News
September
WAPCA attends EAZA Conference
WAPCA Country Coordinator, Andrea Dempsey, attends EAZA Annual Conference, this year in Athens. A great opportunity to meet and thank our Zoo supporters and give an update on our activities over the past year.
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Life Time Achievent Award
Delighted WAPCA Board Advisor Nick Lindsey from ZSL received a Life Time Achievement Award on 22nd September from EAZA. Well deserved.
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WAZA Nature Connect
The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) has awarded WAPCA the WAZA Nature Connect Grant! "My city, my forest" is the name of our environmental education project which intends to engage a hundred families from five different neighbourhoods in the city of Accra. We will explain you more as long as we go!
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Fergus is heart broken
Our old female Roloway, Sweetpea left us without previous notice on 21st September. Sweetpea was confiscated many years ago and had been with us since the old zoo located in the Flagstaff House. After so many years, she was known and loved for many people.
Rest In Peace, Sweetpea.
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August
Arrival of a new White-naped mangabey at the EPBC
On Saturday 25th August we received a wild and young white-naped mangabey. It was found at the Central Region in Ghana and brought to the Zoo by one of the main Ghanaian wildlife exporters. As the tradition in Ghana says, those born on Saturday are named Kwame, that is how we named our new member after arriving on a Saturday at the EPBC.
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Ivy's daughter has been named!
We can officially announce the baby mangabey is named Mama! In memory of one of most successful breeding females at the Endangered Primate Breeding Centre. Thank you to Lesley Mcllroy for choosing the name and supporting the refurbishment of the Centre!
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July
Go Fund Me Campaign - TARGET REACHED!
Huge thank you to all of you that have donated to our campaign. After a donation from Woburn Safari Park we have reached our target and can begin building new homes for all our residents at the Endangered Primate Breeding Centre at Accra Zoo. Completion is due September 2018!
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Click HERE to read about the primate fundraising weekend held at Woburn Safari Park
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June
Thanks Dublin and Duisburg Zoo!
Huge thanks to Dublin Zoo, Ireland and Duisburg Zoo, Germany for an enormous uniform donation. With this donation were distribute to all our project sites: Kumasi Zoo, Accra Zoo and out to the field.
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May
Country Coordinator heads to Canada
Country Coordinator attended and presented at two conference this month. The first was the EAZA Mid-Year Taxon Advisory Group (TAG) meeting in Budapest. Andrea, the Country Coordinator, sits on the Old World Monkey TAG as the Forest Guenon Species Monitor and as a Conservation Advisor.
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Later in the month Andrea traveled to Halifax, Canada to present at the Communities, Conservation and Livelihoods Conference. Andrea said of the conference "...it was a great opportunity to share and learn from each others experiences."
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New Arrival!
May saw the arrival of a baby girl for first time Mum and Dad - Ivy & Annan. This is a significant birth for us at WAPCA as Ivy arrived in Ghana last year from Germany where she was born. This exchange of individuals across continents is playing a vital role in the captive breeding programme - increasing the genetic diversity is crucial for long term sustainability of a population.
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April
Mangabeys get access to their new 0.4ha home!
After a lot of hard work our breeding group of mangabeys were given access to 0.4 ha of Forested Enclosure. The space includes high trees which the can climb, banana plants which they can feed on and long grasses they can forge amongst.
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For more information on the Forested Enclosure follow this link
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March
Research continues at the Forested Enclosure
Blanca from Barcelona University, supported by Barcelona Zoo is working with the WAPCA Research Group (WRG) to collect data on our group of mangabeys as they adapt to their new home.
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For more information take a look at the WRG page
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Kweku moves to complete the new breeding group!
All three mangabeys (Ziggy, Chaachele and Kweku) have moved into the new enclosure and have been successfully introduced. This is a new breeding group for the Centre and look forward to welcoming offspring soon!
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February
New Baby Boy
Accra and Ape are parents again, giving birth to a healthy baby boy. This little, as yet unnamed, monkey joins the European Breeding Programme along with the rest of the mangabeys. Exchanging animals with Europe allows the population to maintain a high level of genetic diversity, crucial for long term survival of this captive species.
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Would you like to name this baby? Why not see how by visiting our Go Fund Me Campaign page!
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WAPCA Resarch Group - New Students
The WAPCA Research Group welcomes this years cohort of students. Adam and Ryan are from Chester University and are going to spend 3 months surveying Cape Three Point. Visit the WRG page for more information.
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Moving Day
Are new enclosure is finally finished and we can start to move the monkeys into place and form a new breeding group. The first to move is EPBC born Chaachele - she moved well and has already settled in. Next to move will be London born Ziggy and lastly EPBC born Kweku - t
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January
New Year - New Member!
WAPCA welcomes a new member Tierpark Berlin. Thank you so much for your support. WAPCA is supported by a number of European and American Zoos - by visiting these zoos you are in turn contributing the conservation of Critically Endangered species. So THANK YOU too!
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Past News....
For archived news please click on an Annual Reports below