2020-12-31-accounts

Annual Report and Accounts Year ended 31[st] December 2020

Ape Action Africa

Year ended 31 December 2020

Report and Accounts

Charity information

Principal office address: Guthrie Road Clifton Bristol BS8 3HA Trustees: Professor S Corr Ms V Luke Dr G McCabe Ms C McLaney Treasurer Dr S Redrobe Chair Bankers: Triodos Bank Deanery Road Bristol Barclays Bank West Kirby Wirral Merseyside SCB Cameroun SA Siege Social Avenue Monseigneur Vogt BP 700 Yaoundé Cameroon

Registered charity number: 1057061

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Ape Action Africa

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Trustees’ report

1. Introduction

The Cameroon Wildlife Aid Fund was established under its constitution on 17[th] July 1996 as a registered charity and changed its name to Ape Action Africa in 2009. The registered charity number is 1057061.

2. Objects

The objects of the charity are to:

• a) Relieve the suffering of non-human primates in Cameroon who are in need of care and attention and in particular to provide and maintain a primate rescue centre, hospital and other facilities for the care and treatment of such sick or ill treated animals.

• b) To advance the education of the public into the conservation, care and treatment of such animals.

3. Officers and trustees

The Trustees are:

Professor Sandra Corr Ms Victoria Luke Dr Gráinne McCabe Ms Caroline McLaney Treasurer Dr Sharon Redrobe Chair

Dr Jane Goodall is the president of the charity.

Susan Lutter resigned from the board on 23 March 2021 but she remains a director of Ape Action Africa Inc. and is therefore still very much involved in the project.

Victoria Luke was appointed to the board on 20 December 2019. Vicky is a solicitor and she volunteered for us in Cameroon in 2007. She has managed our volunteer programme for several years and is very involved in our fundraising. Her passion for the project and legal skills are very welcome additions to the board.

4. Review of Activities in Cameroon

Overview

2020 has been one of the most challenging in the history of the charity, a situation that has been repeated across the globe as everyone struggles to cope with the worldwide covid-19 pandemic. We cancelled some significant UK and US fundraising events in 2020, which are now planned for 2022. In Cameroon, we closed the Mefou Primate Sanctuary to visitors and we suspended our volunteer programme to protect our staff and our animals. All of these measures have had a negative impact on our income but we cannot significantly reduce our

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costs because we still need to pay our staff and give high quality care to our animals every day of the year.

In addition to these measures our director, Rachel Hogan, was in the UK for a fundraising event that we had planned for the end of March 2020. Rachel had a flight booked to return to Cameroon when we cancelled the event but on the day of her flight, Cameroon closed its borders. Rachel was therefore unable to return to Cameroon for 3 months but she continued to do an excellent job, managing the project remotely from the UK with daily conference calls with the team in Cameroon.

We are pleased to report that none of our staff or our animals contracted covid-19.

Animal Facilities

The illegal bushmeat trade continues in Cameroon and we are home to 121 chimpanzees, 24 gorillas and 141 monkeys who are largely victims of that trade.

Providing sanctuary for confiscated animals plays a key role in supporting the enforcement of wildlife protections laws by the Cameroon Government. Whilst we work hard with the government and other sanctuaries to reduce poaching, it is inevitable that whilst the illegal bushmeat and pet trades continue, we will need space to accept new orphans. In addition, when the youngsters mature into adults, groups will have to be separated, particularly in order to separate adult males who would not normally live together in the wild.

Many of our animals are now adults, which pose security challenges for the team in Cameroon. We are constantly working on enclosures to keep them secure and one of the key elements in our strategic plan deals with how to develop Mefou so that animals are housed in social groups that are safe, secure and also continue to provide excellent animal welfare. With that in mind, construction projects have continued to be a key objective for the year, although there are now delays because of the impact of covid-19 on our funding position.

• High security chimpanzee enclosure We have several adult chimpanzees that are very talented escape artists and no matter what additional security measures we have added to our current enclosure, they have always been able to find an escape route. Therefore, for their safety and the safety of all the people in the park, these chimps are currently in satellite cages, which is not a suitable long term housing solution for them. We are very grateful to funding from a private UK donor that has allowed us to start to build a ‘high security’ chimpanzee enclosure.

