Meet Igor, one of IPPL's
Sanctuary Gibbons
Prior to the Members' Meeting, a special meeting was arranged for people involved in sanctuary work, whether in direct hands-on work or funding. This meeting took place on the afternoon of 3 April, 1998. Lynne Baker of CERCOPAN describes the meeting.
Several controversial and current topics were discussed at the special session on sanctuaries on the afternoon of April 3 at the 1998 IPPL Members’ Meeting in Summerville, South Carolina.
Sanctuaries from across the world were represented, including the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Sierra Leone, Limbe Wildlife Center in Cameroon, CERCOPAN Forest Monkey Rehabilitation and Conservation Center in Nigeria, Krabook Koo Sanctuary in Thailand, Wanariset Orangutan Rehabilitation Center in the Netherlands, Stichting AAP in the Netherlands, and the Primate Rescue Center in Kentucky.
Most of the primates at overseas sanctuaries are obtained as donations by owners who no longer want them, or are confiscated from local or expatriate owners. These animals usually live in abhorrent conditions (lack of proper food, water and shelter) and arrive at the sanctuary sick, underweight, and traumatized. Even with immediate medical care, many do not survive.
However, several sanctuary representatives spoke of animals who were once near death and are now thriving in their new sanctuary home.
Primates residing in Western sanctuaries, such as those in Europe or the United States, are generally former laboratory animals or "unwanted by-products" of the massive exotic pet trade. These animals often arrive in even worse conditions after having lived in a laboratory (usually in prison-like circumstances, alone with no enrichment), or traveled miles and miles from their native homes prior to confiscation. Rehabilitating these animals is generally a long and difficult process.
TB, Viruses
One of the main issues raised at this session concerned medical testing for tuberculosis (TB) and viruses. A friendly debate arose about how to best handle TB-positive primates or animals testing positive for such viruses as hepatitis or herpes.
One sanctuary noted that it cannot risk infecting its other healthy primates, so any animal testing positive for tuberculosis and certain viruses is humanely destroyed. This policy was generally not followed by other sanctuaries, especially when the animal of concern belonged to an endangered species.
During the session, it was also noted that there are different levels of TB. Some animals may show a low-grade positive reaction to a TB test, for instance, while others are negative, suspicious, or clearly positive -- showing a full-blown reaction. This is why it is important to perform more than one, preferably several, TB tests to ensure accurate results.
Even though all sanctuaries have unique circumstances and needs, Dr. Sheri Speede, a veterinarian who has been involved with the Limbe Wildlife Center, said it would help sanctuaries if the wildlife-veterinary community could agree on a general policy regarding TB-positive primates.
Acknowledging the severe resource limitations in many sanctuary settings,
Dr. Speede recommended that whenever possible, treatment and segregation
of primates into TB-positive groups is the safest and most humane alternative.
She also noted that
managing TB-positive animals presents unique ethical and practical
challenges.
Because TB organisms often lie dormant in the body, for example, many primates who test positive will not get sick and will not spread the disease. However, those who do get sick can be a risk to humans and to other primates.
Captive Breeding
Another important topic discussed was captive breeding. The main question raised was: if a primate sanctuary breeds its animals, are the captive-born infants taking up space and resources that wild, orphaned primates could have and need more?
Most session participants agreed that if the ultimate goal of a project is to release its primates back into the wild, then captive breeding was acceptable. Primates functioning as much like a wild group as possible (this includes breeding) will have a better chance of survival after release.
However, breeding was generally not advocated for sanctuaries that mainly serve to rescue and provide a better life for primates that would otherwise live in desolate conditions in villages or as pets of expatriate owners. The argument was raised that captive-born animals at these sanctuaries are probably destined to live out their lives in cages and merely take up space other wild-caught orphans desperately need.
Fund-raising
Fund-raising was another important topic. As most sanctuaries are based solely on charitable donations, fund-raising is a critical -- if not the most important -- aspect of running a sanctuary.
IPPL Director Shirley McGreal noted the importance of cultivating relationships with donors and giving donors the type and quantity of recognition they need to sustain an ongoing relationship. She passed out hand-out documents sent by Dr. Carole Noon, who could not attend. These documents related to fund-raising efforts and included a list of World Wide Web fund-raising-oriented sites and a copy of the Foundation Center’s "Proposal Writing Short Course."
Shirley also noted that it is very important for sanctuaries to keep their donors and supporting organizations, such as IPPL and Primate Conservation, informed of project happenings. This can easily be done through such means as newsletters and annual reports. Shirley passed out copies of the Limbe Wildlife Center’s "1997 Annual Report" as an example of a thorough, well-done, yet unpretentious report.
Many of those attending this meeting expressed their appreciation to
IPPL for arranging this get-together of so many people from such diverse
sanctuaries and suggested a follow-up meeting during IPPL's "Year 2000"
conference.
Meet Igor, one of IPPL's
Sanctuary Gibbons