Archive for the ‘Human - Primate Conflict Resolution’ Category
This time of year is low season in Kenya and life is very tough. The effects of this, along with a high rate of inflation and a high level of unemployment caused by Post Poll Chaos, have led to a staggering increase in the amount of hunting. In the last fortnight we have had sightings of several hunting parties reported to us in Diani and in the neighbouring Tiwi Beach. Although hunting has traditionally been practiced here since the dawn of humanity, the small, fragmented forest patches that are left on the coast cannot sustain such pressure. We must also mention that the hunting of wildlife is illegal in Kenya. Sadly this global trend (the collapse of wild animal populations in areas of high human disturbance) has occurred throughout history.
The main targets here are small antelopes, most commonly the Suni Antelope. However, in some of the less disturbed forests, Bush Pigs, other antelope & large ground birds are targeted. Suni’s are one of the smallest of the antelope species, weighing only 4-5 kg, but are sadly targeted for their meat, which is locally considered a delicacy. They are hunted by using packs of dogs, or more commonly, snares. Snares are fashioned using a length of wire or cord. One end is secured (usually to a fence or small tree) at the other a noose is tied. They are then placed on outskirts a patch of forest, often along the small trails used by animals. Then, when the Suni leave the shelter of the forest to feed, in the mornings and evenings, they are at risk of catching their leg in a noose. If this happens the suffering the animal goes through is immense, the snare only immobilises the animal. They then suffer until either they die of starvation or the wounds inflicted by the sharp wire, or are found by the hunter or another predator. Other animals (in particular Baboons, Vervet Monkeys & domestic animals such as cats & dogs) are often accidentally caught in snares, this leads to infection and usually the loss of a limb or death.
The Colobus Trust has been carrying out an active desnaring program for the last decade, focusing on areas of the forest in which hunters are reported. In an average year we collect a thousand snares. Unfortunately for the last 4 months we operated on a reduced schedule due to a lack of manpower (a large team is required to work efficiently) and funding. Last week we were able to start work again, and we did so with a passion. In the ten days we collected over a hundred snares! Unfortunately yesterday we found one Suni too late. The poor animal had a snare cutting her leg to the bone. In the struggle to try and get free she broke the leg and eventually strangled herself on the wire. It was apparent from the post mortem that she had been trapped for some time before she died.
We have been working in collaboration with the South Coast Residents Association on this matter and they have been very supportive and great at raising awareness and funds. We have also been able to increase our efficiency this second week through the addition of three casual labourers. The money to pay these enthusiastic chaps, who are all boat captains by trade but make excellent desnarers, was kindly donated to us by Luciana Parazzi, one of our trustees and the SCRA Chairperson (so a big thank you to her). More good news with the donation of 50,000 KSh from Diani resident John Buckle (thank you John!). This money is to be used solely for the employment of desnaring casual labourers. This is fantastic as it allows us to attain the numbers necessary for a proper transect sweep! This afternoon we have sent out a team to Kaya Ukunda, this is a local scared forest and is shockingly still being targeted!
Desnaring is now moving up on our weekly schedule and will be added to the other daily conservation activities we undertake. Next week, thanks to the SCRA, we will have a large team of casuals and CT staff sweeping areas where we know, or suspect, that snares are being set. On Monday we are also going to be working with Kenya Wildlife Services, who are sending a team down from the Shimba Hills NR to join us. This is very promising for us and we are sure that their presence will help discourage people from setting snares. We also hope to make a few arrests to set an example. If you would like to help, please donate using the “Sponser a Desnarer” window or just write “this donation is to sponser a desnarer” in the comments box. Remember, not only will you be helping our work to protect wildlife, but you will also be giving a very grateful unemployed Kenyan a job! Regards, Gwili
The plight of Guereza colobus monkeys in central Province of Kenya was exposed into the limelight by a local farmer back in 1998. He reported that several human induced mortality agents and sub lethal threats were decimating the local population of these primates.
