Latest rescues

This young Black-bellied pangolin was brought in by HSI International. She is slowly gaining weight and is on the (long) road to recovery!

This Black-bellied pangolin was handed to the sanctuary. He was about to be sold and eaten, but was luckily rescued in time. 

This young pangolin was confiscated on our way to a meeting. She is very young, scared, dehydrated and starved and has a nasty nail infection. But once at the sanctuary, she drank a lot of water, took a nap and ate some termites in the evening. Fingers crossed!

Our newest arrival is this African Clawless Otter! She was rescued by expats living in Voinjama, who looked after her until she was strong enough to make the trip to the sanctuary. She is slowly settling down.

How some people treat animals in this country is mind blowing... This juvenile Dwarf Crocodile was all tied up in an attempt to sell. The ropes have made some cuts in the skin. He is now at the sanctuary, the ropes and wires are off and he will go back to freedom pretty soon!

This baby Green Monkey was kept as a pet for many years. Today he entered the sanctuary and finally got rid of his chain for once and for all! Time for his new life to begin!

Today, 2 Sooty Mangabeys, a Green Monkey, a Timneh Parrot and a Black Backed Duiker came in. We don't know what happened to the nose of the duiker, but it probably damaged its nose by slamming against a fence in an attempt to escape.
 

 Someone was trying to sell this African Rock Python, but was brought to the sanctuary in time!

This juvenile is about 1 year old, is healthy and won't stay at the sanctuary for long!  

 Last night, around midnight, Libassa Wildlife Sanctuary got a call from concerned citizens in town. They saw someone carrying an Olive Ridley Sea Turtle in a wheelbarrow who were about to kill and eat her.

They were able to convince the guy to hand it over and explained that these animals are protected. The sanctuary and FDA were informed.

Upon arrival, we removed the ropes that were tied around her flippers and after a quick medical check, she was taken back to the ocean where she took off immediately!

Another day, another pangolin rescued!

Humphrey was rescued from the bushmeat trade as a baby by an expatriate living in Liberia. She handreared him and he is now fully grown.

She knew that her house was not the best place for a Tree Hyrax, so when she found out about the sanctuary, she handed him over.

The Western Tree Hyrax is a nocturnal mammal, and they are on a vegetarian diet. ️Fun fact: Did you know that they are distantly related to elephants and sea cows? 

Off the rope! This young Sooty Mangabey male was kept as a pet on a short rope, just like many others here in Liberia. He is now slowly settling in at the sanctuary.

All monkeys are intelligent and very social, and need their family group growing up for their mental and physical wellbeing. They get cared for by their mothers, play around with family members and learn everything they need to learn about life in the forest.

Yet, he was ripped away from his family, his mother most likely killed for bushmeat and he was taken out of the forest to be kept on a rope in some village. He must have been terrified all this time!

Luckily, most of our monkeys are part of a release program. This will take many years, but the future still looks brighter than it was!

 This male Black-bellied pangolin came in tonight. Sold in a market in the capital Monrovia. He is too frightened to drink, and fell asleep in his box. 

 This young male pangolin just came in, more dead than alive. We've put him on a hot water bottle, gave him some medication and put him on a drip. His tongue is out, which is always a bad sign. But is was blue at first and now turned pink. Breathing stabilised. 

 So this adult male pangolin just came in. He has a snare wound around the head and some cuts and bruises on the body and feet. He is just one of so many victims of the illegal bushmeat trade in Liberia. 

 This little dove is the latest addition to the nursery. It fell out of the nest and was about to become a children's toy, until someone stepped in and brought the little bird to us.  

 This Pied Crow came in with both legs paralysed. This was most likely caused by a rope that was tied around the legs in an attempt to sell the bird.

He is receiving treatment but prognosis is poor... 

 Meet our latest rescue from the illegal wildlife trade: a pangolin pup weighing only 400g and her left eye is completely infected. She is receiving treatment, has a great appetite and is gaining strength. 

 Latest arrival: yet another Bushbuck calf...

 This week was a great week for reptile rescue!

No less than 14 reptiles were rescued from the illegal trade: 10 dwarf crocodiles, 1 softshell turtle and yesterday, 3 young West-African crocodiles came in!

The good news is, they won't stay at the sanctuary for long. We are planning a release very soon!  

 This is an African Softshell Turtle. He was confiscated today and was kept in someone's house in a nearby community.

They are called "softshell" because their carapaces lack horny scales. The carapace feels leathery and is pliable on the sides.
They are strict carnivores, with diets consisting mainly of fish, aquatic crustaceans, snails, amphibians,and sometimes birds and small mammals. 

 Today, no less than 8 Dwarf Crocodile hatchlings came in. They have just hatched and are very tiny.

Yesterday, another 2 hatchlings came in.

All taken from the wild in an attempt to sell... Dwarf crocodiles are endangered and are protected by law. The good news is that soon, they will all go back to the wild!  

These 2 Lizard Buzzards were being sold in the streets of Monrovia. They are now settling in at the sanctuary.

Although they are healthy, they are not able to fly (yet). Because the cage they were in was too small, they never had the chance to train their flight muscles.

But like any training, they need to practice every day. Soon, they will become strong again and if all goes well, they can be released soon! 

This is the sad reality we deal with every day... This owl had a small rock thrown at him by a man using a slingshot because the owl "made too much noise". As a result, his eye completely popped and the skull and eyesocket are broken.

As if that was not enough, the man decided to sell the injured bird and was dragging him on a rope across the road!!

Luckily, one of the staff saw this and convinced the man to hand it over.

Shortly after arriving at the sanctuary, the owl unfortunately passed away...

Another victim of the illegal busmeat trade in Liberia... This is a Black Duiker calf. She is now settling in at the sanctuary.

A young man witnessed a Lizard Buzzard being sold on the streets. He was able to convince them to hand the bird over to him. After some research on Facebook, he found our sanctuary. Although it was already late in the evening, he didn't hesitate to contact us and organise his transportation all the way to the sanctuary so the bird would be safe.

On this picture, you can see the bird up for sale and tied by a rope around the legs. Due to the time of arrival in the evening, the buzzard was kept in the quarantine overnight, but moved to a large outside enclosure today.

Thanks to the amazing efforts of this young man, this bird is safe!

 This baby Sooty Mangabey and baby chimpanzee were rescued today.

Both their families have been killed by poachers so they could take the babies and sell them.

Both babies are traumatized by the experience but are settling down: the orphaned chimp was taken to LCRP , the orphaned Sooty joined our already large group op 21 monkeys and is doing fine. 

This young Sooty Mangabey came in today. He was confiscated in Sapo National Park by FDA.
He had a rope around his tiny waist when he came in.

He is now getting to know the other Sooty's at the sanctuary and should settle down soon. 

 Yesterday, 2 Bourlon's Genet kittens came in. Their mother was killed and they were up for sale.

They were absolutely exhausted and after offering some milk, they fell right asleep. Today, both of them are more relaxed and are feeding well. Fingers crossed!

 
This is a young Kusimanse, a species of Mongoose. She was found being sold in Bong County. She is still very young, but is weaned already. Now she just has to become a little bigger so she will be released in a few weeks!

Thank you to Fauna and Flora International for bringing us this juvenile Dwarf Crocodile!