Tacugama

Category: Tacugama | Date: Jul 30 2009 | By: tacugama

We’re really excited to be able to present you with a short documentary film about Tacugama.  We hope that this will give you a better insight to the sanctuary, our day to day work, challenges and aspirations, especially if you have never had the opportunity to visit us in Sierra Leone.

Please share this link with all your family, friends and colleagues and help us to spread the word, thank you!

We’re very grateful to Paul Glynn, who filmed and produced this documentary as a gift for Tacugama after visiting us in December 2008.  Paul was also instrumental in the production of Lost Freetown, directed by Nazia Parvez, a documentary showing the environmental threats to Sierra Leone’s capital city.

We look forward to receiving your feedback.

(PS The chimp shown arriving at Tacugama is Jessica)

Tags: Chimpanzee, Freetown, Nazia Parvez, Paul Glynn, sanctuary, Sierra Leone, Tacugama, wildlife

9 responses so far

Category: Gaura, Tacugama | Date: Jul 28 2009 | By: tacugama

Shortly after Tacugama started blogging through Wildlife Direct, Gaura arrived as a newly rescued, frail baby chimp; eighteen months later he is a strong, cheeky and loveable character. Sadly another seven young babies have arrived since then; Chippe being the most recent two weeks ago (another four older chimps have also come to us in the same time frame). As each of the babies has completed quarantine they have been gradually introduced to Gaura and his “gang” now includes Tombo, Mac, Bai Nyaa, Jessica and Bruno. Last week they were joined by Yoyema who has quickly settled in with her new playmates.

Yoyema checks out Tombo’s hammock for comfort!
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As we’ve mentioned in earlier blogs, the challenge we now have as these babies grow bigger is making sure that we have the enclosure space for them to be outside all day learning to climb, forage and socialise in preparation for a life outside of Tacugama in the future. Proposals have been submitted to donor organisations to raise the funds for two new forested enclosures (and one for Solo). These are urgently needed to allow our growing chimpanzees enough space to exercise and behave as much as possible as they would in the wild.

As Gaura’s group has grown in number we’ve looked at how we can create access to the outdoor enclosures for them. We’ve been gradually introducing 15 of our younger chimps from Simon’s group to a group of 10 juveniles (Joko’s group) so that there is room available in our infants’ enclosure for Gaura and co. It’s a slow process to make sure that the introductions go well. We’re now almost ready to introduce Gaura’s group to the remaining 7 infants from Simon’s group.

In the last couple of weeks Gaura and playmates have been spending a couple of hours a day in the enclosure with Mama Posseh but without the rest of the chimps so that they get used to the electric fence, using the tunnel in and out of the dens and just how much space they have to play.

Gaura is definitely the very young alpha male of the group and while he can be a bully, he does take care of his playmates when they really need support.

Gaura comforts young Bruno
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Jessica is the smallest and the most adventurous – she’s really enjoying having lots of new spaces to explore and leading the rest of the chimps as she climbs higher and further from Mama Posseh.

Jessica enjoys exploring
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Mac on the other hand is still not too happy moving away from Mama Posseh, hopefully he will be tempted to follow Jessica soon.

Mac sticks close to Mama Posseh
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Young Bruno is a shy but much loved member of the group with a very gentle nature. He’s getting happier to follow Jessica’s lead every day.

Bruno shows his prowess
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Bai Nyaa has the biggest appetite of the group and doesn’t miss any opportunity to steal extra food from the others at mealtimes!

Bai Nyaa takes a rest to think about her next meal
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Tombo’s biggest concern as she plays in the enclosure is making sure that Gaura is not too far away. Having been the first one to join Gaura she’s very possessive and not always happy to share him with everyone else.

Tombo carefully monitors Gaura’s movements

Mama Posseh encourages the chimps to explore while she’s in the enclosure and has been teaching them how to drink from our specially designed water fountains.

Learning to drink (from left to right):
Young Bruno, Bai Nyaa, Mac, Jessica, Tombo and Gaura
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After lots of excercise it’s time to come back into the dens for milk and a rest and let the rest of the infants go back out to play. It won’t be too long before the babies go into the enclosure without Posseh and then finally join in for full days with the others.

Bai Nyaa + Gaura (left) try to help Yoyema with her milk while Tombo (right) looks on

We’ll keep you in touch with their progress!

Tags: Chimpanzee, sanctuary, Sierra Leone, Tacugama, wildlife

8 responses so far

Category: Chimpanzee, Tacugama | Date: Jul 24 2009 | By: tacugama

Last week saw us receiving little Chippe from Moyamba district. Chippe is about 3-4 years old but small and stunted for his age. He was originally reported as being in captivity by the census team while they were in Moyamba but they were unable to retrieve him. It then took some time to make contact with his keeper but finally we were able to make arrangements for Chippe to come to Tacugama. He will be in quarantine for three months while Mama Posseh works her magic and builds him back to full strength. While we were able to get very limited information about Chippe we know that he was captive for at least four months and suspect that his mum may have been snared and killed. As we reported on one of our census blogs, Moyamba District suffers from human/chimp conflict due to huge loss of forest habitat to agricultural land.

Chippe on arrival
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Chippe yesterday
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Another new arrival has appeared at Tacugama as a result of an unexpected accident! It is our policy not to allow our resident chimps to breed; our focus has to be to use our limited resources on caring for rescued wild chimpanzees. We use contraceptive implants that last approximately 3 years with our mature females. However, accidents can happen and on Saturday 11th July, Babes gave birth – it is too early for us to know whether it is a boy or girl! It’s the second time that Babes has managed to beat the system and her first daughter, Bintu, was born 5 years ago. Mother, baby and big sister are all coping very well.

