Other Information in 2006

The rainy season is always the hardest period of the year at the LWC and this year has been no exception. Typically, the rains slowly began in the month of May with a few storms each week, but by July the rain was pretty much falling continuously and it is still falling today. The annual rainfall in Limbe is in excess of 4 metres per year and a lot of this water falls within these few months. The effect of this deluge is
that the enclosures all become waterlogged, drainage channels overflow and the indoor enclosures become swamps. Consequently life is much harder during these months for animals and keepers alike. For the keepers their cleaning work becomes very challenging. It is not just that they are soaking wet, it is also the extra weight of the damp vegetation that must be cleared each day, the problems caused to the electric fences by the standing water, and the over flowing sceptic tanks, that
make life such a stress during the rains. However the biggest problem with the rainy season, for both staff and animals, is the increased incidence of disease, and this year has been no exception.

With temperatures hovering around the low 20’s the animals become cold and physically stressed and more susceptible to respiratory infections. The first to suffer was the alpha male adult chimpanzee Jack who required intensive care treatment to pull him through what became a serious case of broncho-pneumonia. Following Jack the infection spread so that everyday there was several chimpanzees coughing. Eventually it spread to the nursery enclosure and into quarantine. All the
chimpanzees suffered at least once, and of these most spent a couple of days coughing with a moderate fever before recovering. However, like Jack, there were
a few for whom the infection was particularly serious and who needed intensive care therapy. However it was not only the chimpanzees that were affected, the staff
also fell sick with the same symptoms of coughing and fever. In fact it is likely that the infection originated from the staff or members of the public before infecting the chimpanzees. Throughout the epidemic the veterinary team worked around the clock, often spending the nights sitting with sick chimpanzees, but, in the end, it was all worthwhile as every animal has now fully recovered and the epidemic seems to be ebbing away.

This epidemic has been particularly virulent, spreading so fast and causing such serious illness that we are determined to isolate and identify the causative infectious agent. In order to do this we have taken pharyngeal and nasal swabs from the sickest animals and staff and we are in the process of sending them to the Robert Kock Institute in Germany for analysis.

Our greatest fear that the infection would spread to the gorillas was thankfully not realised. We implemented even stricter enclosure isolation than normal in order to contain the infection and it seems to have worked, for the gorillas at least. When
sick the gorillas tend to suffer much more than their seemingly stronger cousins, the chimpanzees. Had the epidemic reached the gorillas then it could have been much worse.

Keeping in the Rain