Tacugama’s first novel!
Category: Chimpanzee, Tacugama | Date: Oct 26 2009 | By: tacugama
A Summer in Tacugama is the translation of the title “Estiu a Tacugama”, the first novel written about Tacugama. It’s been written in Catalan (the language of the north-eastern region of Spain) by Pilar Garriga, the sister of our resident vet Dr Rosa. The book is written for teenagers and, although fiction, is based heavily on real life experiences at Tacugama and in Sierra Leone.
This is Pilar Garriga’s third novel for teenagers following the work of Dr Rosa! The first two were based on Dr Rosa’s earlier veterinary work with orangutans in Indonesia - they’ve become very popular in Spain and are used to support the Catalan school curriculum. We are very proud of having Tacugama as the main subject in a book and we hope that it can soon be translated into English for others to read and enjoy.
Tags: Chimpanzee, Estiu a Tacugama, novel, Pilar Garriga, sanctuary, Sierra Leone, Tacugama, wildlife
Another confiscated chimp arrives at Tacugama…. and a new baby is born!
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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Tags: Chimpanzee, sanctuary, Sierra Leone, Tacugama, wildlife
New Places to Play
Category: Chimpanzee, Tacugama | Date: Apr 23 2009 | By: tacugama
As well as helping with the chimp health checks, Ruud and Esther are busy with their brief to enrich the enclosures where the younger chimps are playing every day, we gave you some initial pictures in a recent blog, here Esther tells us more about what’s been happening:
As we head into the 3rd week at Tacugama a platform is finally taking shape in enclosure A, where everyday almost 30 chimp youngsters play. We start work as the sun comes up at about 7am until either both batteries for the wireless drill are empty or we can’t bear the heat any longer, which ever comes first! Usually they are synchronised at around 10 am.
Pastor helps Esther to brace the trees
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Tags: Chimpanzee, sanctuary, Sierra Leone, Stichting AP, Tacugama, wildlife
Healthchecks and Vaccinations Underway
Category: Chimpanzee, Tacugama | Date: Apr 22 2009 | By: tacugama
The vaccinations against the EMCV virus have begun!
Led by our resident vet, Dr Rosa, the veterinary team have a thorough brief. Each of the chimps is weighed then lymph nodes, abdomen, genitalia, ears, nose, teeth, tonsils, skin and hair will be checked with heart rates, blood pressure and temperature monitored throughout. Blood and urine samples and saliva swabs will be taken and the chimps tested for TB. Most importantly for us, the vaccination against EMCV will be given. We work with with the chimps in the morning and in the afternoons Rosa, Ruud, Michel and Anne prepare and check the samples that they have taken. Anne and Michel will be carrying many of these back to the Max Planck Institute where they have the equipment to undertake detailed analysis for Tacugama. It’s a big task and our biggest priority is to minimise any stress for the chimps.
Michel, Rosa, Ruud and Willy work to complete the checks
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Tags: Chimpanzee, sanctuary, Sierra Leone, Tacugama, wildlife
Birds & Breakfast
Category: Chimpanzee, Education, Tacugama | Date: Mar 09 2009 | By: tacugama
This is a new initiative at Tacugama to raise awareness of the natural richness of the Western Area Protected Forest Reserve that the sanctuary helps to protect and at the same time to raise some funds to help cover our running costs.
In the last two months, Kenneth Gbengba, a Sierra Leonean ornithologist who has led many international birdwatching tours, has been training our staff, Willie Tucker and Michael Tommy. Together they have been compiling a list of birds spotted around Tacugama. So far the list has reached 85 different species of birds - including several endemics - and the list is growing with each survey walk.
Kenneth (left) training and surveying with Willie and Tommy.
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Tags: bird-watching, Chimpanzee, sanctuary, Sierra Leone, Tacugama, wildlife
Another Bruno? God…I am stuck here for another 20 years!
Category: Chimpanzee, Quarantine, Tacugama | Date: Feb 16 2009 | By: tacugama
I was with Dr. Rosa in Freetown doing some errands and she was commenting on the fact the Jessica will be completing her last health check and in a few days she will be out of quarantine. We were happy that this is the first time since last year our quarantine section will be free of chimps. Sadly, our happiness did not last long! We got a call from one of our former education officer … a baby chimp has been handed over to them together with an official handing over note!
NAME BRUNO
SEX MALE
BROUGHT TO TE CONSERVATION SOCIETY OF SIERRA LEONE BY MUSA SANU KNOTEH
CAUGHT IN KABALA, SPENT LESS THAN THREE WEEKS IN MAKENI
FED REGULARLY ON FRUITS AND SOME RICE
REMARKS LOOKS PHYSICALLY OK, BUT DIRTY.
