Rescuing the mountain chicken: 01/04/09

Checking the moth trap first thing, Gerardo found only a few moths – that would not even begin to feed the frogs we are planning to capture but it was a windy night so he was not surprised and he is still confident that we will be able to catch all that is needed - and if necessary we will have to go into the forest to catch more. At least we know that the trap does work – all we need is the weather in our favour. We then headed down to the transit facility to make a final list of what we needed to make the treatment pools for the animals we are taking into captivity. Worried now that we were taking in infected animals we had decided to make 3 more temporary ponds to treat animals. Feeling positive that we knew which stores stock which materials – we set out confidently with our list, which contained a strange assortment of items including dog collars! We almost got it all, but a closed store denied us of the electrical cabling we need. Oh well….

Undefeated we knew we still had plenty of work to be getting on with and our first job was to fill one of the frog ponds with the leaf litter collected yesterday – three bin bags full does not go very far so we are going to need a lot more to fill all the ponds. At least the leaf litter is readily available and free!

Things were really beginning to look up as the facility became a hive of activity again – Tommy the carpenter arrived and set about making three small frames for the treatment ponds, Javier and Gerardo were making the final touches to the pools (it’s amazing what you can create with a dog collar and some string – our MacGyver moment!) and I had the simple task of scrubbing the flower pots which Gerardo had earlier cut into hides for the frogs. However nothing was going to be simple today! The water supply to the facility is just one hosepipe and turning on the tap, I discovered that there was no water today.

Not really knowing what to do about the water problem, Javier and I began cutting pond liner (with the help of the ever enthusiastic James from the Forestry Department) and Gerardo finalised the boxes for the shipment of frogs that will occur beginning of next week.

A temporary solution came in the form of buckets of water brought down in the back our car from the Forestry Department Nursery just above us. But when the nursery closed that option went out of the window.

Not really knowing whom to turn to now, it was great to see the whole team from Forestry arrive to see how we were getting on. We explained the problem of the lack of water to them and they began making urgent calls to see how they could help. Much to my relief, one team set off with the bins to another water source they knew of and I just had to wait patiently for their return.

At this point Gerard Gray, from the Montserrat Government, who was very interested to see the progress we were making, also visited us. We mentioned to him the problem with the water and he assured us that he would make sure it would be resolved.

Just then, and when it seemed that half of Montserrat had gathered in our facility, a fire engine arrived from the Montserrat Fire Station – a contact of Scriber’s who, it seemed, was just a phone call away. The firemen made light work of hosing down our liners while Gerardo and Javier scrubbed them in the heat of the day. They also filled our bins so we have a small supply of water for tomorrow – just in case. It was an amazing sight to see the fire engine pull away – so many people are playing their part in this mission to save the Mountain Chicken.

After all this excitement, it went quiet in the facility - we then continued fixing the pond liner and nets to the treatment ponds – hundreds more staples and more blisters too! Gerardo then had to leave for the airport to collect Andrew Cunningham from ZSL, with whom Durrell is in partnership on this project. He arrived safely but unfortunately his suitcase did not – on enquiry he was told that it had not been forgotten in Antigua but that they had made a “conscious decision” to leave it behind! So that’s ok then!

Meeting up back at home, Gerardo and Javier were able to bring Andrew up to speed on the latest developments and progress so far.

Tomorrow we hope to start bringing frogs into captivity and treating them ready for export. It will be a relief all round to have the first 24 ready to go next week – at the moment it seems that every day is critical and if we are to have a chance to save this animal, we really need to get them out fast.