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Mountain bongo news thread - Kenya

Discussion in 'Kenya' started by Kifaru Bwana, 6 May 2021.

  1. Kifaru Bwana

    Kifaru Bwana Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Since there is no in situ component for the bongo conservation breeding program. Surprise?!
    I just had to create one!
     
  2. Kifaru Bwana

    Kifaru Bwana Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    A bit from history: In 2004, US zoos sent 18 (x.x) eastern (mountain) bongo to Kenya to the Mt. Kenya Wildlife Conservancy. Currently, that population stands at 52 (as of 22 February 2021). Nr. 52 is a female calf born to F Lucy.

    REMEMBER: the ISB is always somehow 20 or out and overestimates the true number of bongo at the Conservancy. I wonder how this discrepancy can continue to exist ....
     
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  3. Kifaru Bwana

    Kifaru Bwana Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Last year (2020) another historic milestone decision was finally concluded.
    The MKWC in tandem with Kenya Wildlife Service and Kenya Forest Service decided to create a breeding station in the forest, the Mawingu Mountain Bongo Sanctuary. A National Bongo Task Force will oversee reintroduction and conservation of the wild an d reintroduced bongo to Ragati, Eburu, Mau and Aberdares Forests.

    QUOTE: "The sanctuary represents the next step in the rewilding process for the Mountain Bongo as part of the MKWC Breeding Program and will support the National Bongo Task Force in the reintroduction of the Mountain Bongo to indigenous habitats such as Ragati, Eburu, Mau and Aberdares forests." UNQOUTE

    Links
    July 2019 - Announcement launch Action Plan for the Mountain Bongo 2019-2023: Kenya Forest Service allocates area for endangered Bongo specie
    December 2020 - Download Image for the new Sanctuary MMBS at Mt. Kenya
    Facebook

    PLEASE NOTE: the number of bongo cited here was still 77 (July 2019) with another estimated 99 wild mountain bongo in the areas of Ragati, Eburu, Mau and Aberdares Forests.
     
    Last edited: 6 May 2021
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  4. Kifaru Bwana

    Kifaru Bwana Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    In January 2021 the Mawingu Mountain Bongo Sanctuary was launched in the Mt. Kenya Forest area.

    Link:
    a) MISSING IN ACTION. News Item from Jan. 21, 2021 in the The Standard Kenya.
    (Unfortunately, it keeps going behind a paywall and the original feature article disappears from view).
    b) Facebook
     
    Last edited: 6 May 2021
  5. Kifaru Bwana

    Kifaru Bwana Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Early May 2021, it was announced - rather surprisingly - that 20-25 mountain bongo are expected to arrive from the USA this December 2021. These will be relocated to the

    LINK:
    Endangered mountain bongo to be flown from US to new sanctuary in Meru

    I was having a wild guess here as the AZA has not communicated anything on this project that the Rare Species Conservation Foundation in Loxahatchee (run by illustrious and somewhat visionary Dr. Paul Reillo) will be the facility donating mountain bongo to the project. This seems to be confirmed by the RSCF Media site.

    LINK:
    https://www.rarespecies.org/media

    QUOTE: "rarespec MORE BONGO NEWS! While there is still much work to be done, RSCF is thrilled to be partnered with the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy and looks forward to sending our Bongo to Africa this year! A milestone in the effort to protect this critically endangered flagship species. Such great news! #mountainbongoantelope #lewawildlifeconcervancy #bongorepatriation #FIU #TCI #partnerships #KWS" UNQOUTE

    Click on the link and you are here again:
    Endangered mountain bongo to be flown from US to new sanctuary in Meru


    Inside Kenya a new Meru County Bongo and Black Rhino Conservation Trust has been tasked with the protection of the animals in the new sanctuary in Mucheene and Ntirimiti forests (these areas are part of forests in Mount Kenya). This is a co-joint project between KWS, KFS, Lewa Conservancy and some involvement by the Meru County Tourism board.
     
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  6. Karen McGovern

    Karen McGovern Member

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    Hello! If anyone has any questions about the next phase of the Bongo Repatriation Project please contact us (Rare Species Conservatory Foundation) at [email protected]. Working with Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, KWS, KFS and others, we look forward to returning more bongo from our US facility to Kenya.
     
  7. Karen McGovern

    Karen McGovern Member

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    Great news regarding the upcoming repatriation of Mountain Bongo Antelope from the US to Kenya!

    This week, the Meru Bongo & Rhino Conservation Trust (MBRCT) received the final output of the Environmental & Social Impact Assessment (ESIA), marking a milestone in the first phase of a project that aims to reintroduce Mountain Bongo in Mount Kenya’s Marania and Mucheine Forests.
    ________
    The MBRTC is a multi-stakeholder body – steered by the County Government of Meru, Kenya Wildlife Service, Kenya Forest Service, Marania-NTIMAKA and Mucheine-KAMULU Community Forest Associations and Lewa Wildlife Conservancy. The founder population will be repatriated from the Rare Species Conservatory Foundation in Florida to the sanctuary in Mt.Kenya, where they will be reared to a sustainable population that could be introduced back into the wild.
    ________
    This broad partnership, and the move to establish a sanctuary into a landscape conserved and managed by communities, fulfills conservation stakeholders’ commitment to public-private-community partnerships so as to achieve meaningful and sustainable environmental, social and economic impact.
    ________
    On the clip:
    Mr. Maingi Mugambi - CEC, Tourism, County Government of Meru.
    Mr. Titus Murungi - Chief Officer, Tourism, County Government of Meru.
    Mr. John Kinoti - Chairman MBRCT/ Community Development Manager, Lewa.
    ___________
    Meru County Government
    Kenya Wildlife Service
    Kenya Forest Service
    _____________

     
    Last edited by a moderator: 5 Feb 2022
  8. Haliaeetus

    Haliaeetus Well-Known Member

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  9. Kifaru Bwana

    Kifaru Bwana Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    Tuesday March 8, 2022 was an historic day for the Mawingu Mountain Bongo Sanctuary on Mt. Kenya with 1.1 mountain bongo released into the 314ha reserve. The next day another 2.1 bongo were released constuting the first full group of mountain bongo to live on the reserve in a halfway house situation.

