Bristol Zoo Gardens’ head vet returns from Cameroon trip working with orphaned primates

March 12th, 2009 • Related • Filed Under

Bristol Zoo Gardens’ head vet, Sharon Redrobe, has just returned from a 10 day trip to a gorilla and chimp orphanage in the Cameroon.

Sharon visited Mefou National Park, run by conservation charity CWAF (the Cameroon Wildlife Aid Fund), where she provided veterinary guidance, support and training to staff and volunteers.

Mefou National Park consists of 1044 hectares of forest containing several large enclosures, home to around 17 young gorillas, 90 chimpanzees and 11 baboons.

It was a busy trip for Sharon who carried out routine health checks on the baboons, 10 infant Western lowland gorillas as well as numerous other animals. She also carried out primate dental procedures, trained staff in using vital medical equipment and helped move the 10 infant gorillas into a newly created, spacious enclosure in the forest.

Among her other patients was a one year old female chimp called Samboro. Samboro is recovering from meningitis but still suffers from related health problems, such as paralysis. Sharon worked with the CWAF team to take blood samples to trace the cause of the meningitis and to review Samboro’s diet and treatment.

Sharon, who has worked as a vet at Bristol Zoo for 10 years, said: “It’s great to have the opportunity to go out to the Cameroon and to be able to make such a big difference to the team out there, it was a real career highlight for me. Opportunities like this are the reason I became a vet.”

She added: “The team’s practical veterinary knowledge is good and they do a wonderful job. The trip gave me the opportunity to train them in using new medical equipment and techniques and to help them set up diet sheets to monitor the primates’ nutrition.”

Sharon would like to thank the following companies for lending equipment for her trip – Logiscan, Burtons UK, for ultrasound equipment and Vetronics UK for anaesthetic monitoring devices.

Mefou National Park is run by CWAF in conjunction with the Cameroon government. It also receives support from Bristol Zoo Gardens which regularly sends veterinary, education or zoo keeper staff to the project to lend their expertise and support.

CWAF works to protect apes from the illegal bushmeat and pet trades. Around 90 per cent of the chimpanzee population throughout Africa has already been lost due to illegal hunting and habitat loss, and it is feared that without major conservation effort all the chimpanzees and other apes in Cameroon could soon be wiped out.

CWAF’s work is funded entirely by donations and fundraising events. To find out more visit their website at www.cwaf.org. To find out more about Bristol Zoo Gardens, and its work with CWAF, visit www.bristolzoo.org.uk