• The perimeter lines were completed in 2019 and in the first quarter of 2020, we built the foundations for the satellite cages, which is where the chimps will sleep at night.

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However, we had to halt the construction because of the economic impact of covid19 on our project. We are still really looking forward to the day when can let these chimps go back into a forest enclosure and we will complete the construction as soon as we have the funding to do so.

• Gorilla enclosure As explained in our 2019 trustees’ report, we completed the construction of our biggest construction project to date – an enclosure that will house adult, male gorillas.

• We started to integrate a bachelor group in the new enclosure during 2019, which is the first time that a bachelor group of gorillas has been established in an African sanctuary. As with any of our introductions, we take things slowly and we are guided by the behaviour of the gorillas. We expected the full integration to take up to a year but there is no time limit and the integration is still on-going.

We are very grateful for the generosity of one of our long term UK supporters and the support of Bristol Zoo that has enabled this enclosure to be built.

• We continue to work on enclosure maintenance and repairs to satellite cages to ensure the safety of all our animals and the people who live in and around the park.

Our matriarch has died

We are very sad to report that one of our oldest chimpanzees died in May 2020. Ashmael had spent more than 20 years in a small cage in the Mvog Betsi Zoo in Yaoundé with her lifelong companion, Bertie. One of the highlights of our work over the years is transferring Bertie and Ashmael to a large forested enclosure. We purposefully built it away from other enclosures so that they would live in peace and would not be seen by visitors. It took many years to get permission from the government to move Bertie and Ashmael but finally, we got the great news that they could go to the forest in 2006. For several weeks after the move, Ashmael was too scared to leave the satellite cage – scared of the space, scared of the grass under her feet - until one day, she ran out screaming, Bertie ran to her and they hugged! Ashmael had 14 happy years in the forest with a large family of young chimps that we slowly introduced to them and she loved nothing more that mothering our infant orphans.

Ashmael © Ian Bickerstaff

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As Rachel said:

“Ashmael was our matriarch. She was there even before me, in that cage with Bertie sat watching, waiting patiently for the day something may change.

Ashmael was the peacemaker, the only one that could calm Bertie down when he would get anxious and agitated.

Ashmael became the mother and friend of many at Mefou.

There is a lot we can learn from her. One of the big lessons for me is courage, because the thought of feeling the grass under your feet can be really scary, but sometimes you need to just run our of your safe place, screaming your head off”

Alfia, Ashmael and Poppy. © Ian Bickerstaff

Integrations

We began the process of integrating three subadult gorillas into a family group. This is usually a long process as gorillas are highly sensitive animals and get stressed easily. We expect to finish this integration in the next 12 months.

We successfully integrated all of the juvenile guenons we received at the end of 2019 into one group. These individuals now live together in an enclosure and have started developing natural behaviours thanks to the interaction between them. When they are older, they will join one of our adult guenon groups. The infant guenons rescued in 2017 and 2018 are now old enough to be integrated into an adult group, so they were introduced to their new family in the first half of 2020, which went well.

In February we finalised the integration of three of our chimpanzees that graduated from nursery to an adult group. The integration went smoothly, and they are enjoying being part of a large chimpanzee family.

Veterinary department

Our veterinary team has continued to provide excellent healthcare for all the primates in our care. The most common problem among the gorillas was wounds. The most common problems in chimpanzees were respiratory infections (not covid-19 related), followed by

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gastroenteric disorders secondary to amoebiasis, and then wounds. The most common problem in the monkeys was wounds. The veterinary cases are summarised below:

Our youngest female baboon suffered a multiple fracture of her femur that required surgery. It was complicated surgery so we asked for help from human orthopaedic surgeons. They fixed the displaced fracture with two orthopaedic plates, and the other two fractures healed with restriction of movement. After a good recovery and a period of rehabilitation, the baboon is now in the process of being re-integrated into her group.

