Vervet mating season will be coming to an end shortly and so the vervets have calmed down a little with less fighting between the males. This gives us time to focus on other important projects such as firebreaking, eradication and rehabilitation of monkeys into natural enclosures.

Thanks to Sandy from 'About Marketing', radio communication is now back at the centre after over 6 months without it (due to being stolen in transit). Communication is so important in such a large centre to be able to act quickly in situations, having radios will also save some phone bills too!

The VMF gets into the spirit of the World cup this month by visiting a school and handing out some vervet soccer uniforms as part of an educational programme.

We are just tiling our surgery and sickbay preparation area ready for our volunteer vets to start more vasectomies. We have had a lot of response from an advert we put out in the UK for volunteer veterinarians so are now able to get on top of the vasectomies and hopefully complete them this year.

Neil Wilson (previous volunteer) who donated the private cabin 'Libelela Thaba' aka 'Neil's Hideaway' returned to the VMF for a week to see the progress and no doubt we'll see him again. Hellen Bersacola (previous volunteer) also returns for 2 months.

We are still in need of many more volunteers all year round so please do spread the word and help display posters in any way you can, we are lower on numbers this time of year possibly due to flight increases which in turn means lower funding and what we are able to do for the monkeys.

Thank you to Emma Opitz who took most of the photos for this month's newsletter.

Alexandra Koby, Claire Kelly, Emelia Payne, Hannah Evans, Christina Emery Torres, Carl DeSantis, Suzy Mirvis.

Welcome Back:

Hellen Bersacola

• Flash (adult male) moved out from Maroela (a very old cage) to a more suitable introduction cage at Goliath G – he is also our heaviest male recorded so far weighing in at 7.1kgs.

• Sangoma (adult male) moved from his old cage at sickbay to a more spacious introduction cage on the side of sickbay enclosure.
  
  
• Friend (adult female), Michael (jnr) & Scotch moved from Block C4 to Gismo B in the hope of being able to introduce them into Gismo troop with their old friend ET.
  
  
• Shortie (adult female) from Goliath I has now moved in with Wilma and Walter in an introduction cage at Goliath B. Shortie is spending some time getting to know Wilma from the troop before being integrated into the social group as it's going to be important for her to form strong allies before she is released.

On May 3rd, Dave Du Toit (Director & Founder of VMF) & myself were proud to be travelling to our first PASA (Pan African Sanctuary Alliance) Management Conference held in Yaounde, Cameroon.

The conference was full of interesting and important presentations such as enrichment, law enforcement, succession planning, strategic planning and many more. Each sanctuary including the VMF gave a 10 min update presentation on what had been happening at their centre within the last year.

The conference was also an opportunity to meet other sanctuary managers from all over Africa and to share information and experiences.

During the conference, Kenda Diallo from Centre de Conservation pour Chimpanzés (CCC) sanctuary in Guinea was awarded the 2010 Siddle-Marsden award and the 3 Cameroon sanctuaries were presented with their GFAS verified sanctuary certificates (we will be receivng the VMF one shortly). Philip Cronje from JGI Chimp Eden was also voted onto the PASA Advisory Council.

A visit to another PASA sanctuary 'Ape Action Africa' took place during the conference which was another good opportunity to see how other sanctuaries in Africa are run and the daily struggles that are often faced.

Certainly the one thing that was observed at the conference was that everyone shares the same vision for the primates which is important for their future. We are honoured and priviledged to be part of such a professional organisation with the best interest of the primates at heart and look forward to attending many more conferences and workshops to enable the work of the VMF to grow and knowledge to be shared.

Hilde Olbrechts from the VMF will be attending the PASA Education workshop in South Africa from 23rd - 29th May so there will be another update in our next newsletter.

Click here for PASA website

Vervet Monkey Foundation and Rainbow Combined School for vervet monkey conservation…

It was quite some time ago since the first contact was made with the Rainbow Combined School in Nkowankowa.  It took a while from start to finish – from getting the sizes of all the A-team football players at the school and later to actually hand over the PASA donated soccer kit.  Just before the Easter holidays we went to the school to go through the education part we needed to present before actually handing over the soccer uniforms.  While at the school we donated some PASA colouring books, a Natemba book for their library and other educational material which was accepted with open arms and already seems to be in use in several grades. 

On the 29th of April it was the big day.  Dan Grove and myself from the Vervet Monkey Foundation went to the school, packed with paper, projector, laptop, soft toy, camera equipment and of course, the bag with soccer uniforms.  The 4th grade were the first to get to know us … we handed out a questionnaire with 30 questions about conservation and facts related to vervet monkeys.  This is the first school we have given a powerpoint presentation to about vervet monkeys and some information on the Vervet Monkey Foundation.  After grade 4, also grade 5, 6 and 7 could fill out their questionnaires and listen to the presentation.  Quite a few students were interested afterwards and asked questions which we willingly answered.  All in all 194 children got to know the vervet monkey better that day.  Hopefully they will carry something of the knowledge with them.  In about 2 months time we will go back to the school to have them fill out the same questionnaire again to find out what they actually will have remembered of the monkey day.