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Tags: Bruno, Chimpanzee, Sierra Leone, Tacugama
Important News from Tacugama’s Young Ambassadors!
Category: Chimpanzee, Gaura, Tacugama | Date: Dec 22 2008 | By: tacugama
Gaura and Tombo have an important seasonal message for everyone…
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They’d also like you to know that if you’re stuck for a Christmas gift then there’s no need to panic. You can now visit our new pages on Wildlife Direct and adopt one of the Tacugama chimpanzees for your family and friends. We will do our best to email electronic copies of the adoption certificate and biography by return so that you have time to print them for Christmas Day while the rest of the adoption pack follows in the post.
Many thanks to Yvonne, Lucia, Christine, Mark and Maciej for their recent generous donations - Gaura and Tombo promise that these will be shared with all of the 92 chimps we now have at Tacugama.
From all of us at the sanctuary - as we complete our first full year of blogging - thank you for your continuing interest and support and we wish you a peaceful and happy holiday season.
Tags: Chimpanzee, Sierra Leone, Tacugama, wildlife
And Jessica makes 92!
Category: Chimpanzee, Quarantine, Tacugama | Date: Dec 16 2008 | By: tacugama
Sadly we have to report the arrival of another very young chimpanzee at Tacugama - Jessica was brought to us late last week by the Gola Forest project to whom she was handed by her keeper in a sack. They quickly made life more comfortable for her before bringing her to the sanctuary.
Jessica on arrival at Tacugama
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As you can imagine she was very confused and distressed. We estimate that she’s about 14 months old and that she was only very recently separated from her mother - she’s very wary of humans and, from her quarantine den, calls all the time to the other chimps at the sanctuary. She’s fortunately in reasonable health and gradually learning to trust Mama Posseh as she tries to replace the love and care that her natural mother would have given to Jessica. Continue Reading »
Tags: Chimpanzee, Sierra Leone, Tacugama, wildlife
Worrying news…
Category: Chimpanzee, Gaura, Tacugama | Date: Nov 19 2008 | By: tacugama
Unfortunately in the last couple of weeks we’ve had some reports of hunters entering the Western Area Peninsula Forest Reserve carrying guns. While we’re not concerned about Tacugama chimps or visitor and staff safety (we work so closely with our local communities that there are lots of eyes and ears taking care of our immediate sanctuary area) its both illegal and unacceptable for the hunters to be in the forest reserve. Over the last few months we’ve enjoyed hearing wild chimps calling to our own with increasing frequency and only on Saturday five wild chimps were seen playing close to our local dam. It’s these guys and other forest inhabitants that we’re concerned about so our small patrol team are watching carefully and we’re in close contact with the enforcement authorities. We’re hopeful that the hunters will be apprehended and prosecuted before long.
Empty cartridges found by the patrol team
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Tags: , Chimpanzee, sanctuary, Sierra Leone, Tacugama, wildlife
Obama makes it ……… so does Boyze!
Category: Chimpanzee, Tacugama | Date: Nov 10 2008 | By: tacugama
It has been a long, hard 3 months for Boyze, going through the integration process to join Phillip’s group. Introducing an adult male into a well established group, including several adult males is indeed a challenging task!
Boyze’s initial introduction to the alpha male – Phillip – started off well (see earlier post), but after a couple of weeks Boyze made a wrong move and was punished badly by Phillip. It took a month for one of his wounds to heal. Thankfully the incident was a one-off and both chimps worked hard to patch it up. Phillip was still keen to accept Boyze, who learned from his mistake and tried his best to be submissive towards Phillip.
As this friendship grew, we were able to introduce Boyze to all the females and juveniles in the group. Boyze worked hard, very hard… sometimes he even faked playing with the little ones to win the hearts of their mothers! (We have 4 juveniles who were born into this group about 4 years ago, before we managed to improve our contraceptive routine.)
Boyze with young Gara
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Tags: Africa, Chimpanzee, sanctuary, Sierra Leone, Tacugama, wildlife
A new mouth to feed….
Category: Chimpanzee, Introduction, Tacugama | Date: Oct 30 2008 | By: tacugama
Sorry for the recent lack of a post, intermittent internet connections and spreading flu have conspired against us staying in touch with you over the past week and more.