Bertie is one of our oldest chimps and is now well into his forties. He was found one morning with a nasal haemorrhage. We suspected he had suffered thermal shock due to high temperatures during the dry season and, because of blood loss, he developed anaemia. We treated his anaemia and in conjunction with a strict diet, he has made a complete recovery.

We care for 2 chimpanzees with long term, chronic illnesses:

• Samburu often suffers from convulsions as a consequence of the meningitis he had as a baby. At the moment he is stable thanks to his daily medication.

• Bertie has chronic ear infections. The reason for this is his lack of external ear pinnae, which usually work as natural protection for the internal ear. His ears were cruelly cut off long before he came into our care. We manage his condition by close monitoring of his behaviour and medication when necessary.

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Adaptations to the pandemic

When Covid-19 started spreading in Cameroon, our team created new protocols to protect the staff and animals. All our protocols have been developed following guidelines from the Cameroonian Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation. These protocols enhance the biosecurity measurements we already had in place:

• We are using stronger disinfectants to clean;

• we have installed extra hand washing facilities around the park;

• workers have their temperatures checked twice a day;

• everyone wears a face mask while working and

• we encourage social distancing where possible.

Deforestation

Deforestation, hunting and habitat destruction are still the biggest threats to primate populations in Cameroon. The hunting and deforestation pressures around Mefou Primate Park are increasing but so are our efforts to fight and reduce their impact in our park and the surrounding area. We are working in collaboration with MINFOF ( Ministère des Forets et de la Faune / Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife ) and the villages around the park to preserve the forest.

Education

During the first quarter of 2020, we carried out our environmental education programme in the village schools around the park. This programme consists of five interactive lessons about nature and conservation. Our education team taught in 4 schools, reaching a total of 141 students. Before and after the course we gave each student a test to allow us to measure the impact of our lessons. The results were very positive, showing that the children had assimilated the content of the programme.

In March, we developed a new educational programme in collaboration with Miku Conservation, a Mexican NGO focused on environmental education. The programme, called “Cameroon’s wildlife through the eyes of the children”, was focused on finding out what the children think about the ecological issues in their villages and on empowering them to find solutions. The approach they use is an innovative technique called Photovoice; they teach the children how to use cameras and let them go around their village taking pictures of examples of what they consider to be environmental problems. These cameras enable children to record and bring to life their community’s strengths and concerns, while prompting critical thinking and debate when discussing their content. The children are encouraged to be creative and playful, and to put their own experiences, imaginations, and emotions into the stories their photos tell. We ran this initiative with about 20 students from

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Metet School, and it proved to be very successful and interesting. We are looking forward to extending the programme to other schools when possible.

We continued with our programme “The wondering bus”, an initiative funded by Prague Zoo, where children from the Dja area visit the park to learn about wildlife and nature once a month.

Our education team continued to conduct guided visits of the sanctuary as usual until the pandemic started in Cameroon. During this period we had 755 international visitors and 2,009 national visitors, including 13 local schools and over 1000 children from different schools who came to visit in Youth Week.

Sadly, due to the Covid-19 situation we had to close the park to all visitors in March and, in addition, halt the rest of our educational activities and programmes. We will resume our education programmes when it is safe to do so.

Volunteer programme

We had five international volunteers up until March 2020. Our volunteers work alongside our staff and help with animal care and construction and maintenance projects. They also raise money for the charity and help to raise awareness of the issues facing the primates of Cameroon.

We also had three Cameroonian interns during this period: one veterinarian, one veterinary technician and one tourism student.

We had to suspend the volunteer programme in March 2020 due to the worldwide pandemic and the programme is yet to resume. We will be accepting volunteers again when it is safe to do so and depending on travel restrictions.

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As always, we are very grateful to our volunteers who donate time and money to the project, many of who continue to be involved with the charity after they return to their home countries.

5. Finance report

The charity reports a deficit of £89,456 for the year to 31 December 2020, which has decreased the net assets to £49,828.

