Limbe Wildlife Centre Hosts Over 300 Animal Species
The Limbe Wildlife Centre in Fako Division, South West Region, hosts some 378 animal species.
By Regina Fonjia Leke
Created in 1963, the Centre is one of the wildlife sanctuaries in Cameroon that accommodates rescued animals. Unlike some sanctuaries in the country, which have just one species or three at most, the Limbe Wildlife Centre prides itself with over 16 species of primates alongside birds, antelopes and reptiles.
The Centre has proven to be a suitable place for most of the captured primates. It is home to two subspecies of chimpanzee; Central Chimpanzee found south of the Sanaga, and the Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee, which is the most threatened sub-species of chimpanzees in Africa.
The critically endangered Drill monkey with a population of 100 in the zoo is the second largest population of Drills in captivity in the world after the Drill ranch in Calabar, Nigeria.
The population is projected to increase this year given that two of them are pregnant.
The zoo is also known to host the largest captive population of the endangered Preuss monkey in the world.
The Preuss monkey is found only in forests of eastern Nigeria, western Cameroon and Bioko in Equatorial Guinea.
The critically endangered Cross River Gorilla, Western lowland gorilla, the critically endangered red-eared monkey, Mandrills are some other interesting species kept at the Limbe Wildlife Centre.
Two species of crocodiles, the Nile crocodile; 54 years old, the oldest creature at the Centre, and the dwarf crocodile also live at this facility. Antelopes, bush dogs, blue duikers, birds such as owls are some other endemic creatures found at the Centre.
The Green Vision gathered that most of the animals find themselves at the Centre after rescue operations carried out by officials at the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife. Sometimes, the animals are brought in by those who bought them as pets and could not continue taking care of them. Once the pets get to the zoo, they are placed in the quarantine section for three weeks, where a medical check-up is done so as to as certain they are in good condition before releasing them to join the other animals. This is to ensure that the new animals do not infect the other animals in case they came with infection and also for the sake of familiarizing them with their new environment.
While the zoo tries to maintain its vision of conserving wildlife, it faces serious challenges of space and personnel.
“Animals are rescued almost every year; more animals are coming in and they need large enclosures where they can interact. Unfortunately, we do not have enough space,” said Nkeng Phillipe, the Conservator of the Centre.
Nkeng said most of the animals at the Centre have been put on contraceptives because there is not enough space to take care of the newly born.
“Only the very threatened species are left to reproduce, all the other less threatened species are on contraceptives because we lack adequate finance and space to cater for them,” said the Conservator.
He explained that even though government partially solved this problem in 2010 when it donated a piece of land to the Centre across the Limbe River, no enclosures have been constructed yet because government wants to get the best design.
As for the staffing, only about 37 people work at the Centre, “but given the huge number of animals we have here we need to increase the work force to better care for the animals,” the Education Officer of the Wildlife Centre told The Green Vision.
The Limbe Wildlife Centre is a collaborative effort between the Cameroon government and the American Pandrillus Foundation, which came in 1994. Other international NGOs like WWF and WCS are also partners to the Centre.