On our last post we mentioned a new arrival at Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary. Her name is Bai Nyaa, which means woman of the kigdom Bai. She is a one year old girl with a healthy appetite. She was rescued in a village called Poturu, near Tiwai Island, in the south of Sierra Leone, again by representatives of the Gola Forest Project. Villagers were once more reluctant to give much history, but she is tame and used to people. So far her first health check has shown only a mild anaemia, let’s hope nothing more emerges during her 3 month quarantine.
Even though we are struggling for funding and space, we never turn down a new chimp, because we know there is nowhere else in this country where they can go. It costs us about $1000 per year for every chimp and currently we care for 91 chimps. We thank all of you for your continuing support!
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Tags: Chimpanzee, sanctuary, Sierra Leone, Tacugama, wildlife
Flu strikes
Category: Chimpanzee, Tacugama | Date: Oct 15 2008 | By: tacugama
Chimpanzees are tough but when it comes to respiratory infections, they suffer badly. At Tacugama we dread when flu strikes. Unfortunately, the flu season is here and all 27 chimps in Mamma Lucy’s group are coughing, sneezing and some have fever.
Marion and Josephine have been the worst affected. Marion spent one day refusing food or drinks, but eventually the medication worked and she is now recovering well, but Josephine has refused anything for three days.
Tags: Chimpanzee, sanctuary, Sierra Leone, Tacugama, wildlife
An Urgent Problem…
Category: Chimpanzee, Introduction, Tacugama | Date: Oct 14 2008 | By: tacugama
Urgent has now also finished her quarantine period and we have the difficult challenge of integrating her into an existing family group. Introducing adult chimpanzees is very difficult and often unsuccessful. In the case of Urgent and her history, it may well be impossible. Our goal is to integrate her to Gorilla and Baba’s group. Gorilla will then have someone closer to his own age to share the attention of the lively younger chimps who, in turn, may accept her better than other adults.
While under anesthesia, Urgent was transferred to her new den. She’s sharing a set of dens with Gorilla and Solo. She is in the middle with Solo on one side and Gorilla and Jettie’s on the other. (Jettie’s one of the youngest members of the group who has become almost inseparable from Gorilla and chooses to stay with him at night rather than with the rest of the young ones.) She will stay in the den until we are confident that she is comfortable with the rest of the group. She can interact through the grills with her den mates and during the day the rest of Baba’s group can interact with her through the tunnel entrance to the enclosure.
Urgent meets Gorilla & Jettie with Solo looking on
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Continue Reading »
Tags: Chimpanzee, sanctuary, Sierra Leone, Tacugama, wildlife
Good news, bad news
Category: Chimpanzee, Gaura, Tacugama | Date: Sep 04 2008 | By: tacugama
Congo, our lady from the wild, has a new brand baby. A tiny furry chimp with pinkish hands and feet holding tight on Congo’s belly….that’s all that we manage to get a glimpse of. What a wonderful surprise! Congo is impossible to get pictures of… she runs away at the sight of a camera, or at anything that points at her. …now she is even more distrustful and unfortunately this picture is the only one we can show you for now….can you see the tiny foot on the left side of Congo? We are keeping our cameras ready for the next opportunity.
Congo carrying her new baby and with her 4 year-old daughter behind
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Busy in the quarantine section
Category: Chimpanzee, Introduction, Tacugama | Date: Aug 25 2008 | By: tacugama
Definitely this is a busy time in Tacugama. With so many new arrivals in a short period of time and the condition in which they arrived, the caregivers and the vet are very occupied.
We are happy to report that Salva is recovering well. Dr. Rosa has sedated him three times to treat his wounds and they are healing well. He has a healthy appetite and for the last three days he has started to accept milk for which he now cries. He is still not allowing us to touch him but accepts food from our hand. I can’t start to imagine how much Salva has endured to be that scared of people.
Salva enjoying a treat (bread) after his sedation
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Mac is growing very fond of his hammock and loves to have naps in it. He is putting on weight, but that is not surprising if you saw the amount of food he can wolf down! Continue Reading »
Tags: Chimpanzee, sanctuary, Sierra Leone, Tacugama, wildlife
Half year round-up
Category: Chimpanzee, Tacugama | Date: Aug 01 2008 | By: tacugama
Twice a year, we write Tacugama’s newsletter for friends of the sanctuary to catch up on a summary of our news… here´s a copy for you too! Have a read to catch up on what’s been happening at Tacugama over the first half of 2008 - maybe your family and friends would like to see it too!
Please click on this link and not the image below, thanks: http://www.tacugama.com/july08.pdf
Another orphan arrives!
