Vietnamese Journal of Primatology - Frankfurt Zoological Society

Fig. 3. The new area at the EPRC with eight cage complexes.
Nadler: Endangered Primate Rescue Center: Report 2004-2006
Staff
The extension of the center and the increasing number of animals has required the employment
of additional workers. The staff has grown over the years to its current level of 20 workers (Fig. 4).
All workers at the center are locals from villages close to the national park. This is not only
advantageous for organization but is also a great support for local families, mostly minorities with a
limited chance of employment somewhere else. The EPRC is therefore the department within the
national park with the highest number of employees of minorities from surrounding villages. Several
departments within the park, while employing more than 100 people, only employ few minorities
from the surrounding villages.
After completing a Master’s course in primate conservation at Oxford University, Vietnamese
biologist Ha Thang Long began a PhD program at Cambridge University in January 2005 under
the supervision of Professor David Chivers.
Since establishment of the EPRC, a trained and experienced foreign animal keeper has worked
as the head animal keeper. Duties include organizing the work and training the Vietnamese workers
in animal husbandry.
In 2002, Ms. Elke Schwierz started her work as the EPRC’s head animal keeper. She is a trained
animal keeper from Zoo Berlin, Germany. Mr. Jakob Kolleck is also a trained animal keeper from Zoo
Berlin has shared the work with her since May 2005. Elke Schwierz worked in November/December
2005 at the Taronga Zoo, Sydney to engender cooperation with this zoo and to exchange
experiences in the keeping of sensitive leaf-eating primates. From January to March 2006 she
worked for the West African Primate Conservation Action (WAPCA) Project, Ghana to train the staff
of a rescue center.
Dinh Van Vinh, the EPRC’s Vietnamese head keeper, received an invitation from and attended a
six week training course at the Melbourne Zoo in 2004.
Ulrike Streicher has worked as the EPRC’s veterinarian since 1997. In September 2006 she
moved to the Phnom Tamao Rescue Center and Zoo in Cambodia to work with a much larger
collection of animals and a more diverse number of species.
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