Zeelie on the operating table.

Earlier this year, one of our adolescent male chimps, Zeelie, developed a swelling above his right testicle. A few years ago, he had already had an issue with bladder stones, so care staff members are always alert to any changes in his genital area. This turned out to be an unrelated issue, an inguinal hernia. A bit of abdominal fat had passed through the inguinal canal, causing the swelling in the groin. With the risk of intestinal loops passing through the same widened canal, an operation was indicated. We were very fortunate to get the help of Dr. Kamara, the urogenital surgeon from the Connaught hospital in Freetown. He had helped us with the bladder stone before and came with three assistants to operate on Zeelie at Tacugama. The wound has healed up nicely and Zeelie should be able to join the rest of the group in the outdoor enclosure within a week. Many thanks to Dr. Kamara and his team!

Zeelie with his surgical team (Dr. Kamara in grey) after the op.

Zeelie enjoying some pineapple (3 weeks post op)

Reggae: when she is not in play mode, she has a very gentle demeanor.

One of our relatively recent arrivals, Reggae, had been held captive in Moyamba district for quite some time until word of mouth about her captivity reached us.  The community holding her had co-operated with Tacugama once they understood the consequences of keeping chimpanzees illegally and kept us informed on Reggae’s well-being until we could organise her transport for the almost 5-hour road journey to the sanctuary.  She was rescued by our field outreach team during one of their project visits to the district.

Reggae’s previous home in the village

Reggae is around 6 years old and had been kept in a small cage for over a year. Recently her three-month quarantine period completed and with her gentle temperament we decided that she was an ideal candidate to join Nico.  Nico has had a long recovery since arriving at Tacugama very traumatised and with a severe arm injury.  The broken bone in his arm has refused to heal fully but he has a tough character and makes incredible use of his arm despite the injury. (Click here to read his story). We were reluctant to introduce Nico directly with established groups similar to his own age in case their rough play exacerbated his injury and he himself is a bit too tough for the smaller chimps.

Reggae has  proved to be the ideal first playmate for him. The first day of their introduction, they were chasing each other around constantly, laughing hard and both so happy to have a playmate. (In the picture below Nico is holding on to the bar with his “broken” arm)

Nico’s cheeky face looking in foreground, Reggae in back.

Reggae enjoying a roughskin plum.

Finally able to play with another chimp!

They’re now settling well together and we are starting to integrate them with Chippe’s group of seven younger chimps. With Reggae to keep Nico calm it’ll be good for the younger chimps to be with some slightly older chimps.  One of the challenges that we have at Tacugama is to try to give our residents as close to a natural environment as possible;  it’s very tough for us to recreate the normal family group structure found in the wild. One thing is for sure, Reggae and Nico are certainly much happier now than they were on arrival.

A chimp called Somebody…at times this name causes confusion!

Meet Somebody – the latest arrival at Tacugama who was handed in voluntarily last week after her owners visited us for a tour. Many Sierra Leoneans visit the sanctuary and enjoy seeing the chimps in their forest enclosures whilst also learning about their behaviour, endangered conservation status and the fact that is illegal to hunt or keep chimpanzees as pets.

Somebody is about four years old and comes from southern Sierra Leone. The owner had bought the young chimp from his brother who had caught her in one of his snares a year ago.  The snare severed four of the fingers on her right hand and the tips of two of her toes. Those wounds have healed fully  and she is amazingly able to manipulate all manner of materials and swing from the ropes.

After damage by a snare  only one deformed finger remains.

Somebody is a cheeky, adventurous chimp – as well as the damage incurred by the snare she also carries a scar on her chest from an electric shock that she gained from climbing a pylon whilst staying with her owners. She’s constantly keeping an eye on what’s going on and testing her surroundings- it looks like quite a character has arrived at Tacugama!  She will spend the next three months in quarantine before she joins one of the existing groups.

Still ripping up some cardboard very effectively with six fingers.

