Hilda Tresz                                                                                                   Global Volunteer Work

Ivory Coast 

Abidjan Zoo

6-17-12

 Goals:

The purpose of the visit was to introduce singly housed chimpanzees or any other primates into group settings as well as to reorganize basic husbandry routine and starting an enrichment plan for all species.

Richard Champion, zoologist from the UK left a week earlier prior my arrival to help refurbish the chimpanzee complex and other facilities to enable the movement of primates.

 Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus)

 Upon arrival, most chimpanzee cages were not ready yet due to lack of access to funds of Swiss bank account. Richard (Zoologist, Project Manager of Abidjan Zoo) and I needed to wait an additional 4 days before construction could start. Cages needed doors to connect as well as some new bars or at least bar support to hold chimpanzees. While waiting for the doors to be installed, we worked on other species. Regarding chimpanzees, by the day I was leaving, we got as far as fixing the first 3 cages (out of 6), introducing two sub-adult chimpanzees Sidibe and DJ (age 8-10) and transfer female chimpanzee Judith (age 39) next to them.

DJ alone before introduction	Sidibe alone housed across DJ	Together

  Photos by Hilda Tresz

We placed dry leaves for substrates, browse for foraging and nest building, logs and larger branches and a tire for furniture, and some boxes for toys. Sidibe was transferred next to DJ and the introduction went well. The following day, Judith was transferred next to the two young animals and they interacted through the mesh. Unfortunately, I had to leave on the same afternoon and had no time to do more.

Suggestion: to further improve quality, permanent and flexible furniture needs to be installed to each cage. Animals need both in order to develop/exhibit proper motor skills. In most of the exhibits/displays, animals can only use floor space. Exhibits should utilize three dimensions by adding large tree trunks, ropes, fire hoses, hammocks, wooden shelves, etc., to increase space and to the animals’ opportunities for exercise, exploration and manipulation. Furniture needs to be built from wood, ropes or any kind of natural materials as opposed to metal.

DJ just realized they had a neighbor!                                Supporting each other. Photos by Hilda Tresz

 Judith had some behavioral problems. Although she had a large exhibit, she chose to lock herself into a dark night house, coming out most of the time only if someone called her and then locked herself back again. In order to ease her into her new situation, we blocked her cage half way from the public to give her privacy should she choose to retire. She used it quite often, but also was interested in her young neighbors.

Judith is morbidly obese. Photo by Richard Champion           Judith's old exhibit. Photo by Ban Dagui Simone

Judith in her new home. Photo by Hilda Tresz

 The hope is that having two young and active animals next to her (and later with her) she will recover mentally as well as will start to be active and lose weight. DJ and Sidibe also needed a surrogate mother so hopefully they will get along well.

 Suggestions: Judith’s introduction to the young ones needs to wait for a while unless she shows clear signs that she would like to be with them (such as often being groomed or offering grooming frequently, stays by the door frequently, doesn’t try to poke or bite others, etc). She needs to adjust having a new home and other animals next to her.

When she will be introduced later, she will need to be separated at night or even a few times during daytime from the young ones to "catch her breath" or to have a good night sleep, unless, again, she will show signs that she prefers it otherwise (such as not wanting to separate from the young ones, won’t let keepers to close the door, etc.) or until she is comfortable with her new situation.

Sidibe had some sever skin problems. He was being medicated orally but still was itching badly. A spray bottle with oil/water mixture was purchased and the animal was trained to accept to be sprayed. The time training was finished; he enjoyed it so much, he offered his body parts to be treated and considered it as something fun. He decreased his itching significantly. Suggestions: Sidibe should be sprayed at least once per day with this mixture.

Sidibe is being trained to accept moisturizer from spray bottle. Photo by Hilda Tresz and Elie Bogui

Suggestion: once additional funding is secured, the other 2 large cages on the other side of the chimpanzee building can be fixed and the two separate groups of chimpanzees (1.0 Tito -21 years old; 1.0 Kiki -20 years old and 0.1 Chantal - 20 years old) and second group (1.0 Rombo 15 years old 1.0; Bobi 8 years old; 1.0 Bogard 8 years old – 0.1 Deborah 12-15 years old) could share several cages at the time.

Two empty cages that need repairs at other side of chimpanzee building. Photo by Hilda Tresz

There was not much time to consider the rest of the chimpanzee groups. Since they were already in social groups, after basic husbandry was improved, attention was directed to all other species.

Suggestion: Due to various circumstances, current social sex ratios are not easy settings on females (having large numbers of males living with them and competing for them). If obtaining additional females is not feasible, the number of group members might have to be decreased to pairs and bachelor parties will need to be created.