Category: Blogroll, Chimpanzee, Gaura, Tacugama | Date: Jul 10 2008 | By: tacugama
Three days ago we received an urgent call informing us that a baby chimp was being sold at Lumley beach area in Freetown. Our informer was instructed to keep negotiating with the dealer until our arrival.
Willie, our head keeper, and Tommy, wildlife ranger were swiftly dispatched. On their way they picked up two police officers and with their help the baby chimp was confiscated without too much hassle.
The man, a woodcutter from Tombo village situated in the peninsula of Freetown, obviously explained a fancy story that he came across three adult chimps in the bush and when they saw him, they panicked and took off leaving the baby behind.
Tombo village is a gateway by boat to many provincial coastal villages, and we think this baby must have been capture in the south of Sierra Leone and transported into Freetown peninsula for a quick sale. The dealer was in a hurry as he was willing to sell the baby for a mere $25.
Tombo on arrival to Tacugama with Willie
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Continue Reading »
Dirty Dancing
Category: Chimpanzee, Introduction, Tacugama | Date: Jun 06 2008 | By: tacugama
The rains are here and I’ve been really busy with lots of maintenance work at the sanctuary and some new introductions. Sorry for not giving you as much regular news recently but thanks for your comments and donations. We appreciate them very much.
Little Gaura is fine. Gorilla is doing well in Baba’s group. Boyze, another adult male is being introduced to Phillip’s group as he was previously with Gorilla and Augusta. It started well but we’ve had some hic-ups and are progressing slowly. It is not easy to introduce an adult male into a well established adult group!
Continue Reading »
Radio Call from Cheeta!
Category: Chimpanzee, Education, Gaura | Date: May 18 2008 | By: tacugama
Cheeta managed to nick the two way radio from Willie and was happily going around, showing off her new toy to the rest of her gang. We tried all sorts of ways to get it back but she was proving to be much smarter than us. She was getting excited hearing her name coming out of the radio and all the attention from the chimps and staff as everyone was following her. The entire Tacugama team was having a good laugh. I wanted to join in….but just the thought of buying another radio for $400 did not permit me. 48 hours gone, the battery has gone flat and the chances of finding the bloody radio in this thick forest is very slim! Cheeta wins! You can bet we’ll be looking at how to secure those radios better….
Cheetah holding her prize aloft, safely out or reach….
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Continue Reading »
Grand pa comes home!
Category: Chimpanzee, Tacugama | Date: May 05 2008 | By: admin
.When Augusta died two months ago, we were very concerned about her companion and best friend, Gorilla (one must be sick to name a chimp- Gorilla!) They have lived together for the past 11 years and Gorilla was the only chimp Augusta would trust and share her life with.
I first met Gorri in 1993 in a deplorable condition sharing his cage with a smaller chimp-Cheeta, both owned by a dubious Austrian Doctor who was dealing in exotic birds and other wildlife. He was rarely in the country and the chimps were left in the care of his care taker who could only afford to feed them sporadically. I was told on many occasions they would go without food and water for days. They learnt to eat their own excrement! The Doctor also owned another chimp called Fatu, who lived in an old toilet next to Gorilla and Cheeta. Fatu’s “toilet” was over 1.5 meters deep in rotting food and her own excrement.
Continue Reading »
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Tacugama Website
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About Bala
Bala Amarasekaran abandoned his original career as an accountant to establish Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary in 1995. Together with the Government of Sierra Leone, he is working to secure the welfare and future of chimpanzees in Sierra Leone.
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100% of your donation, minus a small bank fee, will go to your intended purpose.
Donations made here are safe.
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Donations Received
- Nov 17th Christine C. USD20.00
- Nov 16th Wanda H. USD27.50
- Nov 15th Lucia C. USD100.00
- Nov 11th Yang H. USD20.00
- Nov 11th Tania M. USD66.00
- Nov 10th Kathy S. USD22.00
- Nov 9th Jill W. USD86.90
- Nov 4th Yvonne M. USD55.00
- Nov 1st Amy M. USD10.00
- Nov 1st Yang H. USD20.00
- Oct 24th Ral C. USD79.00
- Oct 18th Simone S. USD86.90
- Oct 17th Christine C. USD20.00
- Oct 16th Brian W. USD86.90
- Oct 15th Helen S. USD86.90
- Oct 13th Lucia C. USD100.00
- Oct 12th Elisabeth C. USD86.90
- Oct 1st Yang H. USD20.00
- Sep 19th Arturo M. USD22.00
- Sep 18th Michael L. USD79.00
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Tacugama Blog