Somebody is the second chimp to arrive at Tacugama in the last two months – just before Christmas Reggae was rescued and we’ll tell you more about her soon.

The Sierra Leone National Chimpanzee Census (SLNCCP) completed by Tacugama in 2010 showed that over half of the wild chimpanzees in Sierra Leone are living outside of protected areas. In many of these areas the natural forest habitat is being lost as a result of activities such as logging, agriculture & mining bringing chimpanzees closer to human settlements. Wild chimps are trying to adapt to survive in these changing environments but this can bring problems when they raid farm crops to replace forest foods that are no longer available. Human-wildlife conflict is an increasing problem and in late 2011 Tacugama started pilot projects in some affected communities.  These projects are working with the communities to provide alternative livelihoods and create guardianship for the wild chimpanzees still living in the area.

We have recently started a research project to study the wild chimps in two of these communities.

A villager points out which animals she has observed in the area.

The project, led by Rosa Garriga, is being implemented in the Moyamba district and consists of two parts: community interviews and a camera trap study. The interviews aim to gain more information about crop losses due to animals and the role chimpanzees play in these losses.  They also help the research team to determine the areas where wild chimpanzees are active and so where camera traps should be set.

Konkofa Marah and Yirah Koroma preparing the camera trap.

The first field trip in December involved 50 interviews in 10 villages and placing 16 camera traps. These are remotely activated cameras that are equipped with motion sensors and take pictures only if something is moving past. The analysis of the interviews and the photos captured will be shared with the communities to help with generating ideas as to how human-chimpanzee / human-wildlife conflict can be resolved.

The team had to cross some difficult terrain to get to the research site!

The team are now back in Moyamba to undertake further interviews and reposition the cameras. Hopefully we’ll have captured some interesting photos that we’ll be able to share with you in future blogs. We are grateful for the support that we’ve received for developing and analysing the questionnaires from Tatyana Humle and the Durrell Institute for Conservation and Ecology at the University of Kent in the UK. This important project has been made possible thanks to grants from Barcelona Zoo, the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund and Lush Cosmetics.

The view after a hard day’s work.

However, a month later the symptoms returned and once again we sadly had to separate her from her mum and the group so that we could take care of the problem. Again, after a week of treatment it seemed completely better. As this was the second time it occurred, we were concerned about possible ‘foreign bodies’, for instance a thorn or a grass seed that could still be behind the eye and cause the problem to recur.

Resident vet Jenny Jaffe and eye specialist Dr. Chand examining Jeneba’s eyes.

With the very kind assistance from imaging specialist Dr. Gordon-Harris, we were able to arrange an ultrasound scan of both eyes at nearby Choitram Hospital. Their eye specialist, Dr. Chand, examined her as well. Both agreed no foreign bodies could be detected. We feel very fortunate to have had their help. Jeneba is now back with mum and hopefully no future updates will be needed on this case!

Dr. Gordon-Harris using the state-of-the-art ultrasound at Choitram hospital to investigate Jeneba’s eye issues fully.

Mama Posseh keeping Jeneba comfortable while eye specialist Dr. Chand inspects her. His first chimpanzee case!

Marion, a younger chimp who also needed the extra security measures of the new enclosure was introduced to him not too long ago, so he has some company again! See below some pics of the two together. You can also see Marion showing off the various tools she uses for digging in a short video.

Marion showing of the elasticity of her facial features, with Solo in the background

Here she is looking a bit more contemplative, with Solo’s handsome figure approaching behind her.

The ‘farmer woman’, as staff call her when they spot her digging up the earth with a variety of tools (sticks). See the short video below for some of the action.

A close-up of Jeneba’s face shows how much the left eye was protruding.

