Lola Ya Bonobo

Category: Uncategorized | Date: May 29 2009 | By: lolayabonobo

her share wasn’t enough, apparently.

One response so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: May 28 2009 | By: lolayabonobo

did i ever tell you salonga sometimes catches frogs and hugs and pets them? she would be such a good mum but she keep losing her babies! i really really hope she gets to keep this one!!!!

look at that massive tummy.

4 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: May 27 2009 | By: lolayabonobo

Richard Wrangham’s new book is out - Catching Fire! Richard works with us at Lola and is in fact the giant cranium behind all our studies. He is in the new york times today

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/books/27garn.html?pagewanted=1 

the review says

‘“Catching Fire” is a plain-spoken and thoroughly gripping scientific essay that presents nothing less than a new theory of human evolution, one he calls “the cooking hypothesis,” one that Darwin (among others) simply missed.’

Go buy it! I just got my copy yesterday and it’s AWESOME!!!

2 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: May 26 2009 | By: lolayabonobo

sake is the top bonboo in the nursery now, and she is a right royal terror if you want to go in and get, say, a hug from Kata or Lukuru. As soon as you walk in, Sake will be bungee jumping off your hair. which looks cute but is paainful. anyway, Sake was turning into diva #1 but then guylaine, a lovely French volunteer, sent me this photo. Sake is sharing her food with Lukuru!

3 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: May 25 2009 | By: lolayabonobo

i know this is a bonobo blog, but i just had to show you the puppies! a very shy dog at Lola gave birth andher two little dogs are just adorable! they look like caramel and white chocolate.

one of them is twice the side of the other one. we call him Double Stuff and the little one Nini.Double stuff was always pushing Niniaway when they were nursing.
Nini was too cute even for Lukuru! here she is giving Nini a big wet sloppy kiss.

3 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: May 20 2009 | By: lolayabonobo

ok, i know this isn’t much warning, but if anyone is in columbus, ohio this thursday night, Claudine (and me) will be at the PASA conference. the dinner tommorrow night is open to the public at the OSU Fawcett Center. you can buy tickets online here or at the door.

Worthington Industries Presents: Saving Apes: The role of African sanctuaries

Details:

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: May 19 2009 | By: lolayabonobo

The following is a PASA press release - Anne Marie, our nurse who brought Lomela back to health just won the Siddle Marsden award!

A Congolese nurse who travels to remote sections of central Africa to rescue bonobos and once left her family to spend Christmas day nursing an orphaned bonobo back to health has won the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA) Siddle-Marsden Award for 2009, given annually to the African caregiver that best exemplifies the spirit of conservation and dedication at primate sanctuaries.

Anne Marie Ngalula works at the Lola ya Bonobo sanctuary in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which cares for 63 bonobos at its sanctuary facility in Kinshasa.

“PASA is extremely proud to be able to present this award to Anne Marie Ngalula,” said Doug Cress, executive director of PASA. “Anne Marie’s commitment to the conservation and welfare of bonobos is exemplary, and her ability to utilize human medical care on behalf of bonobos is one of the reasons Lola ya Bonobo is so successful at rescuing and rehabilitating this endangered species.”

The PASA Siddle-Marsden Award was created in 2008 to honor the African staff member at a PASA sanctuary that best embodies a commitment to primates, a commitment to conservation, and a commitment to excellence. This year’s award will be presented at the PASA 2009 Management Workshop, which will be staged May 19-21 in Columbus, Ohio, and the winner receives a plaque and a $250 prize.

Mosses Kapia of the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Sierra Leone won the PASA Siddle-Marsden Award in 2008.

The award is named after David Siddle and Stella Marsden, both of whom were pioneers in the field of African primates sanctuaries.

Ngalula’s background in nursing made her a valuable addition to the staff at Lola ya Bonobo, the only sanctuary in Africa that cares for bonobos. Since bonobos tend to prefer women to men, Ngalula is often the only one able to give veterinary care to sick primates, and it is Ngalula who handles everything from injections to recapturing escaped animals.

