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 30 2009 | By: tacugama

If you’re going to be in Barcelona, Spain on the 11th or 13th of November or London, UK on the 21st November then we’d love to meet up with you!!

Bala Amarasekaran, Tacugama’s founder and Programme Director will be speaking at two fundraising evenings being organised on our behalf and if you could come along and give us your support it would be great to see you there.  Also in Barcelona there will be a launch of the Catalan book Un Estiu a Tacugama (A summer in Tacugama), which has just been published.

The trip to Europe is the result of an invitation from the Sierra Leone office of the UK Government’s Department for International Development (DFID) for Tacugama to take part in an awareness raising event (click here for more information) for donors and investors in the country. It’s a great chance to raise our international profile and make new friends for the sanctuary. We’ve also been lucky that friends of Dr Rosa have organised events in Barcelona especially to coincide with the trip out of Sierra Leone.

We’re looking forward to meeting as many of you as possible at the following events - please tell your friends and family and bring them along with you also!

BARCELONA - for more information on both these events telephone +34 669 866204)

Wednesday 11th November, 7pm
Launch by Pilar Garriga of her latest children’s novel: Un Estiu a Tacugama at the Abacus Cooperativa - Sala Juli Vela, c/ Còrsega, 269, Barcelona.

Friday 13th November, 9pm
Dinner at the Hotel Catalonia Barcelona Plaza, Placa d’Espanya 6-8. Tickets are on sale at Euro 25 each.

LONDON

Saturday 21st November, 7pm
Fundraising supper evening at the Royal Over-Seas League in central London.  Tickets are on sale at £50 each through the International Primate Protection League (IPPL UK), phone 020 8297 2129 and email enquiries@ippl-uk.org. For more information click here to download the PDF invitation.

We look forward to seeing you there!!

Tags: Barcelona, Chimpanzee, DFID, fundraising, sanctuary, Sierra Leone, Tacugama, wildlife

One response so far

Category: Quarantine, Tacugama | Date: Oct 28 2009 | By: tacugama

This weekend saw the arrival at Tacugama of yet another young chimp prematurely separated from its mother. He’s from the Kangari Hills in the centre of Sierra Leone so we have called him …. Kangari.

Moses receives Kangari at Tacugama
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He arrived at the sanctuary as the result of sensitisation work undertaken by our chimpanzee census team who were recently in the area towards the centre of Sierra Leone. A couple of weeks after they had been working there, Dr Terry received a call from the head of Cluff Gold, an exploration company based close to the Kangari Hills. He had been approached by someone with a baby chimp hoping to sell it to him as a pet. Thanks to the briefing he’d received from the census team he informed the person that what they were doing was illegal, immediately called Tacugama and arranged to bring Kangari to the sanctuary - a six hour drive from the hills. The person with the chimp claimed that Kangari had been left behind by his mother as she was chased away from raiding crops in a local farm. Sadly this is a highly unlikely story - Kangari is probably only 18 months old and it would be very unusual for him to be left behind no matter the stress - and it is much more likely that his mother was trapped and killed.

Kangari greets Bala as Dr Rosa takes him for his first check up 
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Kangari was very nervous on arrival and also full of cold.  He’s small for his age (based on the growth of his teeth) and underweight.

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Fortunately he’s settling into quarantine,  recovering from his cold and developing a huge appetite!

Kangari a couple of days after his arrival
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Here you can see a picture of Kangari’s original home in the beautiful Kangari Hills.

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But sadly on closer investigation, it’s not as unspoilt as it looks.

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Perhaps one good thing that should come from Kangari’s arrival is the chance to build a relationship with Cluff Gold so that as they prospect for mineral resources that could create an income for this very poor country, we can propose protection for important habitat areas to be included in their development plans.

Also to let you know that Posseh is busy preparing her answers to your questions - you gave her quite a lot! She should be ready to share her answers in a couple of days.

Tags: , Baomahun, Chimpanzee, Cluff Gold, Sierra Leone, Tacugama, wildlife

5 responses so far

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

3 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: Tacugama | Date: Oct 03 2009 | By: tacugama

Thanks to Lush in Canada we should be able to share lots more photos with you of the wildlife in and around Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary!

