Colobus Trust

Category: Education, Research, volunteer | Date: Mar 31 2009 | By: colobus

A couple of years ago, the Colobus Trust had a visit from a really interesting group called The Great Primate Handshake which is a really funky idea for bringing together travelling, helping and online networking - I’m jealous! That just about sums up everything I would like to do with my life!

Well, it looks like this big truck of creative chaps are on their way back to Kenya. We are expecting to work with the team on various areas including adding a great deal of anthopological and multimedia support to our proposed habitat census that we hope to be launching in June.  You can read more about our planned census on the recent newsletter we put out which is available HERE.

While the Great Primate Handshake team was here last time, they put together some great videos that really sum up what we do at the Colobus Trust. Enjoy the watch and pass it on!

Looking forward to meeting you guys offline!

More online videos available HERE.

Tags: Great Primate Handshake, Multimedia, Videos

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Category: Human - Primate Conflict Resolution, Research, bushmeat, deforestation | Date: Mar 29 2009 | By: colobus

Bushmeat is one of those complicated issues that is often oversimplified and sensationalised by conservation and animal welfare organisations because of the emotions it stirs up in people and how easy it is to capitalise on our reactive needs to do something about a problem when confronted with the gruesome but simplified reality of a monkey being carved up for lunch.

There is no question of the alarming conservation and welfare issues surrounding the consumption and trade in bushmeat that have to be tackled if we are to ensure the survival of certain species, particularly the great apes in western and central Africa. But there is also no question that everything is interelated. Kenya is facing one of its worst droughts in history and not suprisingly, this is leading to an increase in wild game consumption. We posted recently about this HERE after reading an article in the Standard about the worrying increase of wild game meat consumption within the coastal province. Poverty and hunger and a lack of response from the government authorities means that peope have to do what it takes to survive, feed their children and themselves.

I just came across a very interesting video from the TED 2009 posted by Erik Hersman (thanks, Erik!) on his blog.  This is a talk given by Nathan Wolfe from the Global Viral Forecasting Initiative who focuses on the disease interface between wildlife and humans and how they are using working closely with hunters in Cameroon who are taking blood samples from their catch to be examined for disease. This way, the people themselves who are only a symptom of the viscious cycle of poverty and human greed can at least be part of the knowledge process in making decisions and knowing what is at stake in consumption of bushmeat.

Please take the time to watch the video below. We hope that in the near future, the Colobus Trust will be able to address some of the bigger issues surrounding bushmeat consumption through a holistic approach that addresses every trajectory into this despairing practice of eating wild game.

I would also be very interested to hear other people’s thoughts on the video so do post a comment.

Click on the image below to take you to the video

Tags: Erik Hersman, Global Viral Forecasting Initiative, Nathan Wolfe, TED 2009

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Category: Habitat Restoration/Conservation, Habitat Restoration/Conservation, Primate Rescue/Rehabilitation | Date: Mar 27 2009 | By: colobus

Eventful days at the Trust this week, we were happy to release two of the primates we had in our care today. Our first case was that of a female Vervet monkey that came into our care about two months ago. She was found on the grounds of the Indian Ocean Hotel in Diani, with a severe head injury. At first we suspected she might be blind and paralyzed, but gradually with treatment and the help of veterinarian Dr. Oscar Rerieya she improved immensely each day, her vision was back, she could move her legs and the only remnant of her unfortunate accident was a little lameness in her left hind leg. Unfortunately in the process of rehabilitation she delivered a stillbirth, but on the bright side not having to care for a baby sped up her recovery. Today was the big day and Tom and John took Female Vervet back to her home territory. We were worried about the troop not accepting her back after such a long period of recovery, but no cause for alarm, she recognized her troop instantly and they welcomed her back as if she had never left.

Our other story is that of a feisty Colobus monkey that got himself badly injured in a fight with the resident male of his troop. Usually we try not to intervene in such ‘natural causes’ but his injuries were too severe and deep, if left untreated he would contract tetanus and die like many unlucky cases we had witnessed in the past. This time the team decided to put the cart before the horse and brought patient Colobus to our vet clinic, this is after some impressive tree climbing skills by John and Peter our field assistants. We proceeded to suture the wounds and give him a tetanus vaccine, to be on the safe side, after he had woken up he ate a good meal of flamboyant flowers and the next day we brought him back to Diani Reef hotel were we found him. Good luck monkeys!

The Colobus Team

Tags: colobus, Kenya, vervet, volunteer

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Category: Fundraising | Date: Mar 23 2009 | By: colobus

Thanks to Dr. K.S. Rekhi from Diani Beach Hospital, The Colobus Trust received a generous donation today of much needed supplies for our veterinary clinic. These medications and supplies were vital in order to keep the clinic up and running and to treat all of those difficult cases we encounter on a daily basis.

