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2021-12-31-accounts

Annual Report and Accounts Year ended 31[st] December 2021

Ape Action Africa

Year ended 31 December 2021

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

Year ended 31 December 2021

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:

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.

4. Review of Activities in Cameroon

Overview

Despite 2021 being another very challenging year for us, mainly due to the financial impact of the Covid19 pandemic, it has still been productive, thanks to the efforts of our staff members and management team. We have successfully continued to care for all our primates, carried out routine and emergency veterinary procedures and completed routine repairs and maintenance as well as some pre-planned construction tasks.

Impact of Covid19

We re-opened our visitor programme in October and visitor numbers have been slowly increasing since then. Visits are currently strictly by appointment only, and all visitors must wear a mask throughout their time in the park to ensure we keep our staff and primates safe. Our volunteer programme remains closed and is unlikely to re-open until 2023, after a complete overhaul, to ensure it addresses the current and future needs of the charity while providing the participants with a memorable experience. These programmes are a vital source

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Ape Action Africa

Year ended 31 December 2021

of income, with all funds going towards the running costs of the sanctuary, so for both to have been closed since March 2020 has had a substantial financial impact.

Throughout this year, we saw a significant drop in individual international donations and grant opportunities and have had to rely mainly on donations from our supporters and the occasional grant to pay the running costs of the sanctuary. In addition, the global effects of coronavirus meant that several key donors were unable to provide financial support to the same degree as they have in recent years. That said, our international volunteer fundraising team did an excellent job of keeping our social media feeds active and supporter engagement levels high, as well as successfully applying for several emergency grants, generating just enough funds to cover the running costs of the sanctuary and keep all 286 primates safe in 2021.

All staff continue to strictly adhere to the protocols developed following guidelines from the Cameroonian Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation at the start of the pandemic. These protocols enhance the biosecurity measurements we already had and include using a stronger disinfectant to clean the primates’ food and installing extra handwashing facilities around the park for staff and visitors. All our staff also received the AstraZeneca vaccination against Covid19 in 2021.

Unfortunately, despite these extra measures, several positive cases of Covid19 were discovered on 28th December 2021 amongst the workforce, our director included. The park was immediately closed to visitors. The infected individuals were quarantined. The management team reinforced the strict protocols around mask-wearing, regular handwashing, and social distancing to the remaining staff. For the time being, we have also introduced a new protocol for anyone showing symptoms of Covid19, which involves testing them (if we can get tests, which are proving very difficult to find), quarantining them for seven days if their result is positive and then screening them again before they are allowed back to work. We hope these measures will help keep our uninfected staff members and all the primates in our care safe and ensure that we can effectively manage this situation and continue with our work.

Primate Numbers

As of 31[st] December, we provided sanctuary for 24 gorillas, 123 chimpanzees, and 139 monkeys.

Rescued Primates

During these 12 months, we rescued one female chimpanzee, approximately four years old and one juvenile female mandrill. Both completed their quarantine and have been successfully integrated into different family groups.

Deaths

During 2021, we have sadly had a total of five deaths: two newborn monkeys died within 48 hours of birth, two other monkeys, and a male juvenile chimpanzee.

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Integrations and Transfers

At the beginning of this year, we finalised the integration of two of our chimpanzees who graduated from our pre-nursery to nursery group. Two five-year-olds, one male and one female, were both welcomed into their new family without any issues.

The integration of a three-year-old western lowland gorilla into our juvenile gorilla group has gone well during the second part of this year. He has adapted well to his new home, enjoys spending his days in his forested enclosure and his nights in the company of his new family. He has a good relationship with the dominant male and the female juvenile of the group and a special bond with the youngest male in the group, who is proving to be an excellent big brother.

Earlier in the year, we restructured some of our guenon groups to create a new family and incorporate some of the ‘escapees’ who had been confined to a satellite cage for their own safety. This family have now taken up residence in the new high-security enclosure, which was finished in early December and the remaining four ‘escapee’ monkeys moved in early 2022, so now all 139 of our monkeys are living in a forested enclosure, which is a considerable achievement.

In the meantime, the rest of the adult guenons welcomed the seven youngest of our guenons into their family unit without issue.

The integration process with our bachelor gorilla group was started in June. This group is the first of its kind in an African sanctuary, and so far, the individuals involved have responded well to their new family unit. Three out of the four silverback gorillas are now spending time in the forested enclosure, with one left to integrate.

At the beginning of the year, we worked together with Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee Rescue Centre to transfer one of our baby female chimpanzees to their sanctuary to join a lone male infant chimpanzee they had there and start a new family group.