The colobus Trust managed to capture and translocate 14 colobus monkeys from malewa valley in Kipipiri to Soysambu in the rift valley Province . The success rate of the project was 82%.
The Colobus Trust would like to send two field assistants back to both capture and release sites to find out:- (a) If there are other colobus monkeys at the capture site, and if they monkeys are still a problem to the communities. Budget Transport 9,000.00 Subtotal 50,200.00 Please join the many people dedicated to conservation, by sending your contribution to us via the “donate” button. Thank you very much. Hamisi Pakiah.
The Colobus Trust and the South Coast Residents Association went to look the Baobab Beach Resort development again today. We were once again reminded of the momentous challenges we face when we discovered they were still working on the site digging up the old coral that makes up our bedrock with their huge rock crusher as seen continuing after the ban below.
This is more evidence that they have no care for our forest, or even Kenyan law. They were told by NEMA last week to halt all major works for two weeks whilst the Environmental Impact Assessment was undertaken. They were also told not to work on the beach. They had left a massive scar in the beach where they were working on the suspicious trench and were working on a beach wall. We discovered this because there is only one NEMA representative in the Kwale District who had inadequate time or funding to regularly come into Diani. Ironically, after visiting the site, we bumped into the daughter original developer (Mr England), Sandra Ruysenaars. She told us that when the initial building work was done it was all planned around the trees. They were the reason people came to Diani. Let us hope these days are not over. We have been shocked to see such a change in the mentality of developers in the last half centaury. Sandra burst into tears when we showed her photos of what had been done and said that her father would be “turning in his grave”. We are currently working on articles about this catastrophe to be sent to the East African Wildlife Society and Coastweek as well as contacting tour operators who support the Baobab Beach Resort. We have also sent an appeal to the headman of NEMA, who’s based in Nairobi, where we outline the problems in Diani. We hope this may persuade him to increase funding, and support of the laws, in our district and, ideally, the rest of Kenya. Please help us by emailing gwili@colobustrust.org with any further contacts within the media, conservation or tourism worlds. Even if you have already contacted them, we need to keep track of what is said on our behalf and want to keep a database of all those who have heard about our battle. Thanks so much for the support and help already received and keep it coming! Gwili Gibbon
Update: 4th April 2008 Yesterday we announced that on the 31st of March 2008 The Colobus Trust management, along with the Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson of the South Coast Residents Association visited one of the hotels in Diani in response to a report that they were clearing their forest. Representative from the relevant government authorities (Kenya Wildlife Services, The Kenya Forestry Commission & the National Environmental Management Authority) joined us. We found that a large area of forest had been completely levelled in two weeks, with no apparent care for the preservation of the forest. They were also building a trench onto the beach and other disturbance had occurred within the 30-meter buffer zone above the High-Tide Mark. This often forgotten rule was put in place when the beach was protected as part of the Diani-Chale Marine Reserve. There is no enforcement of this protection of the coral reefs and mangrove forests.
We can now announce that the hotel in question was Baobab Beach Resort. Large-scale development of private land, like this case, is restricted under the EMCA Act of 1999 (Environmental Management Coordination Act), the rules of which the developers had completely ignored. This means the area cleared was done so illegally. The EMCA Act sets out guidelines and requires and EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) to be undertaken before large-scale development starts. This is an all-inclusive process, which must then be put out for public scrutiny in The Kenya Gazette before it is allowed to proceed. This process was ignored and no EIA was undertaken nor was anything posted in the Kenya Gazette.
Currently work has been put on hold for two weeks whilst an EIA is undertaken. We are trying to get in contact with the man in charge of the project. The forest will never regenerate with the large level of disturbance we have in Diani, but we are insistent that they must plan many indigenous seedlings in its place. Still though this will not be allowed to pass quietly. This experience is heartbreaking for so many of Diani’s long-time residents who used to associate Baobab’s name with people who cared more about the forest and its inhabitants. In recent years, under the new ownership, the current management do not seem to share this dream of eco-friendly responsible tourism.