Transferring the chimpanzees was a difficult task due to lack of veterinarian staff as well as funds to call a veterinarian and immobilize that many chimpanzees at the same time. There was not enough money to pay a vet to do all of these or buy enough drugs. 

Suggestion: A veterinarian with permanent status needs to be secured.

At a different enclosure, further away from the chimpanzee building, there was a large exhibit with another group of chimpanzees (1.0 Sam 18 - 20 years old; 1.0 Nimlin 18 -20 years old; 0.1 Bras-long 38 year old and 0.1 Grâce 1 years old). The exhibit is quite large, mainly consist of concrete and rockwork and it is practically un-cleanable due to having no access to it. Door between night house and exhibit is broken therefore keepers cannot lock animals inside and enter. All fecal matters and public waste products remain on exhibit. The night house has no light, stall doors are broken and some of the bars were ripped off or bent out of shape by the animals. 

These chimpanzees have poor health conditions; some are diabetic and need improvements to their diet. The lactating female and her infant will also need supplemental nutrition because infant is weak and has a hard time clinging. Suggestions: All chimpanzees need to receive milk and hard boiled eggs for protein. It is quite cheap and accessible. These animals need to be separated for feeding time so alpha male would not be able to monopolize desired food items or at least keepers should chop diet and scatter. Also, sire of female infant needs to be moved out of the group or be vasectomised (not castrated) before infant will reach sexual maturity (in captivity could be as early as 5.6 years old [Earnhardt, 2003]. Castration does not guarantee a calmer animal: indeed, a male can end up being just as aggressive as he was prior to castration (Grow, 2004).

 Large chimpanzee exhibit. Photo by Richard Champion Holding area is dark and animals cannot be separated. Photo by Hilda Tresz

Visitors were having access to adult chimpanzees. Photo by Hilda Tresz	A barrier was placed to resolve the situation. Photo by Hilda Tresz

Other species

All cages were filed with substrate, browse, logs and branches.

here were three very young monkeys such as patas monkeys (Erythrocebus patas); vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus), and lesser white-nosed monkeys? (Cercopithecus petaurista) separated from their groups. They are now together with their conspecifics except the alpha male patas monkey that was still recovering.

Suggestions: Alpha male patas monkey was still separated after I left, he needs to be introduced with the group please.

Young vervet monkey with conspecifics Young white-nosed monkey introduced to group. Photos by Hilda Tresz

Young patas monkey introduced to group while large male is still housed next to them. Photo by Hilda Tresz

 Some additional patas monkeys were housed on the other side of the building (below) in similar size cages. Once they were moved out to the young monkeys’ cages, the Nile monitors (Varanus niloticus) were transferred over. The monitors now have access to all three cages and deep bedding.

Single olive baboon (Papio anubis), is now also having all three cages due to Sidibe’s moving across with DJ. This animal developed severe behavioral problems in the past possibly due to being hand reared, then given to the zoo and kept being isolated.

Single olive baboon and Nile monitors with bedding. Photos by Hilda Tresz

 Suggestion: This animal should not be kept in solitary confinement for the rest of his life. There was much debating over his current and future welfare. A general agreement was made that if he cannot be shipped out or paired up with other female baboons, euthanasia will need to be considered.

Civet cages without and with substrates. Photos by Hilda Tresz  

Hyenas also received substrates and furniture. An introduction was also attempted, but was not successful and the animals needed to be separated again. Photos by Hilda Tresz

 There was no immediate solution for current turtle (species?) situation. There were no cages with mesh small enough to retain them and all exhibits with water supplies (other pools) had some type of species that could have predated on them if introduced. The best temporary solution was to at least provide some terrain when animals are given a choice to be on dry land or in water. The only cages that could be sufficient enough to hold small animals are the current snake enclosures but than again, there are no current facilities with correct mesh sizes that the snakes could be transferred to either.

Turtles were given clean water and terrain. Photo by Hilda Tresz

Current snake cages that could hold small animals in the future such a baby civet (Civettictis civetta) that is held in the grain room due to lack of space. Photos by Hilda Tresz

 Water supply for animals

Concrete waters are difficult to clean and won’t offer unlimited water supply. Photo by Hilda Tresz

Most cages only have concrete containers that are not cleaned well and often, and some animals only get a drink from water bottles maybe twice a day in this high temperature climate, and have no access to water at all from late afternoon till next morning.

Suggestion: All animals need to have access to drinking water 24 hours a day from automatic waterers and proper furniture. Please review information regarding Lixit Automatic Dog Waterer for Outdoor Faucets & Spigots available at

Gun Dog Supply 

General propositions:

Substrate. Continuing keeping animals off of hard/ cold/ wet/ dry, unyielding surfaces (concrete, tile, wood floor, etc.) would be desirable. The use of appropriate substrate (inside- paper products and hay or straw, etc.; outside- nonflammable materials such as sand, soil, mulch, fresh browse, etc.) will make a significant difference not only in the animals’ health but would improve the aesthetics of the exhibits. The substrate presentation is available for the zoo’s convenience.