The next day we were lucky enough the Rainbow school held a sports day at the Meridian High School based just outside Tzaneen.  Packed again with camera equipment we went to the sports field where by the time we arrived, the Rainbow team were already playing their first football match against the Meridian High School team.  Sure the new soccer uniforms gave them an extra boost of energy because they did win the game!  All the boys looked very nice in their brand new outfits …

The conservation message chosen by the VMF on the front of the soccer uniforms reads: "Protect our wildlife today and it will be here tomorrow"

Thank you to all who supported / granted the soccer uniform initiative – USFWS, PASA, Conservation International and Brevard zoo.

Previous volunteer Aoife Healy has just created a vervet website for her masters in Primate Conservation. Aoife needed to create an assignment to develop an education conservation resource and from her experience at the VMF, she chose the vervet monkey. To view the website please click on the link below:

Vervet website - click here

As you may have read in the last newsletter, ET from Blocks moved to Gismo B to be integrated into Gismo Troop. After just a few weeks of meeting some of the adults, we decided to give him some time with the juniors and babies to see what they made of him. It’s important for him that they feel comfortable with him. If they scream at the sight of him when he goes into the enclosure, he’s likely to get chased and bitten by the others, as vervets are extremely protective of their young.

Luckily, the juniors and babies were completely unphased by him, and seemed quite keen to go and investigate. ET being a smart monkey, kept his distance to make sure no one misunderstood his intentions!
So after 3 weeks of introducing him to the monkeys in the troop, the time came for his first exploration of Gismo Enclosure on 26th April. After lingering by the open hatch for a few minutes, he took his first tentative steps out into his new home. The troop all came over and ET chatted away to them, making sure everyone (especially Aslan the alpha male) knew that he had no desire to cause trouble. This went down pretty well with everyone, even Aslan, who felt that a bit of posturing was enough to make the point that he’s the boss. There was a brief swearing match later on between the two of them, but ended uneventfully.

After two hours of exploring the enclosure, we decided it was about time to bring ET back into his intro cage for the night. This proved to be a bit more difficult than we’d expected! The taste of freedom was too much for him, and he flatly refused to come anywhere near the cage. In the end, there wasn’t much we could do but leave him there for the night, and hope that things continued to go well.

It’s been about 3 weeks now since he went in, and apart from a couple of minor injuries (no doubt courtesy of Aslan), he’s quite happy in his new home. He’s a low ranked monkey, but smart enough to realise that he’s low ranked, and that it’s better to accept it than to try and cause trouble! He’s been chumming around with Tink lately, Gismo’s lowest ranked female, and they make quite a cute couple!

After a very long time spent in a cage in Blocks, it was wonderful to see ET move into a more natural home where he can forage for insects and seed pods, and interact with other monkeys. This is why we do what we do, and it makes all the effort we put into caring for the monkeys, seem worthwhile.

Daily monkey care at the VMF not only consists of feeding, watering, cleaning and keeping healthy but some more subtle yet very important practices that from an outsiders eye may look simply like sitting.

I came to the VMF with a passion for animals, primates especially, and above all animal behaviour. One of my all time favourite jobs at the VMF is observing the monkeys that we are looking to integrate back into troops.
The shift starts with some bait I prepare in the Sick Bay kitchen and plant just outside the intro cages of the monkeys, usually consisting of banana, pineapple, sprouts and whatever is left over from morning feeds. Then I find myself a spot to sit, and start taking down minute by minute notes of interactions between the monkeys. I watch for the alpha males, who is acting submissive, who is starting fights, who is being respectful of the higher ranked monkeys and who is talking to who.

My current favourites to observe are Santa and Rohan - two boys we are hoping to integrate into the Koko troop. Rohan has a reputation of being a bit of a snob as he generally prefers a grooming from me rather then talking to the monkeys of the troop. Santa generally is sweet and quiet but has surprised me by standing up to Tilt the alpha male of Koko over some altercations that rose over sprouts. There is never a dull moment when observing those boys.

The observation notes tell us who needs longer to learn their place in the troop, who will need a longer integration time period and if this troop is even a good match at all.

I always hope it will be an easy transition, but these monkeys always seem to have their own stubborn opinions on the matter.

Donations & Thank you's April 2010:

PASA – veterinary supplies
Claire Kelly – suture material
Neil Wilson - clothes for the staff
About Marketing - 3 sets of two way radios

Orphan enclosure - target left to raise $7000 (£4800) (5500 Euros) (R55,500)

Our target to raise funds for the new orphan enclosure is $10,000 or R75,000. So far, with your help, we have raised $3700 so need another $7000 to complete it. A list of contributors will be published in our newsletter on completion. Every person who donates $100 or more, we will put their name on a special plaque on completion of the enclosure.

Hairy Armadillo Ltd (Rob Tuppen) - donated a generous £1000 towards the new baby enclosure this month.

Click on our fundraising page to donate:

VMF Fundraising page - click here

Ciara Shaw, Jacqui Ralston, Helen Barton, Linda Lipkin, Genna Lipkin, Neil Wilson (return).