A little while ago, we spoke with Gwendoline, the Program Officer for the Department of Conservation and the Manager of the ERuDeF Great Apes Program. We are excited to be working with her on a modelling project in collaboration with Newcastle University!
We asked Gwendoline what most excites her about her work? Here's what she had to say!
What most excite me is coming face to face with a gorilla during monitoring. I remember my first encounter with the Cross River Gorilla in the wild. It was so exciting and I lost control of my camera and instead of taking a picture I took funny exciting faces of my team members as everyone was so happy.
Another very exciting part of my work is when I watch footage from camera traps and discover a new species not found in the species database, a group of chimpanzees playing in front of the camera trap.
I also get excited when the rangers demonstrate their knowledge gain from training in the quality of their reports.
Would you like to help restart monitoring in Cameroon? We're supporting ERuDeF as plans are being made to safely reinstate community rangers, and we hope to help to provide equipment for them to carry out bio-monitoring. This vital step in conservation requires significant funding before rangers can go back to work.
Please support our ranger appeal to help save the rarest of the great apes, the Cross River gorilla, their home in the rainforest and the rich biodiversity found there: paypal.com/gb/fundraiser/charity/3348245