‘Endangered animals find solace in our captivity’

It is a kind of safe haven for these species of animals which are the remaining of their kind in the whole world, and are mostly found in the abundant forests of central Cross River State.Manager of the Drill Rehab and Breeding Centre, otherwise called Drill Ranch, Mrs Irene Edem, said there are 500 of […]

It is a kind of safe haven for these species of animals which are the remaining of their kind in the whole world, and are mostly found in the abundant forests of central Cross River State.
Manager of the Drill Rehab and Breeding Centre, otherwise called Drill Ranch, Mrs Irene Edem, said there are 500 of such endangered Drill monkeys and 30 chimpanzees as well as lots of other types of animals which they are keeping, breeding at the Calabar Drill Ranch.
“Drills are large, short-tailed rain forest monkeys.  Their males reach over 45kg and are found mostly in Cross River State.  The only other places these monkeys are found are in south-west Cameroon, and on the Bioko Island of Equatorial Guinea.   Drills have a smooth black face.
In Nigeria, little is however known of drill ecology  as in other countries.  This is because they are elusive and are not well studied in the wild.  Unlike most monkeys, they are semi-terrestrial.
For their food, these drill monkeys search the ground for fallen fruits, roots, leaves, insects and invertebrates; they climb trees to pick fruits and do sleep on tree tops at night.
Drills communicate with facial expressions, vocalizations and behaviours. That is why workers at the Calabar Drill Ranch, like Mrs Edem find it easy to communicate with them.  They are semi-nomadic, travelling long distances in the forest, perhaps following fruiting seasons of different trees.  Like most primates they are highly social and live in groups of 15-30.  At certain times of the year, groups come together into temporary super groups  of up to 200. They however, like humans, disallow ‘inbreeding’.
Why are they rare? Why are they endangered? Findings show that the primates are among Africa’s most endangered animals, and are the top conservation-action priority of the 60 plus African primate species.
According to information available at the Drill Ranch which is a Nigerian NGO founded and directed by Peter Jenkins and an American, Liza Gadsby, to promote survival of a very endangered and long-overlooked African primate, there are three possible reasons for their precarious status: their natural range is only 40,000 sq km, smaller than Switzerland.  Their range, habitat continues to be destroyed by logging, farming and other human developments and, of course, they are hunted illegally for ‘bushmeat’.  Hunting is however the biggest threat to their survival and drills are said to be more vulnerable than other primates, according to animal experts.
Mrs Edem who is also the first female and now the fifth president of Calabar Paradise City Lions Club who described the Calabar Drill Ranch as ‘an orphanage for animals’, said they usually collect these endangered animals from the forests, or from donors as freewill donations or ‘we can outrightly confiscate these animals from persons that stole, traffic or maltreat them using the powers backed by Decree 11 of 1985 which extends protection to them.
“We are not a zoo. This place is a wildlife conservation project, majorly for the concern of the drill monkeys which are now endangered.  Though we take in other animals because this place is like a safe haven for them, they find solace here.  We kind of give these animals second chance in life to survive having been threatened and hunted by man for food which accounts for their drastic reduction in number across the world.
“We would usually take them at very critical stages of their lives and revive them through medical care and feeding.
“We do not buy them.   Anyone that hunts for these animals when we get to know we use the power embedded in the decree to arrest and prosecute them.  We can enforce this law and confiscate these animals including those listed in the decree.”
On what they do with these animals after reviving them, she denied that they sell them.  “We know basically what to do about these animals after we must have nurtured them back to life. We know where to return them when the time comes. We do not sell them as it is against the reason we are set up.”
Who are the workers and how do they draw the funds to support the arduous task of feeding and giving medical care to over 500 drill monkeys and their increasing number of babies on one hand and equally large number of other kinds of animals, including those that crawl and assorted birds in both the Calabar and Boki sanctuaries?
“In fact, our major challenge is finance.  We need sponsors from anywhere because each day these animals are populating.  We expend a lot on their food and medicine.  We have 30 Nigerian staff and Canadian volunteers”, she said.
Animal rights activist, Mrs Edem lamented the high rate at which people kill and subject animals to cruelty.  As if invoking the anger of God on those guilty of these, she said almost everyone thinks that the Biblical law ‘thou shall not kill’ only applied to man.  “This was not specified by God and did not apply to man alone.  Those that kill animals are as guilty as those that murder human beings.  The same amount of punishment will be meted out to human beings that kill any animals.”