Our income has been severely negatively impacted by the covid-19 pandemic. In comparison to the prior year, income from our volunteer programme has fallen by £20,000, donations have fallen by £50,000 and Mefou Primate Park visitor income has reduced by £22,000. These reductions in income largely explain the charity’s deficit for the year.

The aim of the Board is to have six months’ running costs in reserves available to the charity. The reserves in the UK charity as at 31 December 2020 represented around two months’ running costs. The reserves in Ape Action Africa Inc, a related non-for-profit organisation in the USA used to facilitate donations for the benefit of the charity from USA donors, represented around 7 months’ running costs at 31 December 2020. The current position (in October 2021) is that the reserves held in the charity, coupled with reserves held in Ape Action Africa Inc., total around three months’ running costs.

In considering the charity’s current funding position, the Board has also taken into account the charity’s expected future receipts. The charity has recently been successful in some grant applications and had a good campaign on Great Apes Giving Day a couple of weeks ago, such that when those funds are received the Board expect to have total funds available equating to around five months’ running costs. The Board consider this level of funding to be adequate to ensure the charity’s going concern, albeit below the charity’s targeted level, and a relatively good result in the context of the restrictions and disruption caused by the Covid pandemic. However, the Board is not complacent about the charity’s funding and we will continue to work hard to build our reserves - some of our plans are detailed below.

We have not been able to do any fundraising events in either 2020 or 2021 because of the ongoing covid restrictions so we are busy making plans for the rest of this year and into 2022:

• We had a gala dinner in London booked for March 2020 and ticket sales were going well. When it became clear that we would not be able to go ahead, we postponed it and hoped that we would be able to reschedule in 2021. However, that plan did not come to fruition and it is currently booked for March 2022.

• We are working on plans for fundraising events in America next year, which again were cancelled in 2020. These events have been very successful in the past so we are optimistic that we can repeat that success.

• We will be running a donation matching campaign this year in conjunction with Twycross Zoo.

• We are planning some merchandise sales before Christmas which have been popular in previous years.

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• Our fundraising team has been working hard throughout the covid crisis to raise money through online events and they have also applied for several emergency grants. As noted above, we have received some emergency funding and other applications are currently being reviewed. We will continue to research grant availability and apply for them when we meet the criteria.

We receive no government funding so we are entirely dependent on grants and donations to fund the charity. We are continuing to work hard to source consistent, stable funding, which is always a challenge, even more so in today’s economic climate.

The board of trustees would like to thank our worldwide supporters for continuing to help the charity with donations of money and time.

6. Summary

The board of trustees is very aware of the hugely difficult time that 2020 has been for the charity, difficulties that have continued in 2021. We have been monitoring our cash position closely and liaising with our fundraising team. We hope that we will be able to reinstate our volunteer programme next year which will raise much needed funds for us. We have recently reopened the park to visitors but numbers will be reduced because we are asking people to book in advance so that we can control the number of people in the park.

This period has, and continues to be, a stressful time for everyone and the trustees are extremely grateful to everyone in Cameroon who is working throughout the pandemic. We are also very grateful to our fundraisers who work so hard in their spare time to raise money for the charity. This is a difficult task at the best of times but fundraising during a worldwide pandemic has been particularly challenging.

Despite all the difficulties that have arisen in the last 18 months, we will continue to ensure that we give all our rescued animals a positive future and the highest standard of care that they deserve.

Caroline McLaney Trustee 27 October 2021

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Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees of Ape Action Africa

I report on the accounts of the Ape Action Africa for the year ended 31 December 2020, which are set out on pages 12 to 16.

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

The charity’s trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required this year under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) and that an independent examination is needed.

It is my responsibility to:

• examine the accounts under section 145 of the 2011 Act;

• to follow the procedures laid down in the General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act; and

• to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.

Basis of independent examiner’s report

My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a ‘true and fair view’ and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.

