Every year, health checks take place at J.A.C.K. All the residents of the sanctuary are sedated, blood is drawn, fecal and urine samples are taken (if possible), chimps are weighed, their limbs are measured,etc. Health checks are long moments of stress for the chimps AND for the team as each step of sedation must be made carefully!

This year, J.A.C.K. decided to ask for some assistance. The chimps are getting tall, heavy and it is always interesting to share this experience with friends longing to attend the event! This is how 3 European friends came to help out (2 vets + 1 ethologist). Also, J.A.C.K. had the chance to welcome Dr Calvi (Chimfunshi Wildlife orpahange – Zambia) to guide our vet, Dr christian, through the different health check procedures.

Another vet, Dr Theo, was invited to attend the health checks: J.A.C.K regurlarly gives the opportunity to local vets to assist Dr Christian sothat they can gain experience with great apes.

Of course, J.A.C.K. team of keepers was very helpful too! They all helped to transfer the sedat individuals to and from the clinic, they stayed next to them until the woke up completely and all the keepers had their routine still going on for the residents who were not darted that day… All the logistic part of the event was run by Papa Ngoy, our head keeper, and by Roxan, co-fonder of the sanctury.

Every person involved had his/her own schedule so that each sedation takes place in the best way; the whole team worked in harmony.

After several days of hard work, the first results of the analyses came out and most of them were good. A few issues such as anemia and urine infection had to be dealt with, which was done immediately by J.A.C.K. vet, Dr Christian.

Once all the sedations were finished, the volunteer assistants flew back home and life got back to normal at the sanctuary.

Many thanks to these volunteers and to the team of JA.C.K. for their interest, love and professionalism.

Many, many thanks to the INTERNATIONAL PRIMATE PROTECTION LEAGUE who offered the needed hypodermic equipment (darts and needles) for this particular event. And, also, J.A.C.K. is grateful to the MINNESOTA UNIVERSITY for its sponsorship regarding some analyses that were carried out and regarding Dr Calvi’s journey and stay in the DRCongo.

Finally, we wish to thank all the Friends of J.A.C.K. sponsoring its residents. Any contribution goes straight to the care and the well being of the sponsored chimpanzees!!

THANK YOU ALL FOR THEM!

14/7 – J.A.C.K. in the South of France

On July 14th, it will be the World Chimpanzee Day and, for that very particular occasion, J.A.C.K. has been invited by the Réserve Africaine of Sigean to be part to this important event! Loads of games will be organised for the children and J.A.C.K. will be holding a stand and meet visitors to talk about its work in the DRCongo. Roxane, co-founder of J.A.C.K. will be at Sigean on that very special day!

The “24 gute Taten” Project

In 2018, J.A.C.K. had been selected to participate in an Advent Calendar project. The action aimed in selling calendars in the shape of Christmas trees holding 24 little doors meant to introduce and support 24 different NGO’s.

This huge calendar project is ran by 24 GUTE TATEN (24 good deeds), a German organisation supporting both humanitarian and environmental projects. 24 gute Taten is a charitable, commited and independent association. It helps people in need and poverty, regardless of nationality, religion, ethnic origin or gender.

The amount of the sponsorship depends on how many calendars were purchased. These are usually sold on Internet but also in schools, companies, and via advertising campains.

J.A.C.K. has been lucky enough to be part of last year’s calendar project thanks to its generous donor, PRO WILDLIFE. The wonderful team of Pro Wildlife indeed kindly helped us do all the paper work and it also introduced us to 24 gute Taten eV. As a result, early 2019, our sanctuary was granted enough money to cover:

* the purchase of some medical equipment for the veterinary clinic

* most of the veterinary fees (medication, analyses, etc)

* the maintenance and the cleaning of structures (kitchen, night rooms, clinic, etc)

This amazing grant supported J.A.C.K. during the 6 first months of year 2019. This unexpected sponsorship was a huge relief since so many things are missing and everything is so costly in this part of the world!

Many, many THANKS to the team and to the donors of 24gute Taten! Your project is stunning!

And a huge THANK YOU also to the great team of Pro Wildlife which guided us through the whole project process!!

THANK YOU ALL FOR THEM!

Bee hives at J.A.C.K.

We all know chimpanzees love honey and that they hunt for it in the wild!

This year, our sanctuary decided to build its own bee hives.

Imported honey is costly and the local honey is produced far away. For the last few years, we have known a severe shortage especially during the rainy season when routes between villages and cities are usually interrupted (heavy rains & floods, broken bridges, transport issues, bumpy & half-sunken roads, etc.)

Therefore, one of our local sponsors, the VINMART FOUNDATION, accepted to participate into this beautiful project. A team of the Foundation set up the 5 bee hives in the small forest surrounding J.A.C.K.

Bees arrived later on. Because of the rains, they were very shy but end of July two hives had been colonised.

We will still have to wait before harvesting our first honey! Bees here do also suffer from pollution and they are getting extinct too! However, we keep our fingers crossed and we try to remain positive as we are more than convinced our chimps will LOVE their Jack-made honey!!

Many, many thanks again to the VINMART FOUNDATION for its trust and wish to be part of our action! We all feel very blessed we can work together

The Brigitte Bardot Foundation enforcing security at J.A.C.K.

For several years, J.A.C.K. has had he wonderful support of the BRIGITTE BARDOT FOUNDATION and its trust has made valuable developments to improve the life of J.A.C.K.’s captive residents.

This year, the French Foundation has accepted to launch a new development project which aims to enforce the security of open air playgrounds. The hairy residents of J.A.C.K. are now indeed turning into big and powerful adults; security is an important factor also especially because the sanctuary is located in the city of Lubumbashi!

The main group of chimpanzees has an open air facility surrounded by 3 meter-high walls and 3 lines of electrical wires . To the founders of J.A.C.K., this is not enough and therefore, unlike other ape sanctuaries, they opted to fix metallic shields on top of the walls to prevent any chimp escape!

The works started weeks ago and security shields have been set on part of the play ground. It is J.A.C.K.’s welder, George, who is carrying out all the works and we are extremely grateful for his patience, his professionalism and meticulous work!

This is how George proceeded:

* First, George cut metallic sheets

* Once welded together, the sheets were bent thanks to a machine George built himself!

* Then, Georges welded the metallic supports to keep the sheets bent

And finally the shields were fixed on strong poles and a metallic structure on top of the walls of the playground

So far, the works are not finished and we will keep you updated on the progress of the this wonderful project!

Many thanks again to Mrs Elodie, to Mrs Virginie and to all the great team of the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for their trust and wish to help! The residents of J.A.C.K. are lucky to be in their hearts!!!

Before ending, we also would like to thank a colleague, Mrs Itsaso Véles del Burgo from CPRL ,who gave us some precious advice on the construction of the metallic shields.