierra Leone, will give a lecture titled “Light at the End of the Tunnel… Surviving the Ebola Crisis in Sierra Leone” in Columbus, Ohio, USA. Please attend his fascinating and heartfelt presentation which will be on Thursday, October 8 at 6:30 pm at the Clintonville Women’s Club courtesy of the Columbus Zoo, and will be followed by a reception and silent auction to benefit the sanctuary. If you would like to attend, please RSVP at https://give.columbuszoo.org/RSVP.


Rachel Hogan, director of Ape Action Africa in Cameroon, will give a presentation at the San Francisco Zoo on Saturday, October 17 from 1:00 to 2:30 pm titled “My Life with Gorillas.” If you’re in the Bay Area, come meet Rachel and hear her stories about hand-raising days-old orphan gorillas and working on the front lines of gorilla conservation. Admission is free. For more information, contact the San Francisco Zoo at www.sfzoo.org or call +1 415-753-7073.

Claudine Andre is the founder of Lola Ya Bonobo in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the world’s only sanctuary for orphaned bonobos. She will give a presentation about the successes of Lola Ya Bonobo and the roles of sanctuaries in conservation at the ZACC Conference in Denver, Colorado, USA on Wednesday, October 14. ZACC (Zoos and Aquariums Committing to Conservation), which builds connections between zoos and aquariums and conservation worldwide, will be from October 12 to 16 at the Renaissance Denver Hotel. Read more about ZACC and register online at http://denverzoo.org/ZACC.

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The Apes and Monkeys Need Your Help!

PASA’s vital work to protect primates from extinction and support sanctuaries in Africa is only possible because of you. Please read more about the vital work to rescue apes and monkeys from bushmeat hunters and wildlife smugglers, give them lifelong loving care, and work to put an end to the illegal wildlife trade. Visit http://www.pasaprimates.org.

All best wishes,
Gregg Tully
Executive Director
Pan African Sanctuary Alliance

About PASA:
The Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA) is a unique collaboration of African primate sanctuaries, communities, governments, and global experts. PASA includes 22 sanctuaries in 12 countries across Africa which secure a future for Africa’s primates and their habitat by rescuing and caring for orphaned apes and monkeys, working to stop the illegal trade in wildlife, promoting the conservation of wild primates, educating the public, and empowering communities.

Africa's primates desperately need your help

The sanctuary staff from Cameroon

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Jul 13, 2015

Empowering Sanctuaries

By Michele Stumpe - President

The Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA) is a network of wildife sanctuaries across Africa. One of the biggest threats to conservation is the human population. In addition to rapid deforestation, many endangered monkeys and apes are killed and sold for bushmeat or captured and sold as pets. Education is a key component of saving these magnificent creatures. PASA is hosting a workshop in July 2015 in Yaounde, Cameroon where we will bring together managers and educators from several of our member sanctuaries to discuss the community education projects that are making a positive impact for conservation. Our experienced facilitators will assist our member sanctuaries in evaluating past efforts and strategizing for future community projects. This workshop will include 2 days of interactive presentations and evaluations.

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Mar 6, 2015

Empowering Sanctuaries

By Michele Stumpe - Presidence

PASA works with a network of primate sanctuaries throught Africa. We believe that it is important to empower those who are on the ground and dealing directly with the local communities if there is going to be a significant impact on the ability to protect Africa's primates and their wild forest homes. The Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA) is the only network of wildlife sanctuaries and global experts working across Africa to care for and rehabilitate apes and monkeys confiscated from the illegal wildlife trade.

Illegal hunting takes a huge toll on wild primate populations. The captured monkeys and apes are sold for bushmeat, and younger animals are often illegally sold as pets. PASA's member sanctuaries go beyond just providing care for confiscated monkeys and apes, they work to keep primates in their forest homes by engaging local communities, national and international governments to support primate protection laws and halt the illegal trade threatening Africa's primates with extinction. We are uniquely effective at saving the lives of African primates and keeping wild primates safe in their forest homes.

One of the ways PASA helps its member sanctuaries is by hosting and providing conferences in Africa where experts from around the globe join together to educate sanctuary staff and management on the latest techniques and best practices for wildlife care, management and re-introduction. In September of 2014, we held a Workshop for Sanctuary Managers and in November of 2014, we held a Veterinary workshop at Colobus Conservation in Diani, Kenya to focus on wild primate rehabilitation medicine. This training included two days of theory involving interactive presentations, two days of practical application, followed by one day of extensive evaluation.

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Sep 16, 2014

Building Stronger, More Sustainable Sanctuaries

By Julie Sherman - Executive Director

Yellow baboon at Lilongwe Wildlife Centre

Last week Lilongwe Wildlife Centre hosted the 2014 PASA management workshop in Lilongwe, Malawi.

Attendees told us it was the best management workshop so far thanks to effective trainings and a welcoming and collaborative atmosphere.

Workshop outcomes included:

- Social media training from Chris Tuttle, a top US communications consultant, to help sanctuaries build support around the world for their work to protect wildlife and support local communities.

- Training on strategic planning for sanctuaries and standards for evaluating conservation programs.