Chairman Raymond Matiba, and board member Luciana Parazzi were there to collect the donated supplies from Dr. Rekhi at the Diani Hospital today and the packet was delivered to the clinic where John and Rona (Colobus Trust animal welfare workers) happily received them.

Your generous donations allow us to save more animals, treat them and release them back to the wild.

Thank you again Diani Beach Hospital and Dr. Rekhi!

The Colobus team

Tags: clinic, colobus, diani beach hospital, donation, Kenya

2 responses so far

Category: Fundraising, Human - Primate Conflict Resolution, Uncategorized | Date: Mar 23 2009 | By: colobus

Everybody knows just how hard life already is for the average person on this continent and despite appearances on the surface for those who come on holidays to the beach or go on safari, the reality from 3/4 of the population if not more is that life is hand to mouth. What does that mean? It means working 14 hours a day to scrape enough money to have one square meal. I hate to be sensational about it and often a lot of intellectuals and writers criticise the west and the media for always painting a dire picture of Africa - one of children with bloated stomachs and flies around their face. Whilst, I detest the stereotype,  the fact of the matter is that for more than 70% of the population in Kenya, life sucks! Kenya is a country of extremes so let’s not pretend otherwise. I am sorry to say but these are currently the faces of Kenya:

We want people to come on holiday - of course we do! It’s one of the most amazing places in the world and we depend on people coming on holiday. But we also know we have a responsibility and duty to confront the reality of the state of the nation and do what we can to help reduce the amount of depressing but true images of this country. That is why some of us like the Colobus Trust and Camp Kenya and so many others have chosen to promote Responsible Tourism. This is why so many people join our programmes: because they want more than just a holiday.

But, as if it were not bad enough that we almost went into civil war just over a year ago, Kenya is currently drowning in what has become our national tagline - “The Culture of Impunity“. Corruption is eating away at the ground beneath our feet with everything from millions of shillings worth of petrol disappearing to tonnes of absolutely necessary grain “disappearing“.

We are not too well in Kenya and yes, you are probably all too tired of hearing that from us Kenyans. And it is affecting each and every part of society and there is no hiding it anymore. For those of you who read and support the Colobus Trust, you will know that we almost came to closing down last year. No tourists = No funds. It was as simple as that. We are holding in just but with a lot of sacrifices. But the saddest thing about Kenya is that there are always people worse off than you.

And to top it up, it’s no secret that the country is facing one of the worst drought’s and famines in our recent history.  So all my fellow conservationists and animal lovers, here is the big question: how do you tell someone who is starving to death not to eat bushmeat? Put yourself in their feet for one moment…That is where the level of desperation people have succumbed to in many parts of the Coast according to the Sunday Standard (click on the image below to read full article):

When I came across this article, I immediately wrote to my colleagues in Diani who have also confirmed that the drought is beginning to affect local communities in the area and their has indeed been a noticeable increase in snares in the area. We at the Colobus Trust have a responsibility to protect our wildlife and the environment they depend on but we also know that, the animals are not the problem: the people are. And if people can’t eat, they will kill and capture anything they can to survive. Reality is biting and we need to do what we can to immediately assist those in need.

Camp Kenya, the Colobus Trust and the Diani Residents Association are all in agreement that we need to put out an appeal to raise funds to buy necessary food items and we are currently arranging the logisitics behind this. We will be turning to our supporters once again to appeal for funds for food items so please don’t be suprised if you hear a bunch of conservationists asking for food. We have been in emergency reponse mode for over a year now in one form or the other and it breaks our hearts that we are still in this mode and unfortunately it’s not just to save ourselves and the monkeys anymore…

Tags: bushmeat, Drought, Famine, Kenya

4 responses so far

Category: climate change | Date: Mar 21 2009 | By: colobus

From Earth Hour

YOUR LIGHT SWITCH IS YOUR VOTE

“This year, Earth Hour has been transformed into the world’s first global election, between Earth and global warming.

For the first time in history, people of all ages, nationalities, race and background have the opportunity to use their light switch as their vote – Switching off your lights is a vote for Earth, or leaving them on is a vote for global warming. WWF are urging the world to VOTE EARTH and reach the target of 1 billion votes, which will be presented to world leaders at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009.

This meeting will determine official government policies to take action against global warming, which will replace the Kyoto Protocol. It is the chance for the people of the world to make their voice heard.

Earth Hour began in Sydney in 2007, when 2.2 million homes and businesses switched off their lights for one hour. In 2008 the message had grown into a global sustainability movement, with 50 million people switching off their lights. Global landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Rome’s Colosseum, the Sydney Opera House and the Coca Cola billboard in Times Square all stood in darkness.”

