With a heavy heart we announce the death of Augusta. Augie as we fondly call her, was the oldest resident at TCS. She was about 25 years old.
I first met Augie in the early 90’s. She was in a pathetic situation. Owned by a mad soldier she was constantly abused and drugged. She was on valium every day to keep her calm and was chained by the neck in a cage where she couldn’t stand or stretch. With much difficulty we rescued Augie in 1993 and she had a new beginning at my home. By then we had a few rescued chimps at home and just seeing them gave her some assurance until in 1996 Augie moved to TCS as part of the founder members. Augusta quickly gained in confidence and developed into a strong personality, not giving a damn about the rest of us and always wanting to be in command. She became the Queen of Tacugama.
Integrating our queen with other chimps was almost impossible, she just didn’t trust anyone, perhaps the 15 years of hell in the hands of humans left a permanent scar. Only when she was introduced to Gorilla, a young male about 8 years younger than her, did she settle down. They had a wonderful time together and Augie became calm enough to allow us to introduce a couple more chimps to her group.
Her death was sudden. She seemed fine on the previous day, and alerted by the strange behavior of the rest of her group we entered her enclosure the next day and found her curled up dead on the ground. Doctor Rosa obviously carried out a post-morten. Augie did not have any injuries but we were alarmed by the amount of fat deposits all over her internal organs, perhaps she had a heart attack. We have sent tissue samples to Germany to carry out further tests, especially for EMCV, as we have lost a few chimps to this rodent-borne virus. We are considering vaccinating all of our chimps against EMCV, but trials on chimps are limited so we are talking to the experts to find out more and to find the funds to purchase the vaccine.
I knew her for sixteen years and she is part of my family. It was so sad for me to see Augie go, she did not give a damn about me but we all loved her, I always called her my WILDWIFE!
May her soul rest in perfect peace.
Donations made here are
Mar 18th Lara B USD 10.00
19 Comments
Bala, I’m so very sorry for your loss of your “Augie”, your special girl. What a terrible life she had before you rescued her…you gave her hope and a loving home. These creatures are so perceptive and sensitive, I think you had a place in her heart. My heartfelt gratitude goes out to everyone for giving Augusta the love and care she needed. We pray the results will be negative for this virus. God bless you, Augie…
Look at the life you guys provided for her …she at least had some good years! RIP Auggie……she seemed she died peacefully..thans for all you did for her!
I can’t write today…I meant it seems like she died peacefully…thanks for all you did to give her a decent life!
Your wildwife was very beautiful. You guys are like angels sent straight from heaven to these chimps that you have rescued and given a better life. Augie was able to live out the rest of her days climbing trees and making friends with other chimps. I am sure she will rest in perfect peace because of that. You gusy are the best. Lisa
My heart goes out to you Bala and others at the Sanctuary for the loss of Augie, I know she will greatly be missed.
I am very very sorry for your loss.
Bala I’m so sorry to hear this sad news. I hope you find out what killed her and are able to ensure that it does not happen to other members of the sanctuary. Out of curiosity, whey you say the other chimps were behaving strangely, how were they behaving?
Bala, I am so sad for Augusta’s death. She seemed so calm… Indeed we know that she was happy in yours sweet and competent hands. I know that God will keep her beautiful soul in eternal peace.
I guess 15 years of being drugged and feeding her who knows what by humans probably took a lot out of her and it just caught up as she got older – if it is the roden virus please let us know if funds are needed to finance the cost — we will rally I am sure–
sorry “rodent virus”
Very, very sorry for the death of Augusta. It is always so sad when things like this happen…
Bala — I am so sorry to hear about Augusta…she was certainly a beauty and quite an inspiration as well. She was a pretty old girl, so maybe old age took her hand and has led her to a place even more wonderful(if that is possible!) than Tacugama.
Peace to you and Augusta.
Very sad to know about Augie.. I have known her ever since Bala brought her home 16 years ago. She was unique and strong. I see her every few months I visit Freetown and she gives me the same look (like… “you don’t matter”), that makes me feel happy, coz, it means she remembers me. We always wanted to be in her good books as she was big and strong. Sad to know I am not going to see her in my next trip.
Paypal had problems with donations past mounth. So I just sent $100 toward to little Gaura and our baby chimps. Paypal seems working well now, I hope.
Thank you to all of you for being with us in spirit. It certainly helps.
Wanda…thanks for your thoughts on rallying for funds for the vaccines. We will let you know when we finalise this.
Lucia…appreciate your continuous support. It means a lot to us. Little Gaura is very well and shall send you the latest on him with the next blog.
God bless all of you.
Thank you dear friend Bala for your amazing work. Thanks again.
Bala,
I want to share good news from Project R&R. According Theodora Capaldo, the Great Ape Protection Act was introduced today by U.S. Representatives Edolphus Towns (D-NY), David Reichert (R-WA), Jim Langevin (D-RI), and Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD.) With strong bi-partisan leadership, the bill seeks to end invasive biomedical research and testing on all great apes in U.S. laboratories and to release all federally owned great apes into permanent sanctuary. God bless them. It is a very important step to ban torture, isn’t? Plase read more and check follow link to call your legislator to help pass that bill http://www.releasechimps.org
Thank you so much.
Dearest Balalaaa … Poor, sweet Augusta … I remember sitting next to her and her boys, including GORILLA, of course, and thinking what a great lady she was …What a lovely face and feisty personality. Every death of our beloved friends is like a chip taken out of our hearts – big hugs to you all from your gorilla friends at Gorilla Haven … Much love, Jane
Bala,
We just read of beautiful Augusta’s death and are deeply saddened. We are pleased that Gorri is with companions who will help ease his sadness. We will miss her. We plan to visit.
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[...] havoc over the recent years at Tacugama and claimed the lives of several of our chimps, including Augusta last year. Carried by bush rats it affects the heart and nervous system and most of the times it [...]