"Lovely
work of educating the young children
to be good environmental stewards."
Over
the years Chipembele
has become a wildlife
refuge for orphaned
and injured animals.
With full authority
from the Zambian
Wildlife Authority
(ZAWA) animals
are reared and
then rehabilitated
to the wild as
soon they are
ready. None are
ever kept as pets.
Animals
that have been
successfully reared
or nursed and
rehabilitated
at Chipembele
include: warthogs,
vervet monkeys,
yellow baboons,
bushbucks, squirrels,
scrub hares, a
Sharpe’s
grysbok, a hyena,
a pangolin, a
serval and a variety of birds.
The
most successful
animals to have
been reared at
Chipembele have,
without doubt,
been warthogs.
Although they
return to the
wild very easily,
they also return
regularly most
days for a mud
bath or drink
of water and the
females bring
their latest babies.
Roxy, a warthog
who was raised
from a 2 week
old baby in 2004,
went on to have
3 litters in consecutive
years, but was
very sadly illegally
shot on Christmas
Day 2008. Her
daughter Ruby
from 2 years ago
took on Roxy's
tiny orphans in
addition to her
own 2 babies. Amazingly, they all survived and in October 2009, she gave birth of another 3 babies and they stayed together as a large family group of 9. Ironically however, a year to the day after Roxy was killed, Ruby was taken by lions.
A reminder that
life in Africa
can be tough,
harsh and unjust
as well as joyous.
An orphaned buffalo, Elton, came to Chipembele in 2008 when he was just a few days old and spent a year being reared there until a suitable place for him was found to continue the long process of his rehabilitation to the wild. He was taken to Liuwa Plains National Park in Western Province, where he joined a herd of semi-wild buffaloes from an island in Lake Kariba. The project is being managed by the Africa Parks Foundation, who aim to re-introduce buffalies to the Park. Unfortunately, the 19 buffaloes are inbred, so it is hoped that Elton will one day mate with the females and help increase the genetic diversity of the herd.
3 young orphaned elephants have also been reared at Chipembele for a month
each before being translocated to the Elephant Orphanage Project in Kafue
National Park. Chamilandu, Chudoba and Tafika are now a family group and are
under a carefully managed rehabilitation scheme that aims to facilitate
their natural rehabilitation to a wild herd in the Park one day.
Orphaned Animal Update
December 2009
Ebony was brought to us in November 2009 as a 2-week old orphan with a
broken leg. Children in a local village had killed his mother for stealing
mangoes from the trees in their village. He sat screaming in a tree in the
village for a day and a night, abandoned by the rest of the troop who were
unable to care for him and who were driven to move on in the eternal search
for food. An older boy finally snatched Ebony from the tree and in doing so
snapped his leg bone in two and then they all began playing with him.
Fortunately he was rescued by the Forestry Officer's wife who insisted her
husband find some transport to bring him the 18km to Chipembele. Later, a British doctor working in the local clinic confirmed my diagnosis
of a broken femur and advised it was best not to splint as it would be
unlikely to hold and may set in a position not suitable for the monkey.
And
so we left it and waited. Ebony was quiet but not seemingly in pain and
after a few weeks the leg bone amazingly healed by itself.
He now has full mobility (though as he spends a lot of the time in the house
with me I sometimes half wish he hadn't!). He now has a friend, Nzombo, who
is a few weeks younger and was again seized from a group of children who
were playing with him and no sign of the mother. The two are inseparable and
very happy together. When they sleep they hug each other tightly and Nzombo
sucks on Ebony's ear like a dummy. It is hoped they will be rehabilitated to
a troop in the wild any time after weaning which is around 6 months old.
Nzombo was named after the place where he was found, Chinzombo, meaning the
place of the wild rose tree.
Also in November two tiny bushbucks were brought to us by ZAWA from the town
of Chipata, 180 km away. The story behind them being orphaned is not known.
The 6 year old daughter of the ZAWA Ecologist named the first, a male, Bambi
and we named the second, a female, Honey. Bambi's eye was injured and she
had a badly infected cut to her ear but after a few weeks of medication all
healed up perfectly.
Fortunately our two Jack Russells happily accept the orphaned animals that
appear in our lives and they all play together in harmony. It is a joy to
watch. Molly in particular is very maternal and mothers them.
After a month of continual milk feeds in the cage they were released,
knowing they wouldn't go far, to take advantage of the wonderful fresh green
vegetation that is growing in abundance now the rainy season has begun. They
stay in the bushes close to the house and let us know when they are hungry
for milk by bleating like a lamb under the windows!
They will slowly rehabilitate themselves tot he wild but will probably stay
in the area, just like Sprite who we reared in 2002. She is totally wild but
comes to the house every day for rest and water (and a bit of fuss and
attention!)