We have also discovered the reason why this happened right under our noses. The hotel has recently gotten a new contract with the largest all-inclusive package holiday company in the world. They were working until 10 p.m. every night, which is also illegal; to build the new accommodation, swimming pool & restaurant for the new guests they were promised that would arrive weekly. It is unfortunate but the all-inclusive “bargain” holiday resorts in Diani have snubbed the hopes of so many other hoteliers who aim to turn Diani in an eco-tourism resort. They feel that a responsible resort living within, yet not harming, the forest would not only be the morally correct path but also a more profitable one for the industry but also for the economy of our district, one of the poorest in Kenya. This is based on the idea that those who come here for the wildlife, our monkeys, butterflies, birds and trees will feed more into the tourist fed businesses in the rest of the Kwale District (i.e. Maluganji Elephant Sanctuary, The Shimba Hills NR, Kisite Marine Park, etc). The effect this single incident has had on the wildlife is profound. The techniques used were appalling. First they levelled off the forest with bulldozers, and then they tore up all the topsoil. There was no attempt whatsoever to build around anything. The damage unfortunately goes way beyond just the ancient endemic trees lost. We have received reports of large influxes of displaced monkeys moving into near by forests. Causing high densities during this time of year when naturally occurring food is scarce and every animal waits for the rains to arrive. As well as this a myriad of species will have suffered during the destruction. Larger species arboreal (tree dwelling) or aerial species such as birds, primates were able to flee but many of the smaller terrestrial and arboreal species will have died as the trees fell. As well as this smaller mammal species would have been unable to flee beyond what is left of their forest as they recently walled off their plot. When, behalf of The Colobus Trust, I asked their manager to put in 10 inch squared gaps in the wall for the passage of small mammals, he said that their 6-inch drainage pipes would do and dismissed me. Among the species who lost their lives and/or home were: Primates: Angolan Colobus Monkey, Vervet Monkey, Sykes Monkey, Yellow Baboon, Greater Galago, Lesser Galago, We need your help to make something good out of this terrible event. Please help us spread this. We want everyone to know what cheap package holidays and poor enforcement of government laws are doing to Kenya’s remaining coastal forest. We also urgently need volunteers come help us study the impact this has had in more detail and stop it from happening again. Regards, Gwili Gibbon
On the 31st of March 2008 The Colobus Trust management, along with the Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson of the South Coast Residents Association visited one of the hotels in Diani in response to a report that they were clearing their forest. We brought with us representatives from the relevant government authorities (Kenya Wildlife Services, The Kenya Forestry Commission & the National Environmental Management Authority). This hotel, which for the moment we cannot name, is one of the oldest in Diani. It has had a long history of cooperation with the Trust and care for the environment. But, under its current management it has gone the way of many hotels here and catered for package tourists. Nothing could have prepared us for what we saw when we walked around the area they were expanding into. Through the use of bulldozers and a massive earth mover (which broke one of our Colobridges whilst being delivered) they had levelled an area of forest which is yet to be measured but is of a very large acreage. We estimate this to be at least one troop’s home range. Endangered indigenous trees, some of which had stood for hundreds of years, lay shattered in a pile whilst they dug into the bedrock to make room for a third swimming pool. They also were building within the 30 meter buffer zone above the high-tide mark, which is completely illegal and what is worse is that they appeared to be building a pipeline. We are currently in the process of dealing with NEMA to find out the details before we can name names or say anything was conclusively illegal.