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We received a donation through their Charity Pot scheme which has allowed us to buy some digital camera traps and will also help us to replace our aging supply vehicle. The camera traps will play an important role in helping us to record and confirm wild chimpanzee movements and which other species share their environment. We’re first using the camera traps around Tacugama and in the future we’ll move them further afield to expand our knowledge.

With the help of Joko, our patrol officer, we set up some initial trials with the cameras and we’ve been pleased with the results. Some of the first shots we captured were of Congo – the wild chimp who occasionally visits the sanctuary – together with her two daughters. It’s been very difficult to get images of Congo in the past and it’s great that the traps have done the job for us! Joko’s also very pleased that the cameras should help him with his important patrolling work that protects the forest reserve areas surrounding Tacugama from hunters.

Congo moves into view
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Congo with her youngest daughter
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Congo’s oldest daughter gaining in independence
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Here are some photos of other species we have caught on camera so far. We removed the cameras from the bush during the heaviest of the rains. Now the rains are receding we’re about to position them again and look forward to sharing more results with you in the months to come.

A Campbell’s monkey
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A bay duiker by day….
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…. and by night
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A brush tailed porcupine sweeps by
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A genet is captured …
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… and investigates!
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Thanks again to the Lush team for their support - remember to look out for the Tacugama Charity Pot lotion in their North American stores!

In the last blog I mentioned that we were in the middle of a heavy thunderstorm. Dr Rosa happened to be passing the infants group when thunder hit and frightened Gaura and friends. This has to be a record for the number of chimps in a hammock when they jumped in together for comfort.

Tombo, Gaura, Bain Nyaa, Mac and Bruno in view, Yoyema was also on board!
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They’re loving being out with their new friends everyday but are sadly suffering from colds as the change in weather brings cough and cold bugs with it. Hopefully they’ll make quick recoveries.

Tags: camera traps, Chimpanzee, conservation, Lush Cosmetics, photos, sanctuary, Sierra Leone, Tacugama, wildlife

2 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: Tacugama | Date: Aug 18 2009 | By: tacugama

It is wet, wet, and wet here! August has the highest rainfall on record in Sierra Leone (almost 100cm in one month only) and it is no different this year.

Kouze in the rain
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Everyone is soaked to the skin. Staff keep taking turns to sit around the kitchen fire in between their busy schedule. The hairy ones are having it tough too. Although the bigger boys and girls are used to this, some of the smaller chimps are down with the usual coughs and colds that this time of the year brings, but they are coping. (Our thoughts and best wishes are with the Limbe team as they work hard to treat the pneumonia hitting their primates.)

It is difficult to see the chimps in the bigger enclosures except during feeding times as everyone takes cover in the bush from the downpours. Yesterday we had a hole in the clouds and some sunlight emerged through it for a few minutes. I was happy enough to take the camera out and the chimps in Philip’s group were happy to come and see some sunlight too! They went into a grooming frenzy. Every single one was grooming and getting groomed. Even Babes was in the middle of it and allowed big boy, Jido, to groom her month old baby.

Julie at the centre of a grooming circle
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Tito being groomed by Philip… amongst others!
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Then I got very lucky and was able to take a good picture of “Hand Clasp Grooming - HCG” by two of the adults! Chimps from different parts of Africa tend to have cultural differences and there are unique displays in grooming, nut cracking, termite fishing etc. There is ongoing research on “HCG” and this picture confirms that some of the Tacugama chimps are very much involved in this behaviour pattern.

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Although we’ve seen the behaviour before we’ve never managed to catch it on picture until now. You can also read more about this on a recent post from Guinea’s Chimpanzee Conservation Project.

We were lucky again as we managed to catch a much better glimpse of Babes’ baby and we can confirm that she gave birth to a girl! With all the rain Babes keeps the baby well concealed most of the time.

Suleh admires Babes’ baby
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Babes keeps her baby close to her chest
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Now we know the baby is a girl it’s time to start thinking of a name for her (that has to begin with a B - her big sister is called Bintu). Perhaps we could think of some sort of bidding amongst our friends on the blog - what do you think? Let us know.

All of our recent new arrivals are doing well and we’ll have some more news and photos of them for you soon.

Thanks to you all for your recent donations, we know that we are in the middle of some difficult economic times and really appreciate the support that you give. Many thanks to Hj H., Yvonne M. and Daniele M. for adopting one of our chimps and to Christine C., Nyree H., Lucia C., Michael H., Theresa S. and Yang H. for your recent generous support.

