African Genet and our Vervet Monkey!

This month I saved a Genet which is like a wild cat that lives in the trees.

  Some villagers were selling him for $10 so I got him. If I hadn't bought him they would have sold him to merchants or witch doctors in the village because it is believed Genets are 'good medicine'.

 He was in a bad state after being carried around in a sack with both his hands and feet bound. When I cut his ropes off and put him in a large cage, he just flopped around and couldn't walk. Plus he was disoriented so much that his eyes kept looking from left to right every second like he was dizzy. This condition went on for a few days until he normalized.
  I gave him fresh water and a rat everyday along with some fruit and cat food. He especially enjoyed eating the rats and would leap on them with incredible speed. After a week he seemed back to himself.

 I had planned on a trip to Lusaka this week with my car, so I put him in a small chicken carrier, and brought him to a place called Munda Wanga. This is a place where animals can be treated and live in a great environment. Plus after a special process they will be taken back to the wild to be free again.

 While I was there, I wanted to see if my vervet monkey, Kanono was still around. I went to the monkey area and saw a bunch of monkeys on a tree and I called out "Kanono". Kanono means Small in the local language. To my surprise, one monkey jumped down from the tree and galloped over to the fence and yes, it was my friend Kanono.

I could have cried. It was a beautiful experience that I cannot describe. All the memories came back when I used to lay in my hammock in his habitat and he would come over and groom my head and arms then lie down and take a nap with me.

After I let him groom my hair, he pressed his body to the fence signalling to me that it was his turn. Here in the picture on the right you can see him doing so.

 He is still on the list to be taken to the wild with his new group that he has accepted as his family. But in the meantime, he is in a very large enclosure with food and water, so I am very pleased with his care.



  I will check on his welfare again next month when I go down to Lusaka for more business. He is due to be released in October.

The Agriculture and livestock show

This week I was contacted by Zawa to attend the Agriculture and livestock show in Mansa. They desperately needed me for my animals that I keep. Mainly my snakes! So I spent a few days constructing 2 cages that would hold my 4 Gaboon Vipers and 3 Savanna Monitor lizards that I would obtain for the show.
  I had to make it strong enough to withstand the sharp claws of the lizards along with their whipping tail.
After I finished I managed to load them up in my car and travel 2 hours away to the town of Mansa. There, I got a hotel for 3 days for the duration of the show.
On friday, I unloaded the cages and other things and placed them at a perfect viewing height.

This made our booth very interesting for all those who would pass by.

On top of the cages I placed my collection of preserved snakes with their identification both in Latin and English.

Only after a few minutes of putting everything up, we had scores of people crowding our booth. All pointing at the snakes and lizards. Most of these kids have never seen such animals and were amazed as there is no zoo in the province.

 
For the next 3 days, I stood out front of our booth explaining to all the people the answers to their questions.

The highlight of the show is when the guest of honor, (the provincial minister) came to view our booth and to learn what we have to say. He was very impressed with our knowledge and thanked us for our efforts in educating the public.

At the end of the show, 6 judges went around with clipboards filling out questions about the booths. And we won first prize in the category of law-enforcement. A certificate was awarded with zk.500,000 ($100)
To me this was a very beneficial 3 days spent educating the public.   

How to trim Saanen goat hooves

Today it was time to give our goats a pedicure, or hoof trimming. This is needed as many problems can occur due to untrimmed hooves. These hooves grow very fast and need trimming each month. Just think of it as your own finger nails and how they need tending to, and the job will be much easier.

You first have to tie her up to a post or some place her in the milking station, I just use her feeder that way she can feed while I do my duty.

You should inspect all hooves to check for damage, conditions and concerns like foot rot caused by infections.

I then pull her leg up while she balance's on her other three legs. Her head also can rest on your shoulder or arm. watch out as the dam can bite your buttons off. Also be aware that she will resist a bit but if you stay with her and hold her tight, she will relax.
  While trimming the back hooves, I just find it easier to mount the goat reversed. This way I can control the goat from moving too much.

Here you can see the hoof curling inward trapping bacteria, feces and possible twigs. Also the hoof cracks, and has the potential to split up into the sensitive area that might make the dam to walk on it awkwardly which could lead the goat to be crippled.