 Browse. The zoo has large amount of edible vegetation available on grounds that could provide fresh, leafy branches (browse) at least every 2-3 days but if possible, every day. As mentioned during the presentation, the zoo can start planting edible trees, bushes and even crops inside and outside of exhibits, along visitor pathways and resting areas that will provide future browsing materials for growing collection demands. Whether cut by staff or available by natural damage, fallen vegetation can be used rather than wasted. A step by step instruction (made by our horticulturist Hassena Kassim) regarding how to trim trees properly is attached.

Banana trees, corn, papaya, and other plant can be cultivated in large amounts next to natural vegetation. Photos by Hilda Tresz

 Suggestions: in order to supply browse the zoo needs to have plant cutting tools such as:

Extending foraging time. All animals (especially in small, unnatural environments) need to be fed in a way that their foraging time is extended and proper species-specific behaviors are encouraged. If no one can be appointed for this position, staff can be scheduled to cut browse and chop diet on a rotation basis.

Appropriate social housing. All animals that are social by nature should be paired up with their conspecifics. Special attention needs to be paid to social housing of great apes and other primates. Please see attached document regarding laws and regulations for social housing of primates. If animals are confiscated, they should be immediately introduced into social groups and an effort to return animals (if from foreign countries) to their original country should be attempted.

The zoo or the Ministry needs to re-evaluate the salary of the staff. It is my understanding that the people rely on eating the animals’ diet (corn and banana) and perhaps even trapping and consuming inventory animals due to starving themselves. I was told that the cobra situation at the elephant yard cannot be resolved with adding mongooses because there is a chance of keepers trapping and eating them.  

Mid management leadership change to support director might be desirable for the greater good. Suggestion: Educated, hard working and motivated people such as Mr. Jean Zirihi promoted as a Lead Keeper would provide better assistance to make future changes.  

The keepers’ workload needs to be expanded. I have observed many keepers sitting around and talking for long period of time. Also, general routine seems to be working for a few hours, then talking a lunch break and after that going to sleep under trees, any covered areas and right in front of the visitors. Suggestion: instead, keepers could start rebuilding the empty cages, adding right furniture, cut browse, plant gardens (corn, banana and other usable plants), provide enrichment, train their animals for basic medical and husbandry behaviors, plant edible trees inside/outside the exhibits for future use and shade, plant grass, paint the walls of exhibits and night houses, clean the zoo daily and monitor the visitors' behaviors by telling them not to throw away garbage, cigarette butts, etc. They should answer the visitors' questions, talking about their animals' ages, names, behaviors, etc. so the visitors would start learning about them.  

Creating picnic areas for the visitors could provide a better experience for visitors; they would not have to sit on the floor or on the curbs and fences. Also, keeping the snack bar area and furniture clean would create a desirable atmosphere for dining.

Picking up garbage during the day time should be incorporated into the staff's daily routine. The zoo has practically no garbage cans. Local companies can be contacted for donation plastic and/or metal kegs and distribute all over zoo grounds.

Continuous education

A power point presentation was given to all staff regarding substrate use that seemed to have great effect on staff. Further education is desired. Mid management could translate additional presentations into French and educate staff periodically.

The following presentations are suggested:

Ø Contra freeloading at the Phoenix Zoo (this presentation talks about making animals work for their food in similar ways as in nature instead of eating diet in short period of time from metal dishes or rubber tubs

Ø The beneficial browse (gives guidelines regarding how to develop a zoo wide browse program with numerous browse gardens in the middle of the Sonoran Desert with no money and also addresses the major changes that fresh, leafy greens can make in the animals’ lives)

Ø Let them be elephants (addresses the changes we made in our elephants’ lives, how we helped their behaviors by teaching them how to forage right and behave like normal females as well talks about basic husbandry, enrichment ideas and health care)

Ø Rita chimpanzee, a successful enrichment program at the Doha Zoo, Qatar (talks about Rita who was kept in solitary confinement in an empty cage all her life but, later was introduced to her new enrichment program as well as to a pair of chimpanzees and now happily lives in a small group setting).

Presentations are available at htresz@thephxzoo.com

References:
Ernhardt JM, Ross SR, Lonsdof EV, Pusey AE. 2003. A demographic comparison of wild chimpanzees from Gombe and a managed population from North American zoo. American Journal of Primatology 60, Supplement 1:62-63

Grow, G. (2004). Socialization: the impossible dream. ChimpanZoo Conference Proceedings. Jane Goodall Institute.