Babes and new baby on the day of the birth
- Babes was keen to top up her food reserves!
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The new baby at 11 days old
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Sunny and Blama (Blackman’s new name - which is also the name of a town in Sierra Leone) are settling well and listening and watching all of the activity around them with huge interest. They have so much more to see and hear now even though they are still in quarantine! They take good care of each other and Sunny can get jealous when Mama Posseh gives Blama attention.

We’d like to take this opportunity to say thanks to all of you who responded to our request for help on donations towards the electric fence after our lightening strike hit. The replacement parts are just waiting to clear customs in Freetown and we should hopefully be able to install them soon. Thanks to Catherine M, Kathy S, Wanda H, Sarah J, Perry O, Yvonne N, Sherri S, Joanne Y, Theresa S, Nyree H, Brenton H, Lucia C, Christine C for your generosity.

Daniel L - please could you send an email to adopt@tacugama.sl as we see you have donated to adopt a chimp but we haven’t yet received your email with your contact information , thanks.

Watch this space for another blog coming very soon with an update on Gaura and all his group!

Tags: Chimpanzee, sanctuary, Sierra Leone, Tacugama, wildlife

4 responses so far

Category: Tacugama | Date: Jul 08 2009 | By: tacugama

Ten days ago we received a call from a businessman living in Freetown saying he had two chimps at his home that he wanted to handover to Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary. We arranged to go and see him to get a better understanding of the situation and found two female chimps around 6-7 years old being kept in terrible conditions.

Our first sight…

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Although we are not totally convinced about the story we got from their keeper, it appears that he acquired the chimps several years ago while on a hunting trip into the centre of Sierra Leone and had kept them ever since in the central section of this small outbuilding. When they were smaller they were given some occasional freedom to roam the compound but as they grew bigger and less controllable that freedom disappeared. They had clearly not left their confines for a long time from the pile of lorry wheel hubs stacked against the gate. Sadly there was a similar pile filling the floor of their prison. He claimed to be an animal lover but wanted to handover the chimps as they were costing him too much to take care of. It would have been difficult for any neighbours to detect the presence of the chimps as the walls of the compound were tall and a noisy generator seemed to be running constantly.

Bala reasssures the chimps

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The man seemed to have no idea that his was one of the cruelest captivities. We were at least satisfied that he had contacted us to rescue the chimps rather than any other possible outcome. We quickly made plans for the removal of the chimps and so last Saturday we returned with Willie, Pastor and Dr Sorn (Dr Rosa is taking a well earned break) to sedate them and bring them to Tacugama.

Last moments of cruel captivity

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Whilst preparing to remove the chimps we spoke to one of the staff at the compound and he confirmed that they had been there at least three years and that their names were Sunny and Blackman. He seemed to care about them but had no control over their circumstances. Before long they were darted with sedative and we set about the task of releasing the door to their cell. It had clearly been a very long time since the door had moved and it took crowbars and a lot of force before we could enter.

Breaking in

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It was a foul environment with an accumulation of faeces, old food and litter lying between the wheel hubs. It was amazing that Sunny and Blackman were not in a worse condition.

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Pastor, Dr Sorn and Willie prepare to transport the chimps to Tacugama

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Within the hour we were back at Tacugama and Sunny and Blackman were coming round from their sedation to find themselves in a very different environment. They now have the space to relearn how to use their legs for walking and to enjoy stretching and playing comfortably.

Blackman (left) and Sunny recovering from sedation

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Now is the time we have to watch Sunny and Blackman very carefully. Very often chimpanzees who have lived in stressed conditions of captivity demonstrate an amazing resilience to their environment. We have witnessed chimpanzees who have survived terrible ordeals suddenly deteriorate in health once they reach sanctuary, their bodies seem to realise that they no longer need to fight as they are in a safe haven and their immune system appears to relax. (How many of us get sick once we go on vacation after a stressful period at work?) The girls will spend the next three months together in quarantine under careful observation.

Sunny and Blackman’s home for the next three months

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We’ll be looking to rename Blackman in the near future with a more fitting name - watch the blog as we learn a bit more about her to help us with a name.

It continues to be disheartening as we work to educate people in Sierra Leone that chimpanzees do not make suitable pets to see adverts such as the one below from more “developed” nations:

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“Cute baby chimpanzee monkey for sale in nevada, $1000, Publish Date:June 22nd, 2009, Item Price: $1000, Location:nevada
Product Details:Cute baby chimpanzee monkey for sale
We raise only English Chimpanzee and can devote all of our time and knowledge to our chimpanzee, ensuring you the best chimpanzee available from champion bloodlines. All Chimpanzee are checked by a veterinarian before going to their new homes, and are current on all vaccinations and dewormed. all our chimpanzees come with a veterinarian certificate of health, pedigree and a one-year health guarantee. if there is any body out there willing to buy an English Chimpanzee get back to us for more information and pictures.”

At least the law protecting chimpanzees exists in Sierra Leone, while enforcement remains the problem. What a shame that where law enforcement can be more effective, the laws don’t exist……

Tags: captivity, Chimpanzee, sanctuary, Sierra Leone, Tacugama, wildlife

10 responses so far