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……

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…

The list of damaged equipment includes battery energisers, cut-out switches, alarm monitors and the lightening arrestors. The cost of repairs and replacements will get close to US$3000 and most will have to be sourced overseas. We’re busy making emergency repairs and making sure that the chimps can safely continue using the forested enclosures.

Moses monitors the power to the electric fences as Urgent, Salva and Jetti look on
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We would like to ask you for your help please; whatever you can do to help us with the costs of repairing the electrical equipment would be much appreciated. It’s not easy to plan for this kind of event and we appreciate your support.

We really hope that in our next blog we will be back to giving you some positive news and stories about the chimps - thanks for all your support and sympathy for Mark and Cheetah. Your comments really help.

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.

Shortly after we bade farewell to Ruud and Esther, who together with a Euro 1000 grant from Stichting AAP in Holland were able to improve the enclosures for the younger chimps while they also provided good support for the health checks.  Ann and Michel left a couple of days later and Ann is now working from the Max Planck Institute helping to follow up on EMCV and the vaccination programme.  (Michel has just joined the Lola ya Bonobo team for a few weeks to support the health checks on the bonobos there due for re-introduction).

Just as we were celebrating Willie’s award as a 2009 Disney Conservation Hero, we were struck by further sad news.  Cheetah, who had recovered amazingly well from her suspected EMCV attack in April, suddenly started to deteriorate rapidly suffering fever and breathing difficulties.  Despite full attention from Dr Rosa and the team, Cheetah sadly passed away leaving us all feeling very hollow.  Cheetah was one of the original eight chimps who founded the sanctuary and with her strong and determined character helped with our drive to keep Tacugama going through our difficult early days.

As you can imagine, it’s not always easy to communicate bad news so we’re sorry for our recent reduced contact, we hope you understand.  We’ll be back to bringing you our regular news over the coming days.

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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The vegetation is primarily open parkland, with tall elephant grass and enough trees to offer some shade and give chimpanzees somewhere to nest. With good visibility we were able to see many animals, including buffalo, red-flanked duiker, olive baboons, Maxell’s duiker, black & white colobus monkeys and Campbell’s guenon. We observed many elephant signs, including fresh tracks and dung, but weren’t lucky enough to spot an elephant.

The census team records a pile of elephant dung
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We also came close to chimpanzees, hearing their calls and finding very fresh droppings, but they were too elusive for us to actually see. At the end of the dry season the brittle elephant grass and crackling leaves usually gave our presence away despite our efforts to move quietly.

Following a transect through tall elephant grass
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We split into four small teams, each with a local guide, covering 2 km of transect each day and meeting at a new camp most nights. To move all our supplies and food for two weeks in the Outamba section we needed 13 porters. We were a big group, 28 in total, providing some much-needed employment for the communities living outside the park borders.

A line of porters bringing our food and equipment into the park
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May is the end of the dry season in Sierra Leone, and this year seemed to be a particularly dry one. From the eastern side of Kilimi, where normally there should have been a river about 150 meters wide dividing Sierra Leone from Guinea, the still water sat in hot stagnant pools. We were able to step over the river at a point where it was a foot wide and walk into Guinea, which was fun for the team as it was the first time most of them had ever been out of Sierra Leone, even if only a few, unofficial metres! Water shortages were common in many of the villages we visited inside and outside of the park.

The Kaba, or Little Scarcies, River in the dry season
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In all we walked 82 km of transects between the Outamba and Kilimi sections of the park and found signs of many animals, including hundreds of chimpanzee nests. The chimps most often nested in the thin strips of riverine forest but we also found many nests in the savanna woodland. The nest counts on the transects will help us get a good estimate of the chimp population in OKNP and because there are few villages outside of the park, it is likely that there are significant chimpanzee numbers across most of northern Bombali district. We will investigate this when we come back to survey the rest of the district.

Chimp nests overlooking Guinea
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Census team member Farah Kargbo with a fresh chimp nest made on the ground
(This is a rare site as chimpanzees very rarely nest on the ground)
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OKNP has a lot of potential for tourism for Sierra Leone. The open woodland allows great views of animals: monkeys and baboons are common, elephants and chimps are present, hippos can be seen from a river boat ride, there are great birdwatching opportunities, and plenty of hills for stunning scenic overlooks. The park is easily accessible on foot and the headquarters is being developed beautifully to house visitors, offering a good base for in-park trekking.

