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Protection of gorillas in-situ

The Prague zoo and the help with protection of gorillas in-situ

On 7th November 2005 the Czech radio station Leonardo in cooperation with the Prague zoo started the first multi-media project “a slightly different reality show ” called the Revealed. It is not people who take part in the reality show but a family of our gorillas - Richard, Shinda, Kamba, Kijivu and Moja.

Apart from the educational part of the project, the main goal is to obtain financial resources to protect gorillas in the wild. In the first phase we obtained (thanks to the sms messages and from the sale of items with the logo of the project) 96 217. - CZK and most of this money will be used for the adoption of four gorillas that live in the conservation station in Limbe in Cameroon. These gorillas have been rescued from the hands of peddlers and at present the station is trying to put them back to the wild. However, this is far from the end. Based on the wishes of viewers and listeners of the Czech radio station Leonardo and as also the responses from abroad were really keen, we decided to continue. Every Thursday the Czech radio broadcasts the weekly magazine the Revealed that is a freely connected follow-up of our reality show. As we continue with the broadcasts our main goal remains – that is to raise more financial resources for protection of the gorillas in the wild.

From 20th February 2006, all those who are interested in this matter have the collection account the Revealed  – 555555552/0800 in Česká spořitelna at their disposal.  You can donate any amount and we thank you for that in advance.

You can also contribute by purchasing the Revealed items in the stalls with souvenirs in the Prague zoo, in the representative shop of Radioservice in Vinohradská street or in the e-shop at www.rozhlas.cz/odhaleni.

 Contribute with us to the protection of the gorillas!

  

The conservation station in Limbe  

In the conservation station Limbe Wildlife Centre (LWC) in Cameroon, there live the orphaned gorillas. The lives of the wards here have been eventful but they suffer a similar fate. Their parents and relatives were killed by hunters and the little ones should have been sold as pets. The fates of these rescued little gorillas speak for themselves. And in this first phase we would like to focus our help on them.

Chella
Chella was born probably in 1994. As two-years-old he was found in a car boot next to the body of his dead mother and he was confiscated by the relevant local authority. After the confiscation Chella got only beer for drinking and minute amounts of food for the long three weeks. After his arrival to the LWC he was much dehydrated and undernourished. Thanks to the great efforts of the employees, his state was getting gradually better. Chella survived and grew up into a huge male that is taking up the position of the dominant male in the group at present.

 

Akiba
Akiba is a five-year-old female who came to LWC in 2001 from a small village in the south of Cameroon. The hunter that killed her family was trying to sell little Akiba. The manager of the conservation station for chimpanzees learnt about his activities and immediately contacted the officers from the Cameroon Ministry of Environment. Akiba got to the LWC three days after her confiscation.

 

Twigs and Brighter
Just as many other apes, Brighter and Twigs were poached as little gorillas, smuggled to Nigeria and sold at the notoriously known market Sabon Gari in Kan. A Lebanese businessman bought them there. In 2002, after the long 7 years the gorillas were confiscated by the Nigerian Ministry of Environment, thanks to the international pressure. After the negotiations with the Cameroon authorities they were returned back to Cameroon and placed in LWC.

 

Jumbo
Jumbo (*1996) was found in the garden of a woman called Lena Perazzi. A man who had been trying to sell the little gorilla to Mrs Perazzi left her there. Mrs Perazzi did not agree to buy the gorilla, as she knew that any such purchase would cause more hunting of gorillas in the wild. Mrs Perazzi contacted immediately the LWC and Jumbo was promptly transported there.

 

Pitchou
After the hunters had killed the mother and the relatives, Pitchou (*1996/1997) was brought to the Ilomba hotel in Kribi and from there she should have been sold further. The owners of the hotel could not see her suffering so much and they bought her. After several weeks they decide to donate her to LWC. After her arrival to the station Pitchou was dehydrated, suffered from bad diarrhoea and had large lesions on her skin (that is why she is called Pitchou as it means in the local dialect “spotted”).

 

Batek
In June 2001 his mother was shot and Batek (*1999) was injured by the splinters of the bullet. Injured he got to a village where a nun saved his life and cured him in the local hospital.

 

Arno
Arno (*1999) was kept as a pet in the family of a Lebanese dealer in wood. After the dealer had closed down his business and left the country, the animals were left to their fate.

Not all the animals that live now in the station in Limbe are mentioned in this report. If you got interested in the stories of the gorillas you can learn more about LWC and its other, e.g. educational activities at www.limbewildlife.org (in English).



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