Tacugama

Category: Chimpanzee, Tacugama | Date: Jan 25 2008 | By: admin

First of all thanks very much to Theresa, Lucia and Wanda for your recent generous donations - we really appreciate your support.

It’s been a hectic week here at Tacugama so sorry for a short entry but we wanted to give you a quick update on Gaura. He’s settling well but his health is still cause for concern, with continuing low grade fever in the evenings. Malaria and typhoid are ruled out. We are performing other tests and also we will do an x-ray next week. Otherwise, he still has an excellent appetite being passionate about milk.
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Category: Chimpanzee, Tacugama | Date: Jan 16 2008 | By: admin

In the name of all of chimps of Tacugama, a big thanks to Wanda and Perri for their donations in December. Every penny counts here and we will put these generous contributions to good use.

Little Gaura has been feeling sick again. He recovered from his cold but is now developing low grade fever in the evenings, recurring every day so Dr. Rosa is running some tests. Poor Gaura! Thankfully, he hasn’t lost his appetite at all… he literally wolfs down everything and we have to stop him to prevent him getting an upset stomach. You will hear more of him as he settles down.
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8 responses so far

Category: Chimpanzee, Education, Tacugama | Date: Jan 13 2008 | By: admin

Hi – this is Harriet here, one of the volunteers working at Tacugama. Bala’s asked me to update you on some great follow up on the Tacugama Kids Programme that he introduced to you in his second blog.

One of the goals of our first workshop was to encourage the teachers to start nature clubs in their schools. We were really pleased to get an invite shortly afterwards from one of the participating schools to the official launching of their nature club in December. Laia and I set off not knowing what to expect but as it turned out we were very pleasantly surprised!
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6 responses so far

Category: Chimpanzee, Tacugama | Date: Jan 10 2008 | By: admin

Gaura is doing fine so far. This week the harmattan winds (from the Sahara) are blowing hard around the sanctuary and it is very chilly. Despite sleeping indoors with blankets and so on, he is so tiny that in the morning he shivers and we’ve had to dress him in pyjamas to keep him warmer. In the mornings he sits outside with Posseh under the sun till it warms up. Otherwise, he is on medication as his respiratory infection was getting worse and he started having fever and losing appetite. Now he seems better, and is already drinking milk with enthusiasm.
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11 responses so far

Category: Charlie Girl, Chimpanzee, Tacugama | Date: Jan 07 2008 | By: admin

We have started 2008 by receiving our youngest resident, Gaura. He is a very tiny chimp, no more than 2.5 kg in weight and less than a year old. He comes from the Gaura Chiefdom in Eastern Sierra Leone. He was found in a trap in the Gola Forest (which has very recently been declared Sierra Leone’s second National Park) and a week later handed to the education officers of the Gola Forest Program; they immediately brought him to the sanctuary. Gaura looks frail and scared. He is running a cold but even being held by unfamiliar hairless individuals, he seems to be slowly adapting to his new surroundings. Thankfully he has a ravenous appetite gobbling up oranges and bananas. It’s just as well that Tico, Mary and Jettie have settled into their new family group as Mamma Posseh now has a new big demand on her time from Gaura. Posseh is being helped by one of our volunteers, Laia, and both are making sure he receives the best care we can give him.
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16 responses so far

Category: Charlie Girl, Chimpanzee, Introduction, Tacugama | Date: Jan 04 2008 | By: admin

A few days ago Perform, a 12 year old male, failed to turn up for the last feeding of the day. We give supplementary feeding to the older chimps who range in the bigger enclosures and forage for some of their own food. This also allows us to monitor them as not all choose to enter the dens at night to sleep, preferring instead to build their own nests outside. Earlier in the day Willie and Mosses had reported hearing him coughing but he was still quite active and seen busy mating with big Lucy. I was worried as Perform has never missed a meal before.
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6 responses so far