We had a meeting with the manager on duty (the general manager left hastily before we arrived) and he tried, in vain, to justify their actions. He said that their development were legal and claimed that the gain to the construction workers outweighed the loss of the forest. He also said and I quote, that “fifty percent of their forest remained” this lead us to believe that they halved what once was. Please help us spread this terrible story before all of Diani Forest is calved up. We need to make people aware of this Any ideas or contacts within the media or responsible tourism industry who may help us would be fantastic. If we don’t make an example of this there will be no hope for the future of Diani Forest and its wildlife and the only jungle we will have will be a concrete one. Thanks for your time, Gwili Gibbon
Finally our blogging can recommence. After a long spell in Nairobi sorting out my work permit I have returned to Diani! This is the start of our new initiative to tell all about the multitude of tasks that make up our work to protect the endangered Angolan Colobus and it’s habitat. Over the next few weeks we hope you will learn what it really takes to do this. We will start today with one of our first projects, the building and maintenance of our world famous Colobridges. They came about as a direct response to the huge numbers of Colobus (and other arboreal primate species) lost in road traffic accidents (RTAs) in Diani during the its development.
The problem is simple. When their habitat is bisected by a road, as the forest in Diani is, wildlife which is at home in trees will have to descend to the ground to move between the forest patches. This puts the wildlife at risk as arboreal species aren’t so natural at moving across the ground. Because of this many lives are lost under the wheels of the many cars, buses, matatus and recklessly fast staff. This was noticed by the pioneers of The Colobus Trust and they acted, in force, to reduce the problem. Firstly they campaigned to get a 50kph speed limit enforced on Diani Beach Road and secondly they came up with the idea of a Colobridge. The idea is simple. Through the use of a horizontally placed wire ladder from tree to tree you can provide a path across the road, in areas where RTAs are of a hight frequency, for Diani’s arboreal primates. Some of which, especially the Colobus, are not so good at moving at ground level. The initial bridges were very much a success with a large drop in the numbers of RTAs. So this project became
A modern Colobridge is a simple to build, affordable way of saving lives. They are built out of a wire frame covered with plastic tubing and attached to a tree or platform at either end. We spend every Monday working on the bridges 26 bridges in Diani. Which need to be checked and maintained every 3 months. Each new bridge costs 25,000 KSh to build with a further annual cost of 10,000 KSh for its upkeep. Building a walkway over the road has provided a very successful path to reduce fatalities here in Diani and the idea has been used to similar effect elsewhere. We are very happy for the Flying Foxes of Australia as well as one known bridge in Uganda where people have used what we have learnt to help animals afar. As far as the future of this program goes, we have been monitoring the use of these bridges make sure they are used and placed effectively. Unfortunately, Vincent, the volunteer in charge of the project left us nearly a month ago and with no knew volunteers this assessment has had to be put on hold. We will, however, keep maintaining the bridges and await the return of someone to fill his shoes. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank our latest donors: Antonio C Thank you all, Gwili
On behalf of everyone at the Trust (and every monkey in Diani) I would like thank everyone who has donated to us through Wildlife Direct. We are now confident that if this kind support continues we will be able to continue our road to recovery. Below we have named our most recent donors. So, a big thank you to: Kathy S With your support we are able to be there for monkeys like the little Sykes we received at the end of last week. Concerned residents brought us this monkey from just outside the Shimba Hills NR. Where they saw it being mistreated by some children.
The individual in question was an extremely sweet young male Sykes Monkey. Luckily when he was brought to us, apart from being a bit skinny and very tired, the only problem he had was a bad case of the hiccups! This soon cleared up after a nice meal of milk and glucose and the little guy was soon fast asleep hanging on to his surrogate mother, a towel. In the wild infants of his age are still carried everywhere by their mother. Unfortunately due to the situation of his origins we knew that, if still alive, his mother would be impossible to find. This put a release into his troop out of the question. So this, and the fact that he would not be accepted into another wild troop due to his gender, left us in a pickle. Thankfully Kerstin, a local Tiwi Beach resident, was on hand to save the day. She has raised many monkeys, with similar troubles, and introduced them to her resident troop of Vervet & Sykes Monkeys at her home. These are a welcoming collection of monkeys who’ve taken in many homeless monkeys such as ours. For this we also owe a massive thank you to Kerstin and look forward to updating you on the progress of this lucky monkey. Keep up the support! Gwili
We have worked with The Kenya Power & Lighting Company to reduce the number of primates lost by electrocutions for many years now. Initially our work involved coordinating with them to trim back the trees around all the major power lines in Diani. This has reduced the numbers, but many are still lost. In the last three years we have lost 12% of the Diani Forest Colobus population.
