Another birth: For Ms. Kenya and all of us: Now there's Hope!! A healthy new baby Bongo was born to the 'American' herd in August 2004. The Conservancy's Wildlife Manager Bunge led Stefanie Powers to the hide where she took this first portrait of the new addition. At Stefanie's suggestion the baby was named "Tumaini" Kiswahili for "Hope".
We are happy to report that the 'American' herd has now settled in comfortably in their temporary large wooded bomas on the perimeter of Mount Kenya. We have established 2 herds of "American" Bongo. Both are magnificent groups, now well adjusted. Plans are to integrate them with the Conservancy's Kenya herd.
In August the second Baby was born to the 'American' Herd, a little healthy female calf, named "Tumaini". The mother appears to be nursing the baby satisfactorily. Mother and young are going to be integrated into the same herd with the previous baby "Ms. Kenya".
Progress on the fence has been slowed down by adverse weather conditions, but is steady. The area to be fenced in comprises of 100 acres of virgin Mount Kenya Forest, bordered by the Nanyuki river. The going has been rough, we do not use machines to do this work in the dense wilderness forest, in order to do the least destruction. A path is cleared by manual labor. Holes are dough to accommodate the fence posts that will later hold the wire. We have to follow the contours of the land and circumvent the steepest inclines. Harassment from Elephants, who also claim this forest as their own has been steady. Although there is a temporary electric fence to discourage them, they have devised other ways to get back. On several occasions now they have tried to find alternate routes through the Conservancy and we had to stop all work to "persuade" them to move them out.
Our team of veterinarians headed by Drs. Sayer and Dolan are keeping a close eye on the Bongo and the immunology factor. Much has been learned that will be of great value for the continuation of this project.
Conservancy Wildlife Manager Bunge and his team are also on call 24 hours a day to make sure our 'immigrants' are comfortable and well.
Meanwhile the Conservancy's resident herd is also thriving. There have been three births' this year, bringing the births at the Conservancy to a total of 5. We have several more pregnancies. Bulls are rotated and careful records are kept.
In July, Ron Surratt, Curator – Fort Worth Zoo (and bongo species survival chair) was a guest at the Conservancy and helped out with his expertise on the bongo rehabilitation project.
In October the Conservancy was proud to show the ongoing project to four other distinguished guests: Richard Farrar, Director, San Diego Zoo Carmi Penny, Mammal Curator, San Diego Zoo Martha Fischer, Curator of Mammals, St. Louis Zoo Curby Simerson, Animal Care Manager, St. Louis Zoo
Any help is greatly appreciated. All together and with your help Mount Kenya will once again be populated by the magnificent Mountain Bongo Antelope in the hopes that this time, it will be forever.
Read more about this and other ongoing projects on our pages...