- Session on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and empowering sanctuaries, communities and governments to address wildlife law enforcement issues. PASA attended the CITES Standing Committee meeting in July to speak up for better protection of African great apes - gorillas, bonobos and chimpanzees. We are working with member sanctauries and partners around the globe to urge nations to implement CITES regulations and crack down on the illegal trade of African wildlife.

- Training on managing and addressing wildlife disease outbreaks.

- Donation of 3 tablets per sanctuary from the Jane Goodall Institute and a training on Open Data Kit to build and collect standardized data for animal arrivals at sanctuaries. Standardized animal arrivals data are critical to demonstrate to CITES and governments that primate sale and trade is a serious problem.

- Planning for a future workshop to help sanctuaries develop strategic conservation programs that address the specific challenges in their geograhic region, and engage and empower local comunities to protect wildlife and habitats.

Your donations and funding from the Arcus Foundation, the Jane Goodall Institute and Coypu Foundation made this workshop possible. Thank you! Your contributions are making a difference for Africa's primates.

Lilongwe Wildlife Centre

Malawi suffers from poverty and population growth

Endangered blue monkey at Lilongwe

Community programs, Lilongwe Wildlife Centre

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Jun 16, 2014

Creative Conservation for African Primates

By Julie Sherman - Executive Director

School group, Ngamba field trip

PASA's diverse member sanctuaries face many different challenges to protect the wild primates and local habitats. This year PASA has distributed nearly $40,000 in grants to member sanctuaries to pursue creative solutions to protect primates in the areas where they work. Grants include the following sanctuary projects:

Doubling the number of ecoguards protecting the critically endangered Cross River Gorillas and endangered drill monkeys in Afi Mountain Reserve (Drill Ranch, Nigeria). This reserve is one of the last habitats for the Cross River Gorilla, and every poacher stopped or snare removed makes a vital difference for this species on the brink.
Setting up a nature club for kids in the Fernan Vaz lagoon area (Fernan-Vaz Gorilla Project, Gabon). This region is home to gorillas, chimpanzees and forest elephants. Due to the large lagoon and many islands and rivers, this area is hard for law enforcement to effectively patrol, so bushmeat hunting and capture of live animals is a major problem. This nature club is important nature education programming for local children who see bushmeat and live animal sales happening all around them.
Funding ecoguards and snare removal in Kahuzi-Biega National Park (Lwiro, DRC). This park is home to chimpanzees, Grauer's gorillas and other rare wildlife. Grauer's gorillas are endangered and live only in Democratic Reoublic of Congo (DRC) so their protection within this park is critical. Funding ecoguards provides crucial livelihoods for local people who might otherwise (and in some cases did!) hunt these animals.
Funding an EcoGuard in Ekola ya Bonobo Reserve, where the only area where bonobos have been reintroduced, and providing alternative livelihoods training for community members in this area to replace revenue from bushmeat hunting (Lola ya Bonobo, DRC). They are also doing conservation education including community meetings and a radio show. Both community meetings and radio are key means of coummunication in DRC where internet connectivity and television reception is limited. Radio programs about conservation are an effective and popular way to get information across the country.
Funding for an Officer for forest protection (including removing snares and halting poaching) and working with the local community in Mbargue Forest. This currently unprotected habitat is home to chimpanzees and western lowland gorillas (Sanaga-Yong, Cameroon). This new position will provide a job for a local Cameroonian while helping to protect these endangered apes.
Coordination of guard program and supervisor's training of 22 guards; confiscation of guns/nets/illegal products and helping to ensure prosecution of poachers in Parc National du Haut Niger (Centre pour Conservation des Chimpanzes, Guinea). This park has wild and reintroduced chimpanzees but unfortunately is experiencing difficulty with illegal hunting and fishing. The guard program is an important source of jobs within the area.
Education programming and billboards on wildlife protection laws; funding for eco-guards within Conkouati-Douli National Park (Tchimpounga, Republic of Congo). This park is home to mandrills and chimpanzees, gorillas and forest elephants. Tchimpounga has had success with better enforcement and adherence to wildlife laws when there is a long-term billboard campaign educating people on what the laws are and the consequences of breaking them.
Outreach to 10 primary schools in Entebbe, Unganda to sensitize children about chimpanzees and their plight. After an edcuation program about Uganda's chimpanzees, the childen will be engaged in a creative-writing contest to describe chimpanzees and offer ideas on how to protect them. The children and teachers will have an expenses-paid trip to Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary (CSWCT - Ngamba Isand).
Funding for local community education regarding the misconceptions about vervet monkeys aiming to lower the number of incidents of pellet gun and other shootings and cruelty associated with witchcraft (Vervet Monkey Foundation). Vervet monkeys are considered pests by many in South Africa and cruelty is commonplace. The sanctuary has been effectively engaging the community to better understand, appreciate and protect local populations of the monkeys, whose local populations are beginning to decrease.

Thank you for your donations and the support of the Coypu Foundation and SeaWorld Busch Gardens Conservation Fund which made these grants possible. We are grateful for your support and the hard work of the many sanctuaries and individuals in Africa, as well as other experts across the globe - together we are giving African primates a chance for survival!