Animal Welfare Côte d'Ivoire Project #14586

Save 2000 chimpanzees in West Africa

by Wild Chimpanzee Foundation

Project Report | Jan 28, 2015
Wildlife Conservation in Liberia re-activated

By Dervla Dowd | WCF-Liberia country director

The past few months have seen the Ebola outbreak in Liberia decrease immensely with only a few confirmed cases throughout the country in January 2015. The southeast of Liberia, where the Proposed Grebo National Park is situated, currently has no cases of Ebola. With the crisis relatively under control, WCF is preparing to return to Liberia to start up operations to support the Forest Development Authority of Liberia to protect the wildlife of their country. Nearly 6 long months have passed since we were able to access the forest, or even visit the communities surrounding the park. When we return to Liberia, we will work harder than ever to restart the eco-guard program in order to patrol the forests in the most threatened zones. Now, more than ever, we need your support to help us ensure the presence of the community eco-guards in the Proposed Grebo National park. Our biomonitoring results from 2014 show that although the chimpanzee population remains stable in the proposed park, hunting has increased in all areas of the park, thereby threatening the future survival of these chimpanzees!

For the program in Taï National Park (Côte d'Ivoire), we have taken the month of January to look at the impact of the increased law enforcement patrols led by park rangers from the Office Ivoirien des Parcs et Reserves (OIPR). In the Ecotourism zone of Djouroutou, for example, the data analysis clearly shows an amazing 84% decrease in illegal anthropogenic activities, thanks to the permanent presence of the park rangers in the key sites of the park, made possible by your support! In addition to this, we have seen a major increase in the observations of monkeys and a doubling of observations of the presence of forest duikers. These animals are both known as bio-indicators, and their increase in presence tells us that these areas of forest are flourishing and full of repopulating wildlife. Such results clearly show how the impact of regular law enforcement patrols, and a permanent presence of park rangers, can protect the wildlife in the largest protected tropical forest of West Africa. We are all very encouraged by these results, and hope that with your continued support we can achieve the same in neighboring proposed Grebo National Park, and continue to protect the important chimpanzee populations of the Taï-Grebo-Sapo Forest complex!

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Nov 11, 2014
Ebola crisis influences eco-guard program Liberia

By Dervla Dowd | WCF-country director for Liberia

In Liberia, the Ebola Crisis has brought the country to standstill. A 90 state of emergency meant that no travel between counties could be done, causing field work led by the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation (WCF) and its partners for the Proposed Grebo National Park to be paused momentarily. For three months, WCF and the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) have not been able to access the forest to lead eco-guard missions. In the meantime, we are working the first detailed report of the new eco-guard program for the Proposed Grebo National Forest. Preliminary results show that the strategy developed has been highly efficient at covering all areas of the park systematically and has help pinpoint key areas within the proposed park that are very threatened by habitat disturbance. Patrols led by the eco-guards have shown that the extraction of a local plant, known locally as the “chewing stick” has developed in a large trade for West Africa and as such is destroying the natural habitat of chimpanzees, forest elephants and other unique wildlife. As a result, the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) is now working on controlling the trade and reinforcing the law to prevent persons from extracting the chewing stick inside protected areas. The WCF continues to have regular contact with the FDA to ensure ecoguards will be able to head back to the forest as soon as possible to patrol and protect the wildlife of the Proposed Grebo National Park!!

Thankfully, the Ebola Crisis has not had any negative impact on the work in Côte d’Ivoire. WCF has continued to support the Office Ivorien des Parcs et Réserves (OIPR) and their law enforcement patrols across the Taï National Park. The mobile law enforcement brigade led numerous patrols in the months of July and August 2014, totally 1,175 man days over 21 missions. The OIPR arrested 5 poachers and 16 illegal gold miners as well as confiscated one gun. They also confiscated the meat of 19 bush duikers and 4 porcupines that were found with the poacher. The OIPR continue to execute a very impressive law enforcement program across the largest protected tropical forest of West Africa and in doing so are helping to protect some of the most endangered wildlife in the sub-region!

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Aug 15, 2014
The presence of rangers is essential!

By Dervla Dowd | Project Leader WCF Liberia

Eco-guide team in Proposed Grebo National Forest

In recent months, the WCF has been able to continue to support the Liberian and Ivorian authorities in enforcing the law in some of the world’s most important tropical rainforests, in the heart of the Upper Guinean Forest Ecosystem, a biodiversity hotspot. The funds raised from supporters of the Global Giving Initiative have provided the means to maintain a much-needed presence of forest rangers inside both the Taï National Park in Ivory Coast and the Proposed Grebo National Park in Liberia.

In Proposed Grebo National Park, our community eco-guard teams have so far managed in 2014 to cover of 300 km of patrols, along which they have noted observations of anthropogenic activities, such as farms and hunting tents, and also direct observation of keystone species such as wild chimpanzees and elephants. This is the first time Proposed Grebo National Park has had a law enforcement program in action and it has so far proved extremely efficient and helpful. The first set of data will help us pinpoint key areas of threats, where the park authorities (Forestry Development Authority - FDA) will target their next law enforcement missions and awareness raising programs in nearby communities. Key areas so far noted are “chewing stick” camps, used by permanent settlers who are degrading the forest to extract a species of tree, used for traditional medicine purposes. In response to this, the FDA currently plans a large awareness and joint law enforcement mission.

The mobile law enforcement brigade of the Taï National Park in Ivory Coast has also continued to systematically patrol in the park. In May and June 2014, officers from the “brigade mobile” conducted 17 patrols in all areas of the park, making a total effort of 1085 man/days. The patrols resulted in 35 arrests (2 poachers, 4 fishers, 23 miners and 6 farmers). 10 animal carcasses were found with the poachers (6 duikers and 4 monkeys) set for the bush-meat market and were confiscated by the rangers. During their patrols, 98 signs of illegal activities were recorded, most of which are empty gun shells and some traps. All traps are destroyed during the patrols.

The presence of rangers is essential in protecting the wonderful wildlife of Taï National Park and Proposed Grebo National Park!

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