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

9 responses so far

Category: Quarantine, Tacugama | Date: Aug 04 2009 | By: tacugama

Yesterday sadly saw two more small chimps arrive at Tacugama - Abu and Thulani add to the recent orphan arrivals of Chippe, Blama and Sunny and leave us close to bursting at the seams. We now have 96 chimpanzees needing Tacugama’s care.

Thulani was taken to the Gola Forest Project team in the south-east of Sierra Leone on Saturday by a local man hoping to sell him - he was quickly corrected and Thulani was confiscated. The Gola forest team have brought several chimps to us including Gola, Gaura, Urgent, Bai Nyaa, Mac and Jessica.

Handa Zeller with Thulani before travelling to Tacugama - the t-shirt says it all
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After a long drive on difficult, rainy season roads, Thulani arrived late last night. He’s probably two years old and not been with people for long. Small and nervous and with a slight cold, he’ll need closer attention from Posseh than Abu.

Posseh tries to give Thulani a wash - he much preferred a cuddle 
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Abu was confiscated by Pastor in Waterloo, a market town only 40 minutes from camp, where we go for our supplies twice a week.

Abu arrives at camp!
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We had recently been told about Abu by several people but previous attemps to trace him were unsuccessful. This time Pastor was given a definite location and found Abu tinkering with hammers and spanners in a local garage. He had been kept there apparently for almost two years - he’s now about four years old - and his owner agreed to give him up as soon as Pastor arrived. Perhaps word had spread to him; the penalty now for keeping, trading or killing chimpanzees in Sierra Leone is now $1,000 or two years in prison. The Krio name for a chimpanzee is Babu, so Abu the Babu has brought a few smiles as we all learn his name at camp.

Bala with Abu
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Fortunately Abu has clearly been well cared for, he’s healthy and a good size. He’s also very used to people and seemed very surprised on arrival to hear the rest of the chimps calling across the sanctuary.

Abu enjoys his banana
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Posseh and Abu get to know each other

Both Abu and Thulani will spend their three months in quarantine before catching up with Chippe and the rest of the Tacugama chimps. Chippe is improving daily - he’s probably not going to be too happy that Mama Posseh will have to spend more of her time with other chimps too. Sunny and Blama are increasing in confidence and greeted Abu with enthusiasm as they saw him arrive (they were asleep by the time Thulani came last night).

Our challenges now are to get positive responses soon from our potential donors for the much needed new enclosures and to increase the number of adopters for our chimps (the adoption donation goes straight to our running costs). We have never turned a chimp in Sierra Leone away from Tacugama in almost fifteen years but it’s getting harder to keep our doors open.

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

3 responses so far

Category: Tacugama | Date: Aug 03 2009 | By: tacugama

Our July 2009 newsletter is now available for you to catch up on a summary of our work for the first six months of 2009.  Click here to download your copy.

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Many thanks to great design work from Ewa and to Rosa, Tess and Frankie for preparing the content. We hope you enjoy reading it and look forward to your comments.

Also congratulations to Ewa and her fiance, Dominic O’Neil, who were married on Friday 31st July in Poznan, Poland! We wish them a very happy future together and look forward to seeing them back in Sierra Leone after their honeymoon.

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

One response so far

Category: Tacugama | Date: Jul 30 2009 | By: tacugama

We’re really excited to be able to present you with a short documentary film about Tacugama.  We hope that this will give you a better insight to the sanctuary, our day to day work, challenges and aspirations, especially if you have never had the opportunity to visit us in Sierra Leone.

Please share this link with all your family, friends and colleagues and help us to spread the word, thank you!

We’re very grateful to Paul Glynn, who filmed and produced this documentary as a gift for Tacugama after visiting us in December 2008.  Paul was also instrumental in the production of Lost Freetown, directed by Nazia Parvez, a documentary showing the environmental threats to Sierra Leone’s capital city.

We look forward to receiving your feedback.

