By Joshua Rukundo | Project Leader
SUPPORT ORPHANED AND RESCUED CHIMPANZEES IN UGANDA
PROGRESS REPORT
OCTOBER 2020
PLOT 1, BANK CLOSE
P.O.BOX 884
ENTEBBE
TEL: +256414320662, +256758221539
EMAIL: director@ngambaisland.org
WEBSITE: www.ngambaisland.org
FACEBOOK: Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary
TWITTER: @ngambaisland
INSTAGRAM: ngambaisland
INTRODUCTION
The Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary cares for 50 orphaned and rescued chimpanzees. The sanctuary operations are funded through grants and donations and support from various agencies. The COVDI-19 pandemic has disrupted operations of the sanctuary especially affecting it’s income source for the care of the rescued chimpanzees from tourists, volunteers and wildlife conservation agencies. The sanctuary posted a project on GlobalGiving to enable it raise funds to continue its operations to care for the chimpanzees and as well monitor the wild chimpanzees to ensure their survival, continue to restore their forest habitat increase awareness in school going children who are at home, through a radio drama program.
PROGRES OF PROJECT ACTIVITIES
Procurement of chimpanzee food and supplies.
At Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary, we pride ourselves in providing the best possible care to the orphaned and rescued chimpanzees in our care. Over the last four months, with the support of the project, we have been able to procure over 7,500 Kgs of fresh fruits and vegetables, including; bananas, avocados, cabbage, carrots, jackfruit, papaya, oranges, tomatoes, eggplants, sweet potatoes, pineapples, etc. Every 1o days, 1,080 Kgs of fresh fruits have been delivered to the sanctuary to feed the 50 orphaned and rescued chimpanzees. We have also been able to procure nearly 1000 Kg of dry rations for the chimpanzees including; maize flour, millet flour, soy, and peanuts which also contribute to the food of the chimpanzees on Ngamba Island. As such the chimpanzees have been kept n great health and are happy!
We have also been able to keep all our core team of the caregivers and the veterinary team. Proper PPEs have been provided, including sanitizers, re-usable gloves, re-usable face masks, coveralls, boots, disinfectants, etc. Strict measures have been maintained to ensure that the chimpanzees have minimal risk of contracting the deadly COVID-19 virus. I am pleased to report that to date, not a single chimpanzee nor staff have developed any symptoms or tested positive for coronavirus at the sanctuary.
Monitoring of wildlife
In this period of partial lockdown and restricted movements, wildlife habitats have been at threat of destruction. As such it was important to maintain patrols and wildlife monitoring in western Uganda, especially in forests where there are chimpanzees. We have been able to do this, albeit with some difficulty due to travel restrictions affecting our team. However, we have continued to monitor about 60 wild chimpanzees living in two separate groups and all have remained alive and well and with only two minor incidents of conflict with the human communities.
Distribution of seedlings
We have distributed 80,000 seedlings to over 400 farmers to plant about 400Ha of land. The seedlings have been donated to us by the local Ministry of Water and Environment as well as the local UNHCR office. The GlobalGiving project funds assisted with the distribution of these seedlings to over 400 farmers with available land to plant trees, in 33 villages in western Uganda.
Recording and airing of radio drama
The Chimpanzee Trust was able to win a small grant to engage with school children and partner with them to record a radio drama to educate the local communities about the plight of the chimpanzee and especially educate the local people how they can live in harmony with wildlife.
The GlobalGiving project has enabled us to air so far 23 episodes of this drama on the local radio stations. These stations are able to reach up to 1,500,000 people in the peak time when the drama is being played. We are optimistic that our message is well received and have been getting good feedback about the program from listeners.
Conclusion
We are grateful to all our donors for their generous contributions that have enabled us to continue doing our work; to care for the 50 0rphaned chimpanzees and protect over 600 wild chimpanzees in western Uganda.
We urge you to not tire of giving for our projects and we hope that together, we can keep chimpanzees in Uganda and with the world over safe and as well have an impact on the conservation of the forest habitat and education of the young generations about the need to care for their environment.
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
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