    Eventually, they and their progeny will be released from their fenced sanctuary into 2 forest blocks on the Mt. Kenya protected area (and possibly other forested mountain ranges in the central arc mountains in Kenya. The plan is to transfer another 5 mountain bongo here in another six months and every 6 months thereafter another group of 5.

    This project has been 18 years in the making from preparation and the original 2004 imports (F0 generation) to the Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy in Nanyuki. The 18 original imports have multiplied to 63 individuals (F1/F2 generations) in February 2022 (Facebook comments). The 5 (3.2) mountain bongo now sent to Mawingu MBS came from the Mount Kenya WC.

    The first releases will be around 2024/2025 of progeny (effectively F2/F3 generation) born to these mountain bongo. The KWS mountain bongo program foresees 750 indivdiuals by 2050 in the wild. The current wild population is estimated at 90-100 individuals across an estimated 4 separate populations (Aberdares, Eburu, Maasai Mau, SW Mau). The single largest population remaining is in the Aberdares and another signficant one is in the Maasai Mau Forests. It is reported the Mt. Kenya mountain bongo have since (almost) completely disappeared (this has only been 8 years since ...).

    SOURCE: Saving the iconic bongo: Kenya rewilds rare forest antelopes

    Further sources will be added later by yours truly!


    Individuals wild populations - old estimates:
    Aberdare Mountains (<50); Mt Kenya (10-15); Eburu Forest (ca 10); Maasai Mau Forest Complex (20+; new Bongo groups discovered May 2013); and SW Mau Forest (<10).
     
    Last edited: 14 Mar 2022
  10. Pantheraman

    Pantheraman Well-Known Member

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    "
    Five mountain bongos have been released into a sanctuary in Kenya, a milestone in the fight for the animals’ survival with fewer than 100 left in the wild

    Considered critically endangered, the chestnut-coloured mountain bongo is one of the largest forest antelopes and native to the equatorial forests of Mount Kenya, Eburu, Mau and Aberdares. IUCN predicts their numbers will probably continue to decline without direct action. A recent wildlife census in Kenya counted just 96 mountain bongos in the wild.

    Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy (MKWC) and Kenya Wildlife Service and Kenya Forest Service have been leading a breeding and rewilding programme for the last 20 years."


    And because we suppor zoos: "Eighteen mountain bongos (four male and 14 female) were repatriated from 14 zoos across the US to MKWC in Nanyuki, near Mount Kenya. The five animals released on Wednesday into the 314-hectare (776-acre) Mawingu mountain bongo sanctuary are descendants of the US herd." (So as far as I'm concerned, anyone who says zoos don't contribute to conservation can shut up.)

    "The subspecies once roamed in large numbers but has suffered unprecedented population decline since the 1950s due to poaching, the wildlife trade, predation and disease, in particular, a rinderpest outbreak in the 1980s.

    Dr Robert Aruho, head of veterinary services at MKWC, said: “The real work now begins. We must ensure that the animals released can thrive and survive in the sanctuary and, eventually, the wild.

    “This is the culmination of dedicated conservation work that has spanned almost two decades. It marks the single most significant step towards the survival of the mountain bongo in history.”

    The pristine sanctuary consists of a natural forest that provides an extensive range to continue releasing the mountain bongos in preparation for their survival in the wild. The government’s long-term vision is to achieve a population of 750 in Kenya by 2050.

    Every year, 10 mountain bongos will be released into the sanctuary in groups of five every six months. It is estimated that by 2025, the sanctuary will have 50 to 70 fully rewilded mountain bongos.


    Hope for Kenya’s mountain bongos as five released into sanctuary
     
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  11. Karen McGovern

    Karen McGovern Member

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  12. Kifaru Bwana

    Kifaru Bwana Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    The second initative to bring back Mountain bongo to Kenya is going ahead soon. The Rare Species Conservatory with its President Paul Reillo is set to export 25 Mountain bongo back to Kenya. They will be part of the Meru Bongo and Rhino project on Mount Kenya and eventually repopulate 2 protected forest areas on Mount Kenya. It is co administrered between Kenya Wildlife Service, Meru County Council, Kenya Forest Service.

    SOURCE:


    This effort is quite separate from the earlier import to the Mount Kenya Game Farm in Nanyuki. The Mount Kenya Conservancy (cooperative project between KWS, MKC and others) has set up the Mawingu Bongo sanctuary on the Mount Kenya slopes. That population has seen at least 10 Mountain bongo reintroduced to the Mawingu Sanctuary till date and they have bred already since 2022 (several wild borns so I am told).
     
    Last edited: 26 Jan 2024
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