We are nearly at the end of this huge health checks project I started organising about a year ago. J.A.C.K. Health Checks indeed were firstly scheduled for October 2016 but the Australian vet who had to come and help didn’t get her DRC visa and J.A.C.K. had no other choice than to postpone this important event!
Also, since our country is going through much turmoil and political unrest, the vet from Australia decided she would no longer come and this is why, last January, Lyna & Manon accepted J.A.C.K. invitation to participate to this very particular event! DRC is a scary country and we are extremely lucky Lyna & Manon have been brave enough to fly to us!!!
On day 7 of J.A.C.K. health checks we sedated 3 females (Zamba, Kina & jane) and 2 males (Tongo & Wimbi).
Again, everything went well and my lovely team was happy of all the hard and good work it had achieved so far!
However, 2 more chimpanzee orphans of J.A.C.K. still need to be checked: Doguy& Padda! These 2 residents need special attention and particular surgery and my vet Jean Claude decided he would wait our Spanish volunteer vet, Dr Ainare Idoiaga, to work together on these two cases.Dr Ainare is the 3rd volunteer we were expecting to arrive last week but she still doesn’t have her DRC Visa!Let’s keep our fingers crossed all that paperwork will be sorted out at the soonest – our country seems to be very selective on visa applications!
Before I end and before sharing the pictures of Day 7 I would like to apologize for the delay in coming back with these updates. We all (chimps & humans) had a long and exhausting week. And, to me, these 7 days have been extremely stressful! Franck hasn’t been in Lubumbashi for 2 weeks now (he was in the US for the PASA Board meeting) – so I was in charge of everything and of everyone on my own. This great health check event was rich in experience but it was personaly a huge burden psychologically speaking!
Yes, when 1 chimpanzee resident needs to be sedated, it means already a lot of stress to me. But imagine 35 chimpanzees!!! All that pressure left me with a sore body (lumbago) and I am grateful the two volunteers, Manon and Lyna, were around and helped me so much! So, I didn’t update because I needed some time for myself too. I hope you can undertand this…
Okay, I stop talking about myself, here are the pictures of Day 7:
- Kina waiting in the sedating facility
- Zamba, our ‘Sleeping Beauty’
- Dr Jean Claude checking Tongo’s ears
- Lyna measuring Jane’s tibia and Papa Ngoy longing for a short nap!
- Maman Angeline ensuring routine at J.A.C.K. – all the other residents need attention and care too!
Health Checks aren’t yet finished but only interupted since Padda & Doguy still have to be checked. Thank you again so much to my wonderful team for its support and hard work!
Without you, J.A.C.K. wouldn’t have made it!
Without you, I woudln’t have made it!