(PS The chimp shown arriving at Tacugama is Jessica)

Tags: Chimpanzee, Freetown, Nazia Parvez, Paul Glynn, sanctuary, Sierra Leone, Tacugama, wildlife

9 responses so far

Category: Gaura, Tacugama | Date: Jul 28 2009 | By: tacugama

Shortly after Tacugama started blogging through Wildlife Direct, Gaura arrived as a newly rescued, frail baby chimp; eighteen months later he is a strong, cheeky and loveable character. Sadly another seven young babies have arrived since then; Chippe being the most recent two weeks ago (another four older chimps have also come to us in the same time frame). As each of the babies has completed quarantine they have been gradually introduced to Gaura and his “gang” now includes Tombo, Mac, Bai Nyaa, Jessica and Bruno. Last week they were joined by Yoyema who has quickly settled in with her new playmates.

Yoyema checks out Tombo’s hammock for comfort!
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As we’ve mentioned in earlier blogs, the challenge we now have as these babies grow bigger is making sure that we have the enclosure space for them to be outside all day learning to climb, forage and socialise in preparation for a life outside of Tacugama in the future. Proposals have been submitted to donor organisations to raise the funds for two new forested enclosures (and one for Solo). These are urgently needed to allow our growing chimpanzees enough space to exercise and behave as much as possible as they would in the wild.

As Gaura’s group has grown in number we’ve looked at how we can create access to the outdoor enclosures for them. We’ve been gradually introducing 15 of our younger chimps from Simon’s group to a group of 10 juveniles (Joko’s group) so that there is room available in our infants’ enclosure for Gaura and co. It’s a slow process to make sure that the introductions go well. We’re now almost ready to introduce Gaura’s group to the remaining 7 infants from Simon’s group.

In the last couple of weeks Gaura and playmates have been spending a couple of hours a day in the enclosure with Mama Posseh but without the rest of the chimps so that they get used to the electric fence, using the tunnel in and out of the dens and just how much space they have to play.

Gaura is definitely the very young alpha male of the group and while he can be a bully, he does take care of his playmates when they really need support.

Gaura comforts young Bruno
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Jessica is the smallest and the most adventurous – she’s really enjoying having lots of new spaces to explore and leading the rest of the chimps as she climbs higher and further from Mama Posseh.

Jessica enjoys exploring
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Mac on the other hand is still not too happy moving away from Mama Posseh, hopefully he will be tempted to follow Jessica soon.

Mac sticks close to Mama Posseh
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Young Bruno is a shy but much loved member of the group with a very gentle nature. He’s getting happier to follow Jessica’s lead every day.

Bruno shows his prowess
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Bai Nyaa has the biggest appetite of the group and doesn’t miss any opportunity to steal extra food from the others at mealtimes!

Bai Nyaa takes a rest to think about her next meal
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Tombo’s biggest concern as she plays in the enclosure is making sure that Gaura is not too far away. Having been the first one to join Gaura she’s very possessive and not always happy to share him with everyone else.

Tombo carefully monitors Gaura’s movements

Mama Posseh encourages the chimps to explore while she’s in the enclosure and has been teaching them how to drink from our specially designed water fountains.

Learning to drink (from left to right):
Young Bruno, Bai Nyaa, Mac, Jessica, Tombo and Gaura
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After lots of excercise it’s time to come back into the dens for milk and a rest and let the rest of the infants go back out to play. It won’t be too long before the babies go into the enclosure without Posseh and then finally join in for full days with the others.

Bai Nyaa + Gaura (left) try to help Yoyema with her milk while Tombo (right) looks on

We’ll keep you in touch with their progress!

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

8 responses so far

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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Chippe yesterday
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Another new arrival has appeared at Tacugama as a result of an unexpected accident! It is our policy not to allow our resident chimps to breed; our focus has to be to use our limited resources on caring for rescued wild chimpanzees. We use contraceptive implants that last approximately 3 years with our mature females. However, accidents can happen and on Saturday 11th July, Babes gave birth – it is too early for us to know whether it is a boy or girl! It’s the second time that Babes has managed to beat the system and her first daughter, Bintu, was born 5 years ago. Mother, baby and big sister are all coping very well.

Babes and new baby on the day of the birth
- Babes was keen to top up her food reserves!
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The new baby at 11 days old
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Sunny and Blama (Blackman’s new name - which is also the name of a town in Sierra Leone) are settling well and listening and watching all of the activity around them with huge interest. They have so much more to see and hear now even though they are still in quarantine! They take good care of each other and Sunny can get jealous when Mama Posseh gives Blama attention.