A dead Colobus found in Diani. Though we do what we can through our ongoing Tree Trimming Program, responding to an electrocution call is an all to frequent event for the Trust. The smell of burnt hair is pungent and the suffering these monkeys go through is terrible. The impact of 22,000 Volts is devastating. The animal’s flesh at the point of contact instantly cooks. This usually means any survivors we find lose the use of at least one of their forelimbs. Colobus can live with only one arm, and there are several in Diani we have treated and released, but they can never be the monkey they were before. An adult male Colobus amputee has never been seen as the leader of a troop, something every male aspires to be.
A dead Colobus showing steriotypical burns on the forearms and face.
Unfortunately many lose more than one limb and these cannot survive in the wild. This is even more depressing though as the majority of cases are dead on arrival. It is horrible witnessing these needless deaths, and long have we known that a longer-term solution had to be found.
A young male Colobus who’s forearm was amputated due to excessive burning. Thankfully, during this tough time, it would appear that we have found a breakthrough! In January KLPC sent a team to us, with the intent purpose of trying to solve the problem in Diani. We took them to our 17 already identified Electrocution Hotspots in Diani & explained the situation. When we received a letter from them this week. It was greeted with great anticipation. Inside was a proposal for the isolation of all the power lines at our hotspots that were publicly owned. This would be a great start towards the total annihilation of the problem. KPLC have offered to supply the manpower as long as we can raise the funds to pay for the materials. This is a whopping KSh 950,000 (US$ 13,500), a figure way out of our budget, even before the economic crisis, we are currently in, arose. Don’t let this stop us. Through your support we can get the Trust out of these difficult times and work towards raising this amount and achieve this massive leap in the right direction. Yours willingly, The Colobus Team
Last Friday the Colobus Trust received a welfare call for a white infant that had falled from its mother onto the ground. It seems like there was a tiff between two troops and one of the mothers dropped her baby as her troop got chased away. The Colobus Trust responded to the call and arrived at the scene shortly after, but the troop that the baby belonged to was gone. After a while the staff that responded to the call were close to having to bring the infant back to the Trust for caring, when finally they managed to find the troop it belonged to. The baby was then placed on the ground, and immediately as the troop heard its alarm calls the mother came down to pick it up and the infant was returned to the troop. Thanks to the staff’s dedication and determination, this is one loss that the colobus monkeys will not have to face.
Isabelle Colobologist
For a few weeks now I have taken on the task of assessing colobridge usage for each of our 26 bridges around Diani to make sure that they are indeed being used. This is a long-term project that I hope new volunteers will take on and continue in the future. Thanks to the help of Jacob, who has now left the Trust, and Vincent, who has now just taken on this project and will continue when I leave, we have been observing the bridges early in the morning between 6am and 9am, which is the time when they cross the most. The video of the colobus crossing a colobridge was taken on one of these mornings while sitting in front of the Leisure Lodge bridge, and it was quite a happy experience to see how well these bridges are working. This morning was a great morning again for those of us on this project - we have seen an entire troop of 8 colobus crossing the bridge we were watching, including two females with black and white infants holding on to them. It was a beautiful thing to see, and I hope that by sharing this it will make people realize how important the colobridges are to Diani’s ecology. Isabelle |
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The Colobus Trust was established in Diani Beach, Kenya, in 1997 to save the endangered Angolan colobus monkey which was a frequent victim of roadkills. The Trust's trademark is Colobridges - bridges over the roads for save overpass. Gwili, a Welsh volunteer at the Trust reports on the day to day activities in an busy local primate conservation charity 