As this was not the type of case she was familiar with, Jenny sent a request for advice to the PASA Health mailing list (PASA=Pan-African Sanctuary Alliance). Within a very short period of time, emails from primate vets and eye doctors around the globe came flooding in with helpful advice. They all considered surgical draining of the ‘retrobulbar’ abscess the best option to save her eyesight. Unfortunately this meant that Jeneba had to be separated from her mother to allow the operation and aftercare to take place.

Jeneba, being prepared for the eye surgery. Senior staff member Willie Tucker monitors her temperature while she is under general anaesthesia.

Fortunately, Jeneba adapted quite quickly to Mama Posseh’s expert care, the surgery went well and the infection was cured.

Mama Posseh has taken care of dozens of baby chimps, and ensured Jeneba was well taken care of during the short separation from her mum.

Within a little over a week, she was able to be happily reunited with her mum. Her left eyelid is still a bit droopy, but her eyesight is fine and she is as active as ever.  Many thanks to everyone in the PASA network who supported us with their advice and helped Dr Jenny to treat Jeneba’s eye.

Apart from a slightly droopy left eyelid, Jeneba has made a full recovery. Her eyesight does not seem to have been affected.

Jeneba, hanging on to Jerry ‘s hip in the forest enclosure with Kouze following behind. Mother and daughter were very happy to be reunited.

Here at Tacugama we’ve been very lucky to have had the help of volunteers with special skills. Most recently, primate behaviourist Caroline has been with us for the last two months, focusing on enrichment and positive reinforcement training (more on that in a future post). An example of enrichment was placing mirrors within view of the enclosures. The youngest chimps do not always understand, and appear afraid of this ‘unknown chimp’ they are seeing for the first time. If they can reach the mirror, they often try to look behind it or move their hand behind it, to try to find out where this new chimp is actually located. The older chimps can recognize themselves and have fun pulling faces or jumping up and down in front of the mirror. See photos below of Alex’s group.

Animal care staff member Murray Lamin preparing the permanent set up while the chimps enjoy the temporary set up, inspecting themselves en masse.

Close up of the chimps in Alex’s group inspecting themselves in the mirror. Alpha male Spana is in prime position (visible just left of the mirror).

Jumping up and down in front of the mirror.

Curious looks on the first day the mirror was placed.

Gaura in his first week at Tacugama

Always a very sweet natured chimp he quickly became friends with Tombo, a young female who arrived after Gaura, they became almost inseparable once they were introduced after her quarantine period.  These YouTube clips are a lovely reminder of their first meeting:

It’s hard to believe that four years have flown by since Tombo and Gaura first met. Now part of a bigger group of 14 chimps they still remain the closest of companions. Their group is in the process of being moved to a larger enclosure where it’s easier for us to take photos so hopefully you’ll see more of them on the blog in the coming months. Here’s a few photos we took last week for you to enjoy.

Gaura – he’s growing quickly

Big yawn!

Reflecting on the day

Tombo is still his best friend….

Gaura and Tombo on one of their walks…

Gaura and Tombo are rarely far away from each other

As regular readers of our blog will know, Tacugama has been at full capacity for the last two years – in 2010 for the first time ever we had to refuse entry to some new chimps due to a lack of space.  Throughout this year we have been working hard to construct new night dens and enclosures that will enable us to continue to undertake our law enforcement role and still ensure that the chimps in our care can enjoy a healthy environment and live in as close to a natural environment as possible.  Knowing that this extra space will soon be available has helped us to deal with this influx of arrivals.

The harsh fact associated with these arrivals is that for these 8 arrivals probably between another 40 -80 chimps will have been killed in Sierra Leone, victims of habitat loss, human-wildlife conflict and bushmeat hunting; these infants are the by-product. It is clear that we need to urgently expand our pilot programme working with rural communities across the country to develop their guardianship for their environment and the wildlife that surrounds them.

We’ve already introduced you to Nico, who arrived in a very poor condition in January.  Considering that at one point we feared he would lose his right arm due the the injury he sustained, we’re pleased to report that he’s recovering amazingly well and can now use his arm and hand quite well.