When an infant bonobo was confiscated after being smuggled into France over Christmas in 2005, it was Ngalula who took charge of the infant’s care. Although the baby was so dehydrated its skin was peeling off, Ngalula cared for the infant – named “Malou” – by applying medical cream to her wounds and rehydrating the infant throughout the holidays.

Despite being terrified of flying, Ngalula has traveled to the most remote sections of DR Congo to rescue bonobos confiscated from poachers and illegal traders, most of whom would have died without her care.

Ngalula is the single mother of three children, yet she spends long hours at Lola ya Bonobo and is steadfast in her commitment to bonobos. When the sanctuary reintroduces two social groups of bonobos back into the wild later this year, Ngalula will be in charge of the veterinary protocols.

6 responses so far

Category: chimpanzees | Date: May 18 2009 | By: lolayabonobo

“A wildlife dealer who tried to sell a chimpanzee in the Republic of Congo has been sentenced to a year in prison and fined 1.1 million Fcfa (USD $2,188), a severe penalty that came about through the dogged work of the Projet Protection des Gorilles (PPG) – Congo and other conservation organizations in the region.

The Brazzaville Court ruled on March 19, 2009, that the dealer had violated Article 49 of the Congolese law, which bans the sale of endangered species in Congo.

The case made headline news in the Congolese newspaper, Les Dépêches de Brazzaville, and was led by the Project to Apply the Law on Fauna (PALF), a consortium that includes PPG-Congo’s parent organization, The Apsinall Foundation, and the Wildlife Conservation Society.

PPG-Congo is a charter member of the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA), which coordinates activities between primate rescue and rehabilitation centers across Africa.

The fact that a chimpanzee dealer can not only be arrested and prosecuted but also sentenced to jail for his crimes in Africa is extremely good news,” said Doug Cress, executive director of PASA. For too long, PASA sanctuaries have had to deal with the confiscated chimpanzees and gorillas of the black market, while the illegal traders go free. But the fantastic results won by PALF can serve as an example for the rest of Africa to follow.

PALF, which has 10 more cases pending in the Congolese courts, works closely with the Last Great Ape Organization (LAGA), an organization that specializes in wildlife crimes and law enforcement from its base in Cameroon. PALF is also supported by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

The Congolese Ministry of Forest Economy backs PALF’s work.

Said PPG-Congo coordinator Luc Mathot: We hope this first case against a wildlife dealer in Republic of Congo will help us for the several next ones.’”

Tags: chimpanzee poachers caught, PASA, poachers jailed in Congo

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Category: the sanctuary | Date: May 15 2009 | By: lolayabonobo

after a successful trip into the depths of the Congo wilderness, Claudine is home. all the bonobos were happy to see her and brought their babies to show her and catch up on all the news.

Lukuru especially was ready with hugs and kisses.

Tags: claudine, lukuru

3 responses so far

Category: release project | Date: May 14 2009 | By: lolayabonobo

Time to say goodbye. The sun was at the zenith, right above our heads and we still had to walk the 6 kilometres back to the Matoku River and take the pirogue downstream to the confluent with the Lopori. In just one night, the water level had gone down quite a bit! Navigation had been hard enough on the way up!

Just as we were leaving, I bought a wooden guitar “made in Boso-Ngubu”, Pierrot got a hold of it and played us a jazzy improvisation on our way down the river!

A quick stop in Elonda to calculate exactly how much space the chief was willing to grant us, then we headed straight back home! On the way we passed the funeral convoy for that poor little Pôo girl, just 13 years old, whose parents had taken to hospital in Basankusu, but just that little too late, she was already in a semi-coma brought on by meningitis. We had bought all the prescribed medication as quickly as possible but she had succumbed despite the treatment (her lifeless body was laid out in the pirogue). Her father thanked us once again for our generosity. Alas, once again, death had defeated us.

And so, we returned to Kinshasa, images, ideas and smiles still fresh in our minds. But not before reassuring the football team, “The Basankusu Bonobos” that their football shirts and boots, bought for them by the Achour groupe would arrive soon, on our next trip, as well as the first aid kit from Madame Tixier on behalf of the Meulin football team.

Tags: basankusu bonobos team, return to kinshasa

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