Sunday, July 27, 2008

Cement.


This year the rains have been exceptionally heavy. All our enclosures have earth floors. When the rains are heavy, these floors become very muddy. This has become unpleasant both for the monkeys and the staff serving them, although of course the monkeys can use the bamboo walkways. Plastic sheeting has been erected at strategic areas, for example over feeding, and sleeping areas. But this is only a temporary solution. The real answer is to cement over these floors. From the photograph you can see that we have applied cement under 'Casa Lucio'. This has been experimental. First a bed of tar and then the cement on top. This has other benefits. Nematodes, parasites that live in the soil, are repressed. The possibility of the monkeys becoming infected with these natural forest parasite is considerably reduced if not eliminated. There remains only one obstacle, we will need 100 sacks of cement. You are all aware that our enclosures are large. If we are to carry out this task we will need some help. If you are able to make a contribution to the cementing either use the PayPal 'Donate' button, or tell me and I will give you a bank account for deposit,or just bring the cement. We don't often ask you for help but this one is beyond my meager pension from Her Majesty's Government.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Can you give us an idea of how much, in US$, this work will cost? If you can say "We have five enclosures, and it will cost $xxx to make a concrete floor for one enclosure", it will make it easier to understand the size of the task.