Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary

Background

Situated in rain forest donated by the President, ten miles from Freetown, the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary started when Bala Amarasekaran, the Project Director, rescued the first chimp fifteen years ago - he bought the caged infant for $30 in a market in Freetown. In the mid 1970’s Sierra Leone had an estimated 20,000 wild chimpanzees, but experts say that fewer than one-tenth of that number now survive. The animals have been hunted for meat, tracked for capture and sale and seen their natural habitat devastated by war and human encroachment.

The Sanctuary

In Sierra Leone, the chimpanzee pet trade was until recently flourishing with many up for sale in in the capital Freetown. Whilst young they are playful and cute, but as they mature they become difficult to handle. Thus many are killed and abandoned. Although Sierra Leone prohibits the capture and sale of chimpanzees, enforcing this law means confiscating pets. Authorities are then faced with the dilemma of what to do with so many chimpanzees.

Bala kept his first chimpanzee in his house and had plans to send them to Chimfunshi (another Tusk sponsored project) when he realized that the numbers of orphans in Freetown alone made a compelling reason to provide a sanctuary in Sierra Leone. Most of the chimps that Bala has rescued have been badly abused, kept in chains or confined in small cages. Many were taught to drink alcohol, which their owners used as a sedative to control them as they grew older and more aggressive. Most chimps arrive at the sanctuary as baby orphans - a direct consequence of the growing bush-meat trade. Those taken as pets are not accustomed to being in the wild or in groups, and therefore each new arrival undergoes several months of quarantine to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, before they are integrated with larger groups.

Bala and his staff have managed against the odds to keep the sanctuary going and the chimps alive. He has survived two attacks by rebels on Freetown and the sanctuary. Because of the civil war the sanctuary has received little publicity, few visitors and little funding. Things are changing now that the war is coming to an end. Freetown bustles with aid workers and thousands of UN peacekeepers so the Tacugama chimps are receiving a steady stream of visitors.

Tusk Trust Support

Support from Tusk has allowed Tacugama to complete survey work in the surrounding rain forest. Wild chimps come and visit the sanctuary and others can he heard calling. The team at Tacugama are keen to establish wild population numbers and set up regular anti-poaching patrols, to ensure that they are not the next victims of the bushmeat trade.
 

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