Wildlife Conservation Guinea Project #40115

Protecting Chimpanzees

by David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation

Project Report | Jun 3, 2020
Protecting Chimpanzees - June 2020 Update

By Alicia van den Abeele | Project Leader

Thank you for donating to our Protecting Chimpanzees project. Your support is helping David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation (DSWF) fund the Chimpanzee Conservation Centre (CCC), our ground-based conservation partners who work to protect wild western chimpanzee populations.

The year 2020 has been fraught with challenges, in light of the global pandemic, which has forced us all to adapt, one way or another. Despite the difficulties we are now faced with, we are proud to say that our relationship is as strong as ever with our ground-based conservation partners and that our combined efforts are continuing to make a difference to some of the most world’s most vulnerable wildlife populations and communities living alongside them. We are incredibly grateful to the brave wildlife rangers, who even amid the current crisis, are risking their lives on the frontline of wildlife crime and working tirelessly to maintain their conservation efforts.

DSWF provides direct funding to CCC’s education program and to support their overall mission of carrying out vital rescue, rehabilitation and release programmes for illegally trafficked chimps and local awareness campaigns attempting to reduce the demand for local trade.

Your generosity, your impact:

Caring for these primates in the sanctuaries requires a great amount of dedication and funding from CCC’s partners, like DSWF. From the day a chimpanzee is rescued from the illegal wildlife trade, it can take up to 15 years before they are completely able to survive and thrive on their own in the wild.

Since 2008, CCC have successfully rescued, rehabilitated and released 16 chimps back into the wild and have many others in their care on their way back to their ultimate release back into the wild.

DSWF and CCC’s current project involve increasing education and community engagement around the main release sites and national park where CCC are operating, in attempts to dismantle the foundations of this illegal trade. We are pleased to say that since the start of the year, DSWF and CCC have funded for 350 children to receive a lesson every month, teaching them about the pressing chimpanzee conservation issues. DSWF’s funding has also helped established a ladies’ community group, providing women with more sustainable income, whereby they make wonderful creations from plastic bags.

Through long term conservation funding, DSWF is supporting CCC’s next steps and exciting future plans to develop and grow their education programme in order to implement a robust conservation curriculum within schools.

From everyone here at DSWF, thank you in advance for your support at such a critical time. With your help, DSWF can continue to fund CCC and their incredible work to protect the western chimpanzee.

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Feb 4, 2020
2020 Commitment to Conservation

By Georgina Lamb | Head of Programmes and Policy

Nov 7, 2019
Protecting Chimpanzees - November update 2019

By Jayne Horswill | Project Leader

Thank you for donating to our Protecting Chimpanzees project. David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation (DSWF) works to support chimpanzee populations in the remote forests of Guinea, home to around 500 wild Chimpanzees.

We are delighted to report that in the last six months, education efforts supported and funded by DSWF have reached over 900 children, around 200 women and over 10 community, school and educational groups. These educational activities are focused on the importance of protecting these amazing species and the dangers of engaging in illegal wildlife crime activities.

Due to the school calendar in Guinea, much the same as in the UK and US, schools have been closed for their annual summer holiday. This doesn’t mean that the dedicated and hardworking education team on the ground down tools however - very much the opposite! Recent activities include the creation and development of the new conservation education programme which will be rolled out in the coming months and into next year to local communities and schools living and operating in close proximity to the national parks and protected area of the Haut Niger National Park. We look forward to sharing more details of the exact programme in the coming months and in our next report.

Ibrahima Balde, an Educator from the Chimpanzee Conservation Center (CCC) directly supported by DSWF, took the opportunity during the school summer break to implement three tree-planting projects in three villages who have worked closely with the project during the first semester as a way of staying engaged and fostering positive relationships and collaboration. Ibrahima and his team also initiated and led a plastic recycling project with two separate groups of women in the town of Faranah, following a town cleaning day carried out at the end of June.

DSWF firmly believes that education and community engagement is a key conservation tool in our attempt to halt the extinction of some of the world’s most threatened and endangered species. By engaging with key stakeholders and those living alongside wildlife, we have a hope of success.

With your help, funding from DSWF also directly supports CCC’s emergency rescue missions. When news and intelligence comes in of chimpanzees who have been illegally taken and traded and are in need of rescue and interception, CCC steps in before it’s too late. We hope you have enjoyed learning a little more about this remarkable project and the work being done in one of the most remote wild chimpanzee locations in West Africa.

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