Independent examiner’s statement

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:

1. which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements

2. to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the 2011 Act; and

3. to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the 2011 Act

4. have not been met; or

5. to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Laurence Morgan Chartered Accountant ICAEW membership number: 9277845

27 October 2021

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Statement of Financial Activities

Notes Incoming resources Donations 2 Fees received 2 Merchandise Interest received Total incoming resources Resources expended Animal care 3 Staff costs 3 Infrastructure costs 3 Education programme costs Community support Administrative expenses 3 Fundraising costs 3 Website hosting Finance charges 3 Total resources expended Net movement in funds Reconciliation of funds Total funds brought forward Total funds carried forward	2020 2019 £ £ 165,760 346,197 6,861 29,121 6,718 4,372 79 17
	179,418 379,707
	63,118 55,225 137,615 138,968 42,812 55,604 1,259 14,663 1,939 3,159 9,486 7,557 1,801 2,706 2,272 3,588 8,572 26,291
	268,874 307,762
	-89,456 71,945 139,284 67,339
	49,828 139,284

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Balance Sheet Current assets Other debtors and prepayments Cash at bank and in hand Net current assets Charitable funds General fund Restricted fund	2020 £ 14,207 35,621 49,828 49,828 0 49,828	2019 £ 5,000 134,284
		139,284
		139,284 0
		139,284

The financial statements were approved by the board of trustees on 27 October 2021 and signed on its behalf by:

Dr S Redrobe Chair

C McLaney Treasurer

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Notes to the Accounts

1) Accounting policies

• a) Basis of preparation

The accounts have been prepared in accordance with:

• SORP (FRS 102): the Statement of Recommended Practice – Accounting and Reporting by Charities, applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102);

• The Charities Act 2011; and

• The historical cost basis of accounting.

• b) Recognition of incoming resources These are included in the Statement of Financial Activities (SoFA) when:

• the charity becomes entitled to the resources;

• the trustees are virtually certain they will receive the resources; and

• the monetary value can be measured with sufficient reliably.

• c) Recognition of incoming resources with related expenditure Where incoming resources have related expenditure (as with fundraising or contract income) the incoming resources and related expenditure are reported gross in the SoFA.

• d) Volunteer help The value of any voluntary help received is not included in the accounts but is described in the trustees’ annual report.

• e) Foreign currency translation

Transactions denominated in Cameroon francs have been translated to sterling at rate of 740fcfa/£1, being the average rate for the year. Balance sheet items have been translated at the year end rate of 734fcfa/£1.

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Notes to the Accounts

2 Analysis of incoming resources Donations Adopt an Ape scheme Volunteer programme Legacies Ape Action Africa Inc. – transfer of donations Other donations Fees Mefou Primate Park - Visitor fees 3 Analysis of resources expended Animal care Animal food Vet supplies Gorilla release costs Staff costs Cameroon salaries CNPS and tax Staff medical fees Uniforms Staff training Staff awards Workers’ food InfrastructureConstruction and repairs Sundry forest supplies Vehicle maintenance	2020 2019 £ £ 5,169 2,070 1,071 20,931 20,271 0 28,151 160,945 111,098 162,251
	165,760 346,197
	6,861 29,121
	51,806 45,345 11,312 7,976 0 1,904
	63,118 55,225
	96,684 93,688 13,986 15,799 3,980 6,504 1,221 1,292 0 401 135 0 21,609 21,284
	137,615 138,968
	24,110 32,408 2,523 2,403 16,179 20,793
	42,812 55,604

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Notes to the Accounts

3 Analysis of resources, continued Administrative expenses Cameroon office and education supplies Fundraising expenses Events Merchandise Finance charges Bank and fundraising platform fees Exchange differences arising on translation	2020 2019 £ £ 9,486 7,557 £ £ 1,205 1,302 596 1,404
	1,801 2,706
	1,900 1,101 6,672 25,190
	8,572 26,291

6 Related party transactions

None of the trustees received either remuneration or expenses during the year (2019 – nil)

Ape Action Africa Inc. transferred $40,000 (£28,151) to Ape Action Africa (2019 – $251,500; £160,945). The transfers from Ape Action Africa Inc. go directly to Cameroon to fund our running costs. The trustees of Ape Action Africa are the directors of Ape Action Africa Inc.

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