ANIMAL ENRICHMENT
Increasing the welfare of rescued animals
ABOUT ENRICHMENT
Animal welfare is at the very heart of our work and ethos. When wild animals are not able to live in the forests due to human-wildlife conflict, it is incredibly important that rescued animals are provided with a stimulating social, environmental and behavioural life.
The difference between life in the wild and captivity is undeniable. In the wild, primates live in complex and diverse habitats with few boundaries. They can make their own choices such as when to sleep, forage, sleep, mate, bath etc. In rescue centres such as the LWC, they are restricted to enclosures and boundaries. This of course minimises the amount of choices they are free to make because their range of activities depend mainly on the humans caring for them and their schedule. In order to provide the most stimulating environment possible, all of our animals live in species specific groups, because social enrichment is the most important type of enrichment. Furthermore, our enclosures have platforms, hammocks, trees, climbing structures, etc, to replicate the kind of behaviours and conditions they would have in their natural environment.
You can help us to improve the lives of rescued primates!
We are entirely reliant on donations to continue providing enrichment to the rescued animals every day. Please consider making a one-off or monthly contribution towards a gift for an animal.
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Here’s what your donations could help us achieve:
Enrichment at the LWC
We are determined to give each rescued animal the most natural and enriching life possible. A big part of this involves providing different types of enrichment: social, cognitive, physical/environmental, sensory and food-based. We work hard to create as much of a stimulating environment for the rescued wildlife as possible, within the constrains of our enclosures. Every day we provide enrichment to all our primates which can include:
- Foraging (peanuts, corn and soya beans)
- Leaf parcels (tightly wrapped parcels they need to get into)
- Boxes and bottles (filled with browse and fruit)
- Puzzle boards (using sticks to win the treats)
- Ice blocks
- Bamboo sticks (need to use tools and sticks to win the treats)
- Honey in termite mound (for chimpanzees to use sticks to get the honey out)
- Browse and aframomum
- Eggs