We’re busy at the moment with Boyze, the other adult from Augusta’s group, who is being introduced to Phillip and his adult group. Boyze is a renowned bully and has no regard for anyone younger than him. Ideally, he should have gone with Gorilla and Solo to join the youngsters but it is a huge risk to take and we have decided instead to integrate him with the adult group. It will be a difficult task and we have to exercise a lot of patience to get it right.
BOYZE
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Filed under ( Tacugama) by tacugama @ 07:17 am |
Hello everyone, quick greetings from me as I’m still busy with mending camp facilities, chimp integrations and some health issues. We almost lost Junior, a 5 year old from Baba’s group, last week. Thanks immensely to Drs Sorn and Andrew Routh for saving his life and helping out with other health problems in the absence of our resident vet, Dr Rosa. These volunteer vets are a god-send for our poor chimps at Tacugama and we are indebted to them. Dr Sorn’s kindly written a blog about their experiences here….. (the photos of Junior are not for the faint-hearted….)
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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!
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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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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.
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Poor little Gaura….he has gone through his first knock down! Despite his tolerant nature towards medical procedures, he had to be sedated as we all know dental surgery can be very painful.
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The Eco-lodges at Tacugama
Bernie, one of our long-time friends here at Tacugama stayed in our eco-lodges for a while and wrote this evocative blog entry for us, detailing his encounter with Congo the wild chimp we see here occasionally.
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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.
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A thousand apologies for not being in touch but this has been a very hectic and exciting week for us. We had the honor of hosting the 2008 PASA management meeting and the last participants left today.
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This is proving to be a busy week indeed!
We are hosting the upcoming PASA (Pan African Sanctuaries Alliance) Managers’ Meeting, due to start on the 30th of this month, so we’re finalizing the arrangements for this. We’re really looking forward to catch up on everyone’s news and progress.
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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. 