Our next arrival in March was Mortes – he’s about 1.5 years old and came from one of the principle diamond mining areas in the country – Kono.  Held by one of the local workers at a small diamond mine for 3 months he finally asked them for help when caring for Mortes became too time-consuming.  They contacted Tacugama and brought Mortes on a 5-hour car journey to the sanctuary.  He’s settled in well, passed his quarantine period of 90 days and has now been introduced to Sara and AJ.

A little shy at first

Mortes arrives

He meets Willie

Mortes (r) plays with AJ & Sara

A few days after Mortes arrived, we were brought a very young chimp – Jibo – who was around 5 weeks old. It was claimed he had been found lying abandoned in the bush – a very unlikely event. Poor Jibo was carrying an infection and despite our best efforts he died within a few days of arriving at Tacugama.

Jibo on arrival

Mid-June saw Ringo arrive. He’d been found in a remote part of south-west of Sierra Leone and reported to us by the government’s District Forest Officer who arranged the confiscation and brought him to Freetown. Ringo is almost 4 years old and had been kept captive for a couple of years before he was uncovered. He’s a calm, happy chimp and is progressing well through his quarantine period.

Willie collects Ringo from the DFO in Freetown

Ringo moves into his new home

Relaxing in the sun

Just a week after the arrival of Ringo, staff of one of the mining support companies, RACEC Africa, brought Whinnie to us. Just about 1.5 years old, she was seen by the roadside in Port Loko district. The staff explained the law to the community and obtained their permission to bring the chimp to Tacugama. Whinnie’s small size belies her huge appetite!

Whinnie on arrival

Whinnie enjoys some time with Posseh

Whinnie meets our resident vet, Rupak

Ten days later saw Hashi arrive at Tacugama’s gates. Also around 1.5 years old, she came from the north-east of Sierra Leone. Since the beginning of the year she’d been cared for by a family in Freetown on behalf of another relative. News had been spreading of our work to confiscate another chimp (see more below) and as Hashi’s carer was a policewoman she began to fear discovery and so voluntarily brought her to the sanctuary. Although clearly devastated to have to give her up, she acknowledged that it was the right thing to do despite a last minute call from the relative to ask us if he could take Hashi back when he returned to Sierra Leone in September! He received a short and clear answer….

Josephine and Mohamed with Hashi

Posseh prepares to take Hashi

Just a week later as our programme manager, Frankie, was driving to the sanctuary she was stopped by some small children who reported that they had a chimp for sale and led her to the family holding the chimp. Yet another small chimp – only about a year old – was tied in their small compound. The family had brought the chimp from the north-east just two days previously and were surprised that news had already spread. The senior member of the family was absent and to remove the chimp immediately would have caused many problems for the children. Several phone calls and meetings later Tetani was handed over by the family, full of cold. He’s been under close veterinary supervision and is slowly regaining his health.

Frankie & Willie remove the rope from Tetani’s waist

Getting a reassuring hug from Posseh…

… before a warming clean up

The most recent chimp to arrive at Tacugama is Lola, who again is around 1.5 years old. She first came to our attention at the beginning of May when we started to receive many calls from the expatriate community who were seeing Lola playing in a beauty salon and casino operated by a Chinese national. Our initial request to the owner to hand over the chimp met with a negative response and we had to exercise some patience to allow government procedures to take their course. Tacugama worked closely with the Government of Sierra Leone on this case to make sure that the wildlife laws were understood and upheld. Lola was finally brought to Tacugama last Saturday.

Willie receives Lola at Tacugama

As you can imagine our resources are being stretched to their limits as we cope with the new arrivals, build the new dens and enclosures and also look for grants that will allow us to develop our community outreach work and so reduce the problems at their source. If you can help please follow this link to go to the donations page on our website, thank you for your support.  We’ll keep you up to date on how our new chimps are doing and bring you more news on Gaura and others that you’ve been asking us about.