Conferences

Pan African Sanctuary Alliance [PASA]

Release Workshop

In April 2006, the CCC director attended a release workshop in Holland, organized byPASA and funded by DEFRA. The CCC has the most advanced program for the release of some of its animals and the director presented the release program to a panel of experts. Questions were raised and solutions were proposed. A team of experts from different fields were asked to participate in a forum that will help the director to write a comprehensive release proposal. The release proposal was finalized at the end of 2006 and will be used for fund raising for the release as well as acting as a blue-print for the program which can be used by other sanctuaries and organizations. The proposal has already been used in 2007 by three Cameroonian sanctuaries who are thinking of creating a joint release program.

IPS/PASA Workshop

In June 2006, the PASA management workshop was coupled with the IPS conference. The CCC director attended both as a sanctuary manager and as a member of the PASA board. The director made a presentation of the release program and had many meetings with interested experts in different fields, including researchers in behavior, virologist, geneticists… The director’s presence at IPS helped to answer many of the concerns that conservation NGOs and primatologists have been having regarding the CCC release program. The release of chimpanzees into the wild is becoming a valuable conservation tool for chimpanzee’s survival and a recognized potential long term tool conservation activity for sanctuaries.

Veterinary Workshop

Dr. Christelle Colin, the CCC's veterinarian, participated and has been an active member of the PASA veterinary workshop that was held in Pointe Noire (Congo, Brazzaville) in May, 2004. She's also been translating the PASA veterinary manual that is being used by all the sanctuaries.

Manager Workshop

In June 2004, Estelle Raballand went to the PASA manager workshop hosted in Johannesburg (South Africa). Mrs. Raballand is also a board member of PASA.

Collaboration with The Jane Goodall Institute

The CCC and Tacugama (Sierra Leone chimpanzee sanctuary) directors have been collaborating with JGI, Pro-Natura and Humane Society International on the preparation of a grant proposal submitted to USAID, in which the Sanctuaries would play supporting roles. The grant is directed to the education and sensitization of Guinea and Sierra Leone's populations concerning the status and the plight of chimpanzees.

GrASP Program

In July 2002, UNEP representative, Mr. Ian Redmond, came to Guinea for the GrASP program, to assess the Guinean chimpanzee situation. Ms. Raballand presented Mr. Redmond to Guinean officials working at the Ministry of Environment and helped him in his task. These first contacts in Guinea were followed by a workshop, funded by Conservation International, which was held at the beginning of September 2002 in Conakry. The CCC director couldn't be present but a representative was sent. During this workshop, an action plan to save the Guinean chimpanzees was drafted.