We’d like to take this opportunity to say thanks to all of you who responded to our request for help on donations towards the electric fence after our lightening strike hit. The replacement parts are just waiting to clear customs in Freetown and we should hopefully be able to install them soon. Thanks to Catherine M, Kathy S, Wanda H, Sarah J, Perry O, Yvonne N, Sherri S, Joanne Y, Theresa S, Nyree H, Brenton H, Lucia C, Christine C for your generosity.

Daniel L - please could you send an email to adopt@tacugama.sl as we see you have donated to adopt a chimp but we haven’t yet received your email with your contact information , thanks.

Watch this space for another blog coming very soon with an update on Gaura and all his group!

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

4 responses so far

Category: Tacugama | Date: Jul 08 2009 | By: tacugama

Ten days ago we received a call from a businessman living in Freetown saying he had two chimps at his home that he wanted to handover to Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary. We arranged to go and see him to get a better understanding of the situation and found two female chimps around 6-7 years old being kept in terrible conditions.

Our first sight…

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Although we are not totally convinced about the story we got from their keeper, it appears that he acquired the chimps several years ago while on a hunting trip into the centre of Sierra Leone and had kept them ever since in the central section of this small outbuilding. When they were smaller they were given some occasional freedom to roam the compound but as they grew bigger and less controllable that freedom disappeared. They had clearly not left their confines for a long time from the pile of lorry wheel hubs stacked against the gate. Sadly there was a similar pile filling the floor of their prison. He claimed to be an animal lover but wanted to handover the chimps as they were costing him too much to take care of. It would have been difficult for any neighbours to detect the presence of the chimps as the walls of the compound were tall and a noisy generator seemed to be running constantly.

Bala reasssures the chimps

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The man seemed to have no idea that his was one of the cruelest captivities. We were at least satisfied that he had contacted us to rescue the chimps rather than any other possible outcome. We quickly made plans for the removal of the chimps and so last Saturday we returned with Willie, Pastor and Dr Sorn (Dr Rosa is taking a well earned break) to sedate them and bring them to Tacugama.

Last moments of cruel captivity

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Whilst preparing to remove the chimps we spoke to one of the staff at the compound and he confirmed that they had been there at least three years and that their names were Sunny and Blackman. He seemed to care about them but had no control over their circumstances. Before long they were darted with sedative and we set about the task of releasing the door to their cell. It had clearly been a very long time since the door had moved and it took crowbars and a lot of force before we could enter.

Breaking in

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It was a foul environment with an accumulation of faeces, old food and litter lying between the wheel hubs. It was amazing that Sunny and Blackman were not in a worse condition.

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Pastor, Dr Sorn and Willie prepare to transport the chimps to Tacugama

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Within the hour we were back at Tacugama and Sunny and Blackman were coming round from their sedation to find themselves in a very different environment. They now have the space to relearn how to use their legs for walking and to enjoy stretching and playing comfortably.

Blackman (left) and Sunny recovering from sedation

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Now is the time we have to watch Sunny and Blackman very carefully. Very often chimpanzees who have lived in stressed conditions of captivity demonstrate an amazing resilience to their environment. We have witnessed chimpanzees who have survived terrible ordeals suddenly deteriorate in health once they reach sanctuary, their bodies seem to realise that they no longer need to fight as they are in a safe haven and their immune system appears to relax. (How many of us get sick once we go on vacation after a stressful period at work?) The girls will spend the next three months together in quarantine under careful observation.

Sunny and Blackman’s home for the next three months

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We’ll be looking to rename Blackman in the near future with a more fitting name - watch the blog as we learn a bit more about her to help us with a name.

It continues to be disheartening as we work to educate people in Sierra Leone that chimpanzees do not make suitable pets to see adverts such as the one below from more “developed” nations:

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“Cute baby chimpanzee monkey for sale in nevada, $1000, Publish Date:June 22nd, 2009, Item Price: $1000, Location:nevada
Product Details:Cute baby chimpanzee monkey for sale
We raise only English Chimpanzee and can devote all of our time and knowledge to our chimpanzee, ensuring you the best chimpanzee available from champion bloodlines. All Chimpanzee are checked by a veterinarian before going to their new homes, and are current on all vaccinations and dewormed. all our chimpanzees come with a veterinarian certificate of health, pedigree and a one-year health guarantee. if there is any body out there willing to buy an English Chimpanzee get back to us for more information and pictures.”

