Tacugama

Category: Tacugama | Date: Nov 04 2009 | By: tacugama

Hi, this is Tess here again. Following the earlier blog where we asked you to send us your questions for Mama Posseh who works in quarantine, she has now finally finished answering your questions. She was very happy that so many people around the world are interested and appreciate the work she does!

With the help of Willie, the camp supervisor, Posseh gets down to answering all your questions
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How did you come to work at Tacugama?
I came to work at Tacugama as a cook by Mr Bala, and then later joined the sanctuary as a full member of staff dealing with the chimpanzees; deployed in the quarantine section as a foster mother.

Did you ever think you would be a foster mother to orphaned chimpanzees?
No, the reason is that I was in the first instance scared of chimpanzees. I thought they would intimidate me if I came close to them.

How do you feel when a chimp bonds with you?
I feel happy, because their behaviour reminds me of kids at home.

Do you feel that humans are so different from other apes, or do we have more in common?
Chimps and humans are not very different; chimps are closer to humans than any other great ape. They are very intelligent and can use tools.

What is the hardest thing about your job?
None! Nothing seems to be hard about my job, I love it.

What is your favourite thing?
I like to stay close to the chimps, making sure their cages are thoroughly clean.

How many hours a day do you spend with the chimps?
Quite a lot, around twelve hours.

Posseh also works in other areas with the sanctuary, here she is helping at the Tacugama Film Night
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What does a baby chimp eat?
Cereal, milk, bananas, cucumber, oranges and lots of other fruit and vegetables.

What is the most surprising thing you have learned about chimpanzees while working with them?
One thing that surprises me is when a chimp falls sick, it loses its appetite, becomes dull and tends to stay away from the rest of the group.

What stories were you told about chimpanzees as a child?
According stories I was told back at home chimpanzees were human ancestors thousands of years ago.

What were yours and your community’s understanding of these primates and other apes in and around your area when you were younger?
When I was younger I always heard of people saying that monkeys and chimpanzees are very destructive to their crops.

Were they something that you were told about in school or through your family and friends?
I learned about chimpanzees through my family.

Is it your understanding that today people are more aware of what is happening to them and their dwindling numbers and the reasons you are conserving them through Tacugama for example?
Yes, one way is that Tacugama has set up a rehabilitation programme geared towards confiscating orphaned and abandoned chimpanzees from people within Sierra Leone. Tacugama helps to implement the wildlife laws of Sierra Leone.

What does your family and friends think of your work at the sanctuary — do they understand and support this urgent importance of your vital assistance and work helping the baby orphans?
Yes they do, they appreciate by paying regular visits to the sanctuary to see the chimps and my efforts.

Posseh’s grandchildren come to visit the sanctuary
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What time do you start and end your day normally (if there is a normal!) at the sanctuary?
I start at 6am and finish around 7pm. I check on the chimpanzees throughout the night if they are sick.

I understand there is a level of trust and bonding that you develop and acquire with each baby — has there been an instance where you have gotten attached? Or visa-versa?
They get attached to me when they have problems such as sickness; they always need my presence when they are in trouble. I got attached to a chimp called Mac. When he was in quarantine he was very shy and even when he moved into the group of infants he was still very shy and not very comfortable.

Posseh takes Mac to the forest to play

Can you tell us something that you do to help calm, reassure a scared baby?
First I hug and pamper them, and groom them. I reassure them with words also.

I imagine it is difficult for you and the young chimps, after their quarantine period, when they move onto the next step/stage of their life and have to leave you — if possible, could you tell us who was the easiest (strongest, most courageous) to move on and why, and who took it the hardest (most dependent, scared) to move on and leave you?
Bimbo and Spana were the most easily integrated and most courageous to join the other members of the group, they were very brave and strong. Bidi, and infant female chimp was very scared and stubborn to join the group because she was very close to me.

Spana
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Bimbo
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What can you tell us about your work at the sanctuary and how it makes you feel?
My work at the sanctuary is very demanding but very interesting. I always feel very proud to work with the chimps.

Is there a funny story/incident that you can tell us about that made you laugh? (We know how intelligent, curious and mischievous young chimps can be!)
Yes, Gaura is fond of tickling himself, using a small stick in his ear.

Do you communicate with the chimps in their language, like food grunts and pant hoots? If so, is there a greater response?
Yes I have learnt to communicate with them in their language, like “ooh-ooh”!

Do they know their names?
Yes I know all their names.

When you are not working/helping the chimps at the sanctuary, and if you have the time, what do you like to do? Any interests/hobbies?
I like going to church

What is YOUR favourite food/dish to eat?
My favourite food is rice and beans.

What do you think is the most important thing you do or provide, to help them recover from the trauma part of their ordeal?
Giving them care and attention that they never got from their real mothers after being taken from the wild.

Posseh helps to give milk to the juvenile group, where some of the chimps go after quarantine
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Do you still recognize the chimps as they grow, after they have been released from her care? Do they continue to recognize you or communicate you?
Yes I still recognise all the chimpanzees. After they have left quarantine they usually go to one of two groups, which I sometimes help to feed so I see them regularly. I never forget their faces.

Posseh works at Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary with a team of over 14 other staff including care staff. All the staff work incredibly hard to ensure the chimpanzees are looked after with the best possible care. The dedicated team help to make Tacugama what is is today.

Watch this space for personal accounts from Willie and Moses, two members of staff who have shown amazing dedication and hard work over the years at Tacugama!

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

6 responses so far

Category: Tacugama | Date: Oct 10 2009 | By: tacugama

Hello, this is Tess, one of Tacugama’s volunteers, blogging today.

