Rehabilitation Centre
All the gorillas in the rehabilitation centre are doing great and evolving well. They are all, including ‘baby’ Wanga, continuing to actively explore the forest throughout the day. We aim to transfer the gorillas to a larger island in April / May 2009, the next step toward reintroduction into the wild.
Sanctuary
The canal for Mabeke’s new enclosure is finally done. We can now focus on building the new Sanctuary enclosure which will provide Mabeke, Ownedja and Essougoué with ten times more natural space. The enclosure is intended to provide more space, more trees for Izowuet and Owendja, and better viewing opportunities for both gorillas and visitors alike.
Education
We just finalised our second education campaign and targeted 7 different villages in the Fernan-Vaz lagoon region. We managed to reach out to 475 children this time around. Some 12 {16f8610b2b33e94785d58c5271701cab1841ab528f3b5405264263711c480b8c} of all children reported consuming gorilla versus 18{16f8610b2b33e94785d58c5271701cab1841ab528f3b5405264263711c480b8c} for chimpanzees. Many of the locals also shared their frustration with elephants and gorillas ravaging their plantations, which represent months of work and financial security for many of these local families.