Mame Hill in the Outamba section of OKNP
(‘Mame’ means ‘Wait for me’ in the local language, and this iconic bare hill was a frequent meeting place for hunters)
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Unfortunately there are some serious conservation issues within OKNP and the relationship between the communities and park management is strained. When we arrived, park guards had not been allowed to circulate in the park for the last three months because of threats from the communities in the Outamba section and poaching has become a serious issue. Unlike whene we were in the Western Area Peninsular Forest Reserve near Freetown, we did not come across a single snare, but every night we heard gunshots. Guns are easy to obtain from Guinea and we even came across a gun trader moving openly in the park during the day.

Gun trader in the park
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Bushmeat is an important source of income for the communities in the park, and we know chimpanzee meat is a part of that. One of our teams found the remains of a skinned chimpanzee in a hunting camp the Kilimi section. Each year the park is essentially burned to clear the elephant grass. It is unknown what long-term effect this has on the biodiversity or whether it is feasible to control the fires. Communities in the park are also clearing land for farming and the farms also attract animals that can then be hunted more easily.

Remains of a chimpanzee skin in the Kilimi section of OKNP
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A cleared farm near Yatia village in the north of Outamba
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It’s a tough situation for a poor country to address. Park guards desperately need training and support in order to have any impact on poaching. We were pleased to see the evidence of chimpanzees that we were expecting but it is also clear that this beautiful area urgently needs a lot more investment and support to function effectively as a national park and for the protection of the wilderness and wildlife to be successful.

Terry’s team are now surveying in the Loma mountains, the home of Sierra Leone’s highest mountain - Mount Bintumani (1947m), in Kailahun district. Expect the next report from them at the end of this month.

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!

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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Everyone behaved very well when the first polite introductions were made, but it didn’t take long for the senior babies - Gaura and Tombo - to test Bruno with some vigorous play! We decided to take them for a short walk while Bruno had a chance to get to know Mac, Jessica and Bai Nyaa so that by the time Gaura and Tombo came back Bruno started to lay down a few rules of engagement. It was just what Gaura needed - he was in danger of becoming a bad bully but young Bruno is big enough and bold enough to keep Gaura in his place and they’re quickly becoming the best of friends. Even little Mac is getting braver to join in the games.

Bruno extends a greeting to Jessica
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Vigorous greetings indeed…
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The next day saw Bruno happily accompany Mama Posseh and Esther for the daily walk to the forest - it’s getting to be a big walking party these days. He had an amazing time as, for the first time in at least three months, he was free to climb and play in the forest.

Real trees!!
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Gaura and Bruno have a great time!
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Meanwhile our newest arrival - Yoyema - is benefitting from lots of necessary attention and treatment. She’s had a thorough check out and the poor little thing was full of tapeworm, one of the reasons she was so thin and unhappy. Mama Posseh is on a well-earned week off so Esther has stepped in to bath, cuddle and help with Yoyema’s care. Yoyema’s just starting to show signs of putting on a bit of weight and becoming a bit less lethargic. She’s also using her left hand more and more so we’re hopeful she won’t be too handicapped by the damage she sustained before she was confiscated.

Yoyema
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Cheetah’s gentle recovery is continuing and she’s now able to move around her den without the support of overhead sticks, though she’s still very cautious as she moves around. We’re so pleased with how she is now compared to a month ago.

Marcel is also making a strong recovery.  Fortunately he was nowhere as nearly badly affected as Cheetah though we continue to monitor him carefully and keep him indoors.  The health check team are progressing very well and almost all the chimps have now undergone their EMCV vaccination and thorough examinations.  We’ll hopefully be finished this weekend.

It was last Wednesday that the care staff raised the alarm for Marcel and Kate, both in Joke and Mama Lucy’s group. They came into the night dens looking very weak and disoriented, much the same as Cheetah earlier in the month. We spent an anxious night monitoring them - there are no real remedies available - and were pleased with how they appeared a little stronger the next morning. Mid afternoon on Thursday disaster struck as they both started vomiting and deteriorated rapidly. The team working on the vaccinations were available to take the best possible care but despite this poor Kate quickly passed away with nothing that we could do to save her. Marcel fortunately stabilised and so far does not seem to have been as badly affected as Cheetah.

Marcel is fortunately recovering 
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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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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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We travelled over 1125 miles in search of wild chimpanzees… usually in first or second gear due to the road conditions!

Another makeshift bridge safely crossed…
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