  
With a sharp knife I trim a small portion at a time until I get down to the pad. Some use special sheers or hoof trimmers, but here in the bush this knife will due. As you get down to the pad, if you are not careful, you might take too much off causing a bit of bleeding. Don't worry, it will grow back. But another indicator will be that the hoof will turn a bit pinkish showing you are getting to the blood area.

Here is one hoof trimmed for the first time in her life. As it grows out properly, I will trim it further down. I just wanted the inside hoof to grow a bit more as it was in bad shape.
 Over all it is an intense job which takes about 20 min per goat. If you go too fast or are in a hurry, you run the risk of cutting too much off.  

Saanen Goats--CAE and Pelt Tanning

A few weeks ago I noticed that one of my Saanen goats, one that is pregnant, started to have problems in keeping her balance. She would sway from side to side and over half the day just sit in the shade. I thought was normal in her state, but just to be on the safe side, I did an examination and found that there was swelling in both of her front legs, the knees had become the size of tennis balls. There were no other problems on the rest of her body, no cuts and no broken bones. She finally got to the point where she couldn't get up at all and her front joints were even larger and painful to the touch. 

There is no qualified vet in the area so I turned to my great source--the internet. After doing research on the issue for many days, I found out that it was very possible that my goat has C.A.E. or Carpel Arthritis Encephalitis. There is no vaccine or cure for the virus. It is transmitted from the fluids of the mother to the kid after giving birth. This can be confirmed by a blood sample but as I live in the bush that way is not an option. 

This was a big blow to me as I was so happy that we finally got our dairy goats which were donated by Grey and Esther from Germany. A goat house was even constructed. So what should I do? 

There is a way to save the baby and that is to duct tape both of the teats on the doe right before birthing and then immediately after she gives birth, remove the kid from the mother and feed the kid with bottles. You can't even let her lick or clean the kid as her saliva could infect the kid. Then the dam (a female goat who has given birth) should be put down as she will only deteriorate in time. Also you don't want that virus to continue on. 

At one time, 90% of all dairy goats in the US were infected with the virus, only by separating the kids from their mothers has the virus in dairy goats now come down to 40%. In the States you can go to good closed farms (meaning they don't bring in new goats) and purchase a virus clear goat with no problems, but here in Zambia, its a gamble.

 So what decision should I make? There is also a chance the doe might infect the rest of the goats. I would need to isolate the doe and feed her until birthing and then deal with her kid--feeding her expensive purchased milk. So after talking with my wife, we decided that at this time we don't have the time, manpower or funds to keep the doe, Although I did consider it since it was a big deal to bring the goats here from over 1000 kilometers away. I finally had to make the decision to butcher the goat as she was eating feed which is costing us funds.

  After much time delaying, I finally did it. I decided to keep the pelt and give the meat to the staff (CAE is not transmittable to humans).

The following images may be disturbing to some viewers.

  

  We bled the goat out, much like you do a chicken, then after draining I hung the body upside down and put a bamboo through its tenons. This place has the strength to hold the goat. Then very carefully I cut only the skin off.

The skin was not too difficult to peel off the meat, a bit more difficult than a rabbit pelt but in the process I did manage to make a small hole in the center of the body. But hey, nobody's perfect.

The innards were thrown away and the brain was put in a plastic bag and put in the fridge for use in the tanning process.

   Then I salted both sides of the pelt and nailed it on a door out of the sun. This was left for 3 days. Then I found the skin completely stiff, so I started to scrape off the salt and extra fat that still remained on the skin. That took a good 2 hours. I then took the pelt and rinsed it in a basin for an hour until all the salt was gone.

Then I took the brains that I kept in the fridge and blended them up with a few cups of warm water. Getting a paint brush I painted on the brain liquid (which contains lecithin)  on both sides of the pelt doing it over and over until all was gone. A fire was made on a braizer and bark and grass put on it to make smoke. This seals the brain liquid in the leather. The smoking was done for about 3 hours. Then the long process of breaking started. That is when the stretching and pulling and twisting goes on to make the fibers in the leather soft and pliable. This was done for two days.

 

  The end result is a great goat pelt ready for a chair backing or a floor mat or even something to put on a wall. It still  feels a bit gummy from the brains and the smell of smoke is present. I'm researching to see if I should throw it in the washing machine.....