Ape Action Africa asked for 2,000 pounds to rebuild a guenon enclosure at its sanctuary outside Yaoundé. Its partner list, published on its own homepage, names three European zoos.
Apenheul in the Netherlands, Prague Zoo and Twycross Zoo appear alongside the Arcus Foundation, Born Free, ASAF and Rotary.
What needed fixing
One enclosure had deteriorated to the point where temporary repairs were no longer enough. The work involved removing weakened sections, reinforcing the frame, upgrading fencing, improving structural stability and adding vertical complexity suited to how the animals move.
“The fencing was rusted, sections were unstable, and long term safety could not be guaranteed.”
Kam, Ape Action Africa
“Enclosure safety directly affects animal welfare. Without secure boundaries, everything else is compromised.”
Kam
Two thousand pounds
It is worth sitting with the number. This is a PASA-accredited sanctuary caring for more than 280 primates, on an annual operating budget of roughly 300,000 pounds, and a structural repair to one enclosure was a public appeal for 2,000.
That ratio is the reality of great ape sanctuary work in Central Africa. There is no gate revenue to speak of, no endowment, and every capital item is a fundraising round.
“When we share a need, and people respond, real change happens on the ground.”
Kam
What the zoos actually did
Twycross documents its own involvement, and it is not only money. In 2016 it provided financial support toward the sanctuary’s running costs and sent its chief executive and life sciences director for expertise in veterinary care and group management. In 2017 two keepers and its veterinary services manager traveled out to provide support, training and veterinary care.
That is the part of the relationship that does not show up in a conservation spend figure. A sanctuary in Cameroon has a specific problem with primate group composition; the people who manage primate groups professionally, at scale, for a living, work at zoos.
No amounts are disclosed by any of the three.
The organization
Ape Action Africa was founded in 1996 as the Cameroon Wildlife Aid Fund, working at the Mvog-Betsi Zoo in Yaoundé, and renamed in 2008. It has been rescuing great apes and monkeys for more than 25 years and runs the Mefou sanctuary.
Prague Zoo and Twycross both turn up repeatedly in this reporting. Twycross has also funded Lola ya Bonobo since 2007. Prague coordinates the EAZA breeding program for the Egyptian vulture. The set of institutions carrying this work is smaller than most readers would assume.
Sources: Ape Action Africa; Twycross Zoo. The article carries a February 15 date without a year on the page itself.