“In 2009, Earth Hour is being taken to the next level, with the goal of 1 billion people switching off their lights as part of a global vote. Unlike any election in history, it is not about what country you’re from, but instead, what planet you’re from. VOTE EARTH is a global call to action for every individual, every business, and every community. A call to stand up and take control over the future of our planet. Over 74 countries and territories have pledged their support to VOTE EARTH during Earth Hour 2009, and this number is growing everyday.

We all have a vote, and every single vote counts. Together we can take control of the future of our planet, for future generations.

Saturday, March 28, 8:30-9:30pm.“

Click HERE for more information

Tags: 2009, Branson, carbon, Cate Blanchett, climate change, climatechange, earth hour, earthhour, earthhour2009, Environment, Fairey, Furtado, global warming, globalwarming, lights out, lightsout, non-profit, Shepard, vote, voteearth, world, wwf

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Category: Blogroll, Uncategorized | Date: Mar 20 2009 | By: colobus

At last our new website is out and about …. after a long period of neglect, it has made its comeback with a new chic look and beautiful photos taken by our volunteers and staff members. You can easily access it by pressing this link http://www.colobustrust.org/  (best observed with an explorer browser) the main address remains unchanged. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of our supporters and donors for their generous contributions, every little bit helps!

The Colobus Team

Tags: colobus, Kenya, monkeys, Primate, volunteer, website

4 responses so far

Category: Fundraising, Marketing | Date: Mar 18 2009 | By: colobus

 So some want to run half a marathon across chilly London to help us protect Diani’s wildlife, others will walk the catwalk and others will make music for monkeys! All these amazing people across the world are finding fun and creative ways to raise a little bit of critical cash for the Colobus Trust. I must say, personally this is one of the most rewarding things about working in conversation: just knowing that there are a handful of people out there that really do care and will always be there to help in anyway they can.

Elin was a volunteer at the Trust a while ago and has returned to her home country Sweden where she is working in conservation. When she realised how dire things were after last year’s void caused by the post-election crises, she wrote and asked what we thought about her putting together a concert and all the proceeds going to conservation activities run by the Trust. I didn’t have to think twice about that! So here it is!

Good luck and what more can we say except a big thank you to Elin and friends for putting this together!  The funds are beginning to trickle in and things are looking so much brighter for us this year. We are now slowly getting back on our feet and putting rolling out our core activities. The good news is that with the support of such fundraising activities, and the regular contributions from friends, we are able to also focus our time on putting together proposals for bigger and long term sustainable conservation projects. Watch this space!

Tags: Concert, Fundraising, Sweden

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Category: Education, Newsletter | Date: Mar 14 2009 | By: colobus

 Indeed it is and it’s available online too! Simply click on the image below to take you to the site where you can read it online or download it. We will be sending it out to everyone on our database and thanks to Superior Printers we have 500 printed copies for distribution across the South Coast of Kenya!

In this issue: update from CT Manager, Onesmus Macharia; advice from Lulu Clark on how you can care for wildlife in your backyard; fun learning for students by CT Education officer, Hamisi Pakiah and volunteer Julie Belmont explains why it is so critical to monitor population sizes of primates plus more…

So get clicking below and enjoy your read!

CT Newsletter Issue 1 2009

If you would like to receive a pdf file of the newsletter, please email: dipesh (at) colobustrust (dot) org

Tags: Fundraising, Habitat Restoration/Conservation, Habitat-Protection, Newsletter, volunteer

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Category: Education, Fundraising, Marketing | Date: Mar 10 2009 | By: colobus

We are very lucky to have Rona and Tom staying with us at the Colobus Trust. Rona is a vet so you can imagine what a blessing she is for the Trust. Tom Kouris is professional photographer who studied at the Bezalel Academy of Arts in Jerusalem. He has conducted several independent projects in Israel and Slovakia and presented at several exhibitions in Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem. He is currently working as a freelance photographer and came up with a brilliant idea to offer his expertise and knowledge to anyone interested.

Below are some of Tom’s photographs from around the world:

There will be a total of 4 lessons starting on Tuesday 17th March to Friday from 17.00hrs – 18.00hrs at the Colobus Trust

At the end of the course, participants will be given 10 days to perfect their skills after which we will hold a photographic competition hosted at Ngiri’s Restaurant which is open to all. Winning photographs will be published on the Colobus Trust blog and in the South Coast Residents’ Association Newsletter and a prize for the overall winner !

COST: Make a donation of any amount you feel is fair or you are able to give directly to the Colobus Trust

For further information, please email luciana (at) wananchi (dot) comor call the Colobus Trust and ask for Tom on 0711 479453

And don’t forget to bring a camera!

Tags: Learn, Lessons, Photography, Tom Kouris

6 responses so far