At least the law protecting chimpanzees exists in Sierra Leone, while enforcement remains the problem. What a shame that where law enforcement can be more effective, the laws don’t exist……

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

10 responses so far

Category: Tacugama | Date: Jun 24 2009 | By: tacugama

It never rains but it pours… Now the rainy season has started to make a big impact – and not just with the water… yesterday afternoon a huge electrical storm passed over the sanctuary and we were hit by lightning. As storms are common in Sierra Leone’s rainy season all of our electric fencing that surrounds the enclosures is protected with lightening conductors but yesterday’s strike produced much more power than even they could dissipate.

As we rushed to check our monitoring equipment and the fences we discovered that the strike had caused significant damage to our installations. Much of yesterday was spent painstakingly tracking cabling and switches to see how bad the damage was.

Bala and Pastor checking for damage
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We’ve been incredibly lucky that none of our staff or chimps were hurt by the strike, though Willie and our new volunteer Tess, who were in the office at the time, received mild shocks. That’s about where the luck ends…

Continue Reading »

Tags: Chimpanzee, Sierra Leone, Tacugama

3 responses so far

Category: Tacugama | Date: Jun 23 2009 | By: tacugama

Sorry we’ve not been blogging as much over the last couple of weeks - it’s been a tough time here at Tacugama recently.

We were catching up with ourselves after the month long intensive health check programme and putting all the paperwork in place in mid-May when one of the chimpanzees in Mama Lucy and Joke’s group, Mark, failed to come in from the forested enclosure as usual at the end of the day.  Joke also failed to come in and was sitting at the top of one of the tall trees calling to the care staff.  The rest of the group came into the dens but with Joke in the enclosure there was no way for us to go and look for Mark.  Joke has grown into a strong and powerful male and we can take no risks.  Joke finally sensed that we were trying to help and came into the dens but with the light failing, looking for Mark proved unsuccessful that evening.  We were out again at first light the next morning and sadly found Mark dead, another likely victim of EMCV.  It was a bitter moment as we had just completed all the vaccinations but it takes time for resistance to develop and for poor Mark it was too late.  It was a sad end to an intensive and positive programme with great team work from all our staff, volunteers and the Max Planck team but demonstrated just how vitally the protection from EMCV is needed.

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Tags: Chimpanzee, Max Planck, Sierra Leone, Stichting AAP, Tacugama

9 responses so far

Category: Census, Tacugama | Date: Jun 09 2009 | By: tacugama

Dr Terry Brncic reports back from her team’s most recent census visit to the Outamba Kilimi National Park (OKNP) in the north of Sierra Leone on behalf of Tacugama:

Outamba Kilimi National Park is currently the only national park in Sierra Leone. Located in the far north of Sierra Leone on the border with Guinea, it is divided into the larger Outamba section in the east and Kilimi section in the west of northern Bombali district. The terrain is relatively flat with low rolling hills and plateaus offering excellent views across the spectacular landscape.

Thin strips of darker riverine forest running through the woodland savanna, and some of the spectacular hills across OKNP
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Tags: Census, Chimpanzee, sanctuary, Sierra Leone, Tacugama, wildlife

One response so far

Category: Tacugama | Date: May 28 2009 | By: tacugama

We’re very proud to be able to announce that our supervisor, Willie Tucker, has been recognised as a Disney Conservation Hero for 2009.  The reward recognises Willie’s commitment to the conservation of chimpanzees through his dedicated work at Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary.  Willie has worked here since the founding of the sanctuary and contributed in so many ways to its development and achievements.

To read PASA’s full press release on Willie’s award then please follow this link.

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From all of the team at Tacugama - congratulations Willie, your award is well deserved!

Tags: Chimpanzee, Disney Conservation Hero, PASA, sanctuary, Sierra Leone, Tacugama

6 responses so far

Category: Gaura, Introduction, Quarantine, Tacugama | Date: May 08 2009 | By: tacugama

After such a sad week last week, we are pleased to be able to bring you better news this week.

It was finally time for young Bruno to leave quarantine and join the famous five: Gaura, Tombo, Mac, Bai Nyaa and Jessica! He could tell the day was different and seemed very happy to accompany Mama Posseh as she walked him over to the rest of the babies.

Happy Young Bruno
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Tags: Chimpanzee, EMCV, sanctuary, Sierra Leone, Tacugama, wildlife

5 responses so far