We also had a wild female chimpanzee arrive at the sanctuary from an unknown location this year, who we ended up transferring to Sanaga-Yong. Unfortunately, she created an issue with several of our groups, as she sought out companionship, so with the permission of the Minister, she was captured, given a full health check and transferred to live out her life in a new family group.

Construction

Additional security measures have been installed at six of our eighteen enclosures. This grillage helps prevent the primates from coming out through the electric fences, thus increasing security. One of our in-country supporters provided funding for this project, which will continue until all enclosures that require it have been updated.

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Year ended 31 December 2021

In 2021, work began on a new gorilla enclosure to accommodate the increasing number of juveniles in our care as they get older and bigger. All of this work was completed in 2022.

We have also started reinforcing our existing nursery enclosures by changing the wooden posts for metal ones. They are old enclosures; however, they are still invaluable for housing one group of nursery chimps and one group of nursery gorillas. By making these upgrades now, we will be able to keep using the enclosures for many years to come.

Another upgrade project we started in the second half of 2021 was to change the water system for all the enclosures, as many had old systems which were constantly getting blocked. This new system enables each primate to drink directly from a water bidon and ensures everyone gets water without issue. We upgraded the system in two groups by the year end and the building and installation in the remaining groups was completed in 2022. This project has again been funded by one of our in-country supporters.

One of the few positives that came from closing the park for eighteen months was that the primates became very used to not seeing visitors and thrived in the quiet environment of their enclosures. Therefore, we decided to build viewing houses at the enclosures where visitors frequent to ensure that the impact of restarting this programme on the primates is kept to an absolute minimum. Work started in 2021 at two of our gorilla’s groups. One was completed, and the other finished in early 2022. These viewing houses will also double as security posts around the park so that in the unlikely event of an escape, visitors will have a safe place to wait until the situation is resolved.

The construction team has also been as busy as usual with general repairs and the maintenance of enclosures, satellite cages and buildings across the park.

Education

Thanks to funding kindly provided by Prague Zoo and the City of Prague, we were able to restart our conservation education programme in the three of the schools surrounding Mefou Park in September of this year. The programme mainly focussed on the Mama P book produced by Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, in association with Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA).

Our Head of Education was also able to start conducting guided tours of the sanctuary when we re-opened our visitor programme in October.

In 2022/3, we plan to re-introduce more of the educational activities and programmes that were in place before March 2020, including the Wandering Bus initiative in collaboration with Prague Zoo and the reforestation in the park project, with the support of our partner Globio.

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Year ended 31 December 2021

Threats

Deforestation, hunting, and habitat destruction are still the biggest threats to primate populations in Cameroon. The hunting and deforestation pressures around the park are increasing. Still, our efforts to fight and reduce their impact in our park and the tampon area collaborate with MINFOF (Ministère des Forets et de la Faune / Ministry of Forest and Wildlife) and the villages around the park.

Veterinary department

Our veterinary team has continued to provide excellent healthcare for all our primates. This year, alongside routine procedures such as health checks and vaccinations, the department has also focussed on implementing preventive measures across the sanctuary to reduce illness. This has included treating the water and water containers we use for the primates with a controlled amount of bleach to keep the containers clean and reduce the number of primates with parasite diseases, such as amebiasis. Indications through stool sampling are that this process is working, and in comparison to last year, the number of parasites has reduced. In June and December, all staff and primates completed a deworming programme.

Volunteering and Internships

Volunteers are excellent support for our team; they assist the staff with daily tasks and carry out tasks they would usually not have time to do without the volunteers’ support.

Unfortunately, we had to suspend our international volunteer and internship programme due to the pandemic. However, we were able to restart our national volunteer programme in the second half of this year, with one Cameroonian veterinarian technician assisting us for several months and one Cameroonian primate caregiver who is still with us.

Plans for 2022

Although our situation remains hugely challenging, we will continue to prioritise the care of our primates and staff and complete the integrations and construction projects we have already begun. We hope to re-open our international volunteer programme in 2023, after a complete overhaul, to ensure it addresses the current and future needs of the charity while providing the participants with a memorable experience.

Our current funding crisis due to the impact of COVID-19 means that fundraising efforts will continue to focus on raising enough money to cover the running costs of the sanctuary, reengaging key donors and individuals and maximising grant opportunities that are now starting to accept applications again.

