Tacugama

On his way to work at Tacugama, one of our team was recently approached and told that a very small chimpanzee had been seen close to one of Freetown’s few supermarkets within the last few hours.  Following up with a few more questions and discussions we were luckily able to quickly locate where the chimp had been taken.

We were pleasantly surprised to see that the person holding the chimp was equally happy to see us as he was trying to also contact Tacugama to hand her over. It turned out that he had previously helped to hand over another chimp, Salleh, to Tacugama almost exactly eleven years ago.  He had spotted Molly being offered for sale by people who had brought her from Koinadugu district in the north-east of Sierra Leone and persuaded them to hand her over so that he could bring her to the sanctuary.

A tired Molly on her way to the sanctuary

Molly looking a bit happier on arrival at Tacugama with Bala

Safely wrapped up in the care of Mama Posseh

Sadly we know little about Molly’s history or experiences. She was suffering from a heavy cold and chest infection when we found her.  With the close care from our resident vet Dr Rupak and Mama Posseh, Molly is responding well to treatment and making a good recovery.  Although only about a year old, she’s quite used to being with people and a strong little personality is emerging.  She has a BIG appetite and is eating hard to catch up – she’s stunted for her age (which we can estimate from her teeth).  Molly loves taking her blankets and bundling them into her hammock to make a lovely warm place to sleep.

Molly enjoying her hammock

Once she’s safely through quarantine Molly should make a great playmate and companion for little Perry who is also growing bigger and bolder every day!  They’ll need each other’s support as they grow up without the nurture of their natural family.