Animals at Limbe Wildlife center are not pets - Conservator

The conservator of Limbe wild life centre, Nkeng Philip has said that the animals found in the Limbe Wildlife Center are not pets because they are wild by their very nature and cannot be domesticated.

From the concept that people believe that that the Limbe Wildlife Center is a zoo where tamed animals are kept for tourism and entertainment, the conservator of the Center said that “we are doing conservation and not tourism”.

He further explained that a zoo is where animals are tamed and kept in small cages for public viewing but the case is not the same for LWC because "we have large enclosures where we have tried to carve out their natural habitats in the forest so that the animals can still feel at home while locked up".

He also added that "we are protecting these species of animals so that they don’t get extinct in nature, due to the fact that their habitats are being destroyed by the ever growing population and the economy, including poachers who hunt them for meat".

In a bid to keep this goal, the Center we were told, have resolved to conserving special areas such as the Mount Cameroon National Park in Buea and the National Korupt Park in Ndian division where when these animals become matured, they send them out to the wild.

He further explained that as the animals grow big, they become stronger and they can destroy property and that they even become dangerous such that they can bite human beings and even transmit diseases.

The conservator maintains that the safest place for all the animals is ‘’the wild’’, reason why most of the animals brought into the center have been released except the primates whose release procedure is more complicated.

It is worthy of note that most of the animals present in the center are as a result of donations and confiscations, because none of them were ever bought. And most of them too are orphans whose mothers or other relatives were killed as bush meat.

The centre does not only play a protective role as far as conservation is concern but it provides opportunities for local people to see and learn about these special animals and the conservation issues affecting them.

The SUN gathered that close to FCFA 1Million is spent every month on food and the wellbeing of the animals with funds coming from government revenues, external supports from NGOs, free donations from visitors and the gate fee collection.

However, despite all these, the conservator says they are still plagued with problems such as lack of working tools, the need to increase food budget which is very limited for over 300 animals and about 50 parrots, amongst others.

Nkeng Phillip added that "I am somehow happy for the outbreak of this Ebola virus because people will no longer consume bush meat thus increasing the life span of the animals in the wild".