7/6/2021 0 Comments Talk about athletes!
5/19/2020 2 Comments Our Littlest Gorilla Makes Friends
3/2/2020 6 Comments Freedom Returns to the Wild!
2/14/2020 1 Comment Happy Valentine's Day!Enjoy this sweet video of chimps Sandie and Friday, gorilla Mbailasem |
Rachel Hogan OBE speaks to a packed house at the Explorers Club in NYC | The Saving Gorillas Tour 2019 has been a resounding success! Ape Action Africa's first-ever fundraising tour raised more than $23,000 for the gorillas, chimpanzees and monkeys in our care. We thank every single person who came to see us, brought a friend, helped out, bid in the auctions, decorated a gorilla (more below!) and made generous donations. Hundreds of friends, new and old, turned out to hear Rachel Hogan OBE, Director of Ape Action Africa, tell her story of 18 years working to save these magnificent animals in their native rainforest. From California to South Carolina to New York, we laughed and cried and committed ourselves to seeing that Rachel has the resources needed to continue this most important work. Enjoy these photos of the fun! |
Our very special thanks to the Organizing Committees: California Margo Chisholm Susan Lutter, chair Nikki Sloate | New York Matt Deeble-Rogers Robin Huffman, chair Dana Pruskowski Lori Weitzer |
5/28/2019 1 Comment
Gorilla move a success
In nature, there comes a time in a male gorilla's life when he either becomes the head of the family or moves off to live alone or with other adult males in what are called "bachelor" groups. At Ape Action Africa, they need a little help moving. With their night house complete, featuring a separate room for each of them, Nkan, Shai and Djanga were moved from our largest gorilla group to their new habitat in late April. And you don't just walk a silverback gorilla to his new home! |
One by One Due to their size and the need to limit their sedation to as short a time as possible, the gorillas were each moved individually. One Gorilla, Eight Men Silverbacks are big boys. You can see here the strain on their faces as 8 of our strongest staff carry Nkan Daniel on the stretcher to the waiting "ambulance." |
Health Checks The staff works to lift Nkan's stretcher and attach it to the hook of the scale (in the center top of the photo) in order to get his weight. 174 kilos, by the way, or 384 pounds, and all muscle. As you can see, this is taking place in the night house, in one of the rooms which was specially fitted out as a veterinary room to meet future health needs with minimal transport required. The exam/procedure table that you see here was built of rebar and concrete to hold the size and weight of an adult gorilla. |
Success Everything went according to plan and all three silverbacks were moved in one day. For now, they are in the night house getting used to the sights, sounds and smells of their new area, and to their being alone together. Soon they'll be introduced to their forest area and be free to explore, play, rest, whatever they wish. |
We are absolutely delighted to announce that our director, Rachel Hogan, has been awarded an OBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours list! Rachel has devoted her life to the conservation of Cameroon’s primates, making so many sacrifices along the way, and this honour is so richly deserved. Her passion for gorillas began as a young child, but her dream to work with them became a reality in 2001 when she travelled to Cameroon to volunteer for AAA for three months. Just as she was getting ready to return home to Birmingham, a tiny, two-week-old gorilla arrived at the sanctuary. No one had ever successfully hand-reared such a small gorilla, and Rachel abandoned her plans to return home. During the nearly 20 years since that time, it has been a pleasure to see Rachel grow from a shy volunteer who was focused on Nkan Daniel, into our confident director of today, responsible for more than 350 animals and 50 staff. She now works closely with government ministers, has hosted the Prime Minister of Cameroon at Mefou, and has met the President’s wife and the Secretary General of the Presidency, both of whom are very supportive of her work. As a volunteer in early days, Rachel was filmed with Nkan Daniel for a BBC programme called Ape Hunters, but she refused to speak! She is now so confident in front of the public that her talk at the Explorers Club in New York was the first time in 150 years that the event was sold out, and she shared Shufai’s surgery in Operation Wild on the BBC. Her profile within Cameroon and internationally is becoming increasingly important in her lifelong quest to protect Cameroon’s primates. Many congratulations Rachel, from all our staff in Cameroon, the board of trustees, all our volunteers around the world and of course those who you work so tirelessly for … all the gorillas, chimpanzees and monkeys in your care and their cousins in the wild. | OBE stands for "Officer of the Order of the British Empire." But we doubt that you'll see Rachel wearing her insignia, above, while she's checking on the gorillas! |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. |
Archives
February 2024
|
Categories |