The Gadsby family
...Peter, his wife, Liza, 50 monkeys, 100 birds, 2 genets...and
it’s not a zoo
By JOSSY IDAM (jidam14@yahoo.com)
Saturday,
November 4, 2006
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•Family
bond... Peter and Liza with two other members of the family
Photo: Sun News Publishing |
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An American couple, Peter and Liza Gadsby living in Calabar,
Cross River State has dedicated their lives to saving endangered
animals-big and small ones.
At Drill Ranch, a mini holding pen which doubles as their
home, Peter and Liza are feeding and nursing 50 mandrill monkeys,
five chimpanzees, 100 assorted birds, two genets and other
little creatures.
Genets
For clarity, genets is an agile catlike mammal known to be
inhabiting wooded regions of Africa and Southern Europe. As
seen at Drill Ranch, the animal has elongated head, thick
spotted soft hair and a long tail. It can easily be mistaken
for a cat.
Liza told Saturday Sun the two small baby
genets were seized from roadside sellers who put them in a
cage and waited for buyers. They now live in a cage in Liza’s
office-very close to her bedroom. Being babies, she draws
milk with a syring and feed them. You need to see her do it.
She does it with affection and coos like a mother suckling
a baby.
Drill monkeys
Peter and Liza are every busy and always on the move. Though
most of the time they sleep and wake in Calabar and also run
an administrative office there, they are permanently hooked
on radio to their two big conservation projects in the wilds
of Boki, Cross River State and Limbe in South-West Cameroon.
But back to the main, the couple and their 16 support staff
in Calabar rise up early every day to feed and monitor the
numerous species in their care. Drill monkeys and chimpanzees
are of great concern to them. Mandrill as the monkey is known,
is an old world creature found only in West Africa. It has
ridged muzzle, nose, short tail and brown hair and red and
blue hindquarters. They regularly feed them with heaps of
raw maize, banana, orange, pawpaw and wild fruits.
Near extinction
A research carried out in the 80s reveals that the number
of mandrills in the world has dwindled to about 3,000. This
startling figure, Saturday Sun learnt is only divided between
Nigeria and Cameroon.
“Drill monkeys are one of the endangered mammals in
Africa. They are only found in Cross River State, Nigeria
and South-West province of Cameroon. So, they have a small
distribution. If we can’t save them here, they are gone”,
Liza said in an interview with our reporter at Drill Ranch.
Rescue mission
Fired by these jolting facts, Peter and Liza left every other
thing in their home country, America and came to rescue mandrill
monkeys for mankind. Under the auspices of Pandrillus Foundation,
and organisation founded by the couple, they relocated to
Cross River State 18 years ago. As Liza puts it: “To
try and preserve a species which no one cares about”.
Grand experiment
After a while, the monkeys at Drill Ranch are taken out in
batches to Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary in Boki Local Government
Area of Cross River State. Pandrillus partnered with the state
government to set it up in 1991. There, 25 additional support
staff take care of the monkeys. The project is aimed at raising
the population of the endangered animals and re-introduce
them into the their natural habitat. According to Liza, the
experiment is intended to figure out if animals raised in
captivity can survive in the wild . “Looking back 50
years from now-long when we are gone-will our efforts be yeilding
fruits?” Liza asked with a tinge of uncertainty.
Ray of hope
So far, their efforts is ground–breaking. They now have
246 mandrills in six breeding groups living in the forest.
Five of the groups are located in Afi Mountain Sanctuary.
The monkeys were brought into the project as orphans. Their
mothers, Saturday Sun learnt were illegally shot by hunters
for commercial meat trade. They survived the ugly episode.
“We recover them from government officials and people
who donate them to us”, Liza revealed. The foundation
is also trying to increase the population of gorillars in
the country which at the moment is about 70.
Every animal has a story
At Drill Ranch, every animal there has a touching story behind
it. For instance, Lucy, one of the Mandrills was forcefully
removed from a hotel belonging to a former governor of Kogi
State by the F.C.T Minister, Malam El-Rufai and handed over
to Peter for safe-keeping at Drill Ranch. Lucy was a starving,
malnourished, pitiable creature in a small cage in a hotel
in Abuja until someone saw her and reported to Pandrillus
Foundation. Being a powerful man, the ex-governor blocked
moves to rescue Lucy before El-Rufai stepped in.
NAFDAC boss must read this
According to Dr. Adeniyi Egbetade, one of the veterinary doctors
taking care of the animals, the project is suffering because
NAFDAC officials in the past seven years have been sitting
on its application for license to import transquilizing drugs
and other valuable ones. “We applied for it since but
no response so far. This animals can be wild and dangerous
atimes. We need transquilizers to calm and control them,”
the doctor said.
Helping hands
The project is supported by donations from individuals, NGOs,
government and corporate bodies like Mobil Producing Nigeria.
Last year, the couple won Chevron Conservation Award. But
the foundation says it needs a lot of money to keep the project
going.
The odd part
Liza is 49 and Peter will be 55 this month. After over several
years of marriage, the couple has no child and doesn’t
even bother about it. When Saturday Sun sought to know the
reason, Liza simply asked: “Why should we bring another
human being here. All the problems we have in the world-environmental
degradation, wars and poverty are caused by too many human
beings in a world with little resources. But come to think
of it, it’s too late for Peter and I to worry about
kids”. Anyway, the choice is theirs. |