Acknowledgements

As our 25th year draws to a close, we would like to express our gratitude to MINFOF (Ministry of Forest and Wildlife) for their continued support over the years. We would also like to thank

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Year ended 31 December 2021

all our private donors, volunteers and long-term supporters, who allow us to continue giving the best care to our primates.

The board of trustees is very aware of the difficult time that 2021 has been for the charity, difficulties that have continued since 2020 due to pandemic-related lockdowns and restrictions that kept our animals and staff safe but led to reduced income compounded by ‘donor fatigue’ further impacting income. We have been monitoring our cash position closely and liaising with our fundraising team.

This period has, and continues to be, a stressful time for everyone and the trustees are extremely grateful to everyone in Cameroon who worked 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 2 years, we will continue to ensure that we give all our rescued animals a positive future and the highest standard of care that they deserve.

Dr Sharon Redrobe OBE Chair 1 November 2022

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Ape Action Africa

Year ended 31 December 2021

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 2021, which are set out on pages 9 to 13.

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:

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 which gives me cause to believe that in any material respect:

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Laurence Morgan Chartered Accountant ICAEW membership number: 9277845

1 November 2022

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Ape Action Africa

Year ended 31 December 2021

Statement of Financial Activities

Notes
Incoming resources

Donations
2
Fees received
2
Fundraising
2
Interest received
Total incoming resources
Resources expended
Animal care
3
Staff costs
3
Infrastructure costs
3
Education programme
Community support
3
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		 2021
2020
£
£
£
£
Unrestricted
Restricted

348,916
5,836
354,753
165,760
9,601
0
9,601
6,861
9,933
0
9,933
6,718
8
0
8
79
368,458
5,836
374,295
179,418
73,814
0
73,814
63,118
150,159
0
150,159
137,615
69,764
0
69,764
42,812
1,168
0
1,168
1,259
1,138
5,836
6,974
1,939
10,804
0
10,804
9,486
1,080
0
1,080
1,801
2,555
0
2,555
2,272
10,117
0
10,117
8,572
320,598
5,836
326,434
268,874
47,861
0
47,861
-89,456
49,828
0
49,828
139,284
97,689
0
97,689
,49,828

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Ape Action Africa

Year ended 31 December 2021

Balance Sheet
Current assets
Other debtors and prepayments
Cash at bank and in hand
Current liabilities
Accruals
Net assets
Charitable funds
General fund
Restricted fund		 2021
£
13,807
84,962
98,769
1,080
97,689
97,689
0
97,689		 2020
£
14,207
35,621
49,828
0
49,828
49,828
0
49,828

The financial statements were approved by the board of trustees on 1 November 2022 and signed on its behalf by:

Dr S Redrobe Chair

C McLaney Treasurer

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Ape Action Africa

Year ended 31 December 2021

Notes to the Accounts

1) Accounting policies

a) Basis of preparation

The accounts have been prepared in accordance with:

These are included in the Statement of Financial Activities (SoFA) when:

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Ape Action Africa

Year ended 31 December 2021

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
Fundraising
Merchandise
Online auction
3 Analysis of resources expended
Animal care
Animal food
Vet supplies
Staff costs
Cameroon salaries
CNPS and tax
Staff medical fees
Uniforms
Staff training
Staff awards
Workers’ food
InfrastructureConstruction and repairs
Forest supplies
Vehicle maintenance		 2021
2020
£
£
7,900
5,169
0
1,071
0
20,271
200,395
28,151
146,458
111,098
354,753
165,760
9,601
6,861
6,315
6,718
3,619
0
9,933
6,718
63,265
51,806
10,549
11,312
73,814
63,118
105,075
96,684
17,463
13,986
2,874
3,980
1,246
1,221
789
0
608
135
22,104
21,609
150,159
137,615
48,125
24,110
3,667
2,523
17,972
16,179
69,764
42,812

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Year ended 31 December 2021

Notes to the Accounts

3 Analysis of resources, continued
Community
Community support costs
support
Children of conservation project
Administrative
expenses
Cameroon office and education supplies
Sundry expenses
Fundraising
expenses
Events
Merchandise purchased
Finance charges
Bank and fundraising platform fees
Exchange differences arising on translation		 2021
2020
£
£
1,138
1,939
5,836
0
6,974
1,939
10,243
9,486
561
0
10,804
9,486
0
1,205
1,080
596
1,080
1,801
1,888
1,900
8,229
6,672
10,117
8,572

6 Related party transactions

None of the trustees received either remuneration or expenses during the year (2020 – nil).

Ape Action Africa Inc. transferred $315,000 (£200,395) to Ape Action Africa (2020 – $40,000; £28,151). 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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