As some of you know Mama Posseh is the responsible for the quarantine section at Tacugama where she looks after the new arrivals for their 3 months quarantine period. She gives them lots of care and attention during their stay here, acting as their foster mother. The new chimps are often weak, distressed and their backgrounds unknown. Posseh works very hard, an important part of her job is keeping the area clean to prevent any spread of diseases, preparing their food as well as helping the chimps recover from their trauma. She also helps Dr Rosa to administer any medications needed.

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As you often mention Mama Posseh in the blogs we thought it would be great for you to have the chance to ask Posseh some questions about her work, how she finds working with the chimps and what she loves about them! Please let us have any questions that you would like to ask Posseh directly and she will answer them for you! We will gather all your questions for Mama Posseh this coming week and publish her replies in a blog in two weeks time. She’s looking forward to hearing from you.

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Also we wanted to let you know that we now have a page on FACEBOOK where you can find more updates on Tacugama and the chimps. Please check out the site, become a fan and invite all your friends and family! The more people who know about Tacugama the better! Click here to join - thank you!

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

8 responses so far

Category: Introduction, Tacugama | Date: Sep 16 2009 | By: tacugama

Over the last few weeks we’ve been gradually introducing Gaura and his group to the small infant enclosure that is being used by another seven small chimpanzees. The older babies were brought inside each day for a couple of hours to allow Gaura’s team to get used to the new space on their own and the end of last week finally saw both groups being introduced together and sharing the enclosure.

Tess Wiggans - a volunteer who has been at Tacugama since May - writes more about their introduction below, she’s taken some great photos for you! Tess will help us to stay in touch with you and will write some more of our blogs over the coming months:

The youngest group of chimps, consisting of Gaura, Tombo, Jessica, Mac, Banyaii, Bruno and Yoyema are finally having more freedom. The babies were first introduced to the two youngest in the group, Chica and Joyce along with Nita, a very gentle female. The first meeting couldn’t have gone smoother, with Joyce making friends with Jessica right from the start, and Nita acting as foster mother to the youngest ones!

Nita gives Tombo a hug
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Nita with all the babies
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Chica was a little hesitant at first, not interacting much with the newcomers. Once she realised how much fun she could be having she began to play with her new friends!

Chica (centre) surrounded by the babies
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After the babies were used to playing with the gentlest of the bigger chimps, Alex and Bidi were introduced. Their rough and tumble was a little bit rougher! Bidi took like a duck to water with the youngsters, carrying Yoyema everywhere she went. Alex wasn’t quite so caring and his communication involved a smack on the back for most of the babies!

Bidi carries Yoyema up a tree
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Even thought Tombo is one of the smallest, she was having none of a playful attack on her and her friends from Alex – she gave as good as she got, and Alex realised he should be careful when Gaura came to Tombo’s aid. You can see how brave Tombo was on this video clip:

Finally the next day Spana and Bimbo, the older ones thought to cause the most trouble, were added to the mix to finish the integration. Gaura made an intelligent move and started to make allies with Spana, whilst Bimbo lived up to the assumption he would play rough, not letting the youngsters out of his grip!

Looking like old friends, Gaura and Spana on their first meeting
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Bimbo is not going to let go of his new playmate!
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The two groups are continuing to sleep in their own separate dens; they are not yet at the stage to be left alone with no supervision! However Joyce has now become so attached to Jessica, she refuses to sleep in her own den and is now sleeping with the babies, sharing a hammock with Jessica.

The group are settling into their routine, deciding who to make friends with and who to avoid. Everyone at Tacugama is over the moon to see the babies enjoying their space to play on a daily basis. We’re still working hard behind the scenes to get funding for new enclosures so that these growing chimps can have a close to natural environment.

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

5 responses so far

Category: Quarantine, Tacugama | Date: Sep 13 2009 | By: tacugama

Hello all, apologies for the lack of a blog over the last couple of weeks but a hectic schedule and an erratic internet connection (prbably because of the rain) have kept us off line for longer than planned.

As you can see from looking at the Wildlife Direct blogs, East Africa is suffering a bad drought yet in West Africa we’re getting almost too much rain. It has been more than two weeks since we have had the pleasure of seeing the sun…. rain, rain and yet more rain has filled the skies. Good for water reserves but so many grey days can bring down even the most optimistic! Yesterday the sun made an appearance giving us a splendid sunny day. The locals (both man and animal!) took advantage of the heat, putting things out to dry…. See for yourself!

Tarmac (on one of the best roads in Sierra Leone!) makes a great place to dry clothes when washing lines are scarce
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Large vultures ignore passers by while drying out their feathers!
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Kouze and friends enjoy lying out on a dry platform…
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We hope that the lack of rain critically affecting so many of our fellow bloggers and many others on the continent comes to an end soon.

After our last blog posting we’re happy to confirm that Babe’s new baby now has a name thanks to all of you. As her big sister is called Bintu, some of the suggestions we received fell a bit too close in sound, so we’ve opted for Theresa’s suggestions of … BASMA; in her comment Theresa told us that this was Swahili for smile, let’s up she provides many smiles for us in the future. We’ll have a new picture of Basma for you soon.

Just to let you know that all of our newest arrivals are doing well and settling in under Posseh’s careful care and receiving the best of attention with the recent return from her well earned break of our resident vet, Dr Rosa. Here they are:

Thulani
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Chippe
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Abu (with a toy hammer as he used to play with tools in the garage where he was found)
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We’ve got some great news on its way to you soon on our next post about Gaura and friends…!

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

One response so far

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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Continue Reading »

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

3 responses so far