YOU
MIGHT WONDER, WHY ARE
WE HERE?
WHERE DO WE COME FROM?
All
of us are orphans.
Our mothers were killed
and sold as bush-meat.
We were captured and
sold as pets.
Each one of us has our
own heartbreaking story.
Fortunately,
we were rescued
and given a second chance
at the Tacugama
Chimpanzee Sanctuary.
Like
humans, a happy childhood
defines a healthy mental
and physical adulthood.
The fact of losing our
mothers and relatives
was the start of our
struggle for survival.
Many
of the orphan chimpanzees
don’t cope well in captivity,
and die of depression,
disease
or malnutrition soon
after being captured.
Just
think that for each
one of us that reaches
Tacugama an average
of 8 chimpanzees have
died along the way.
The
ones that do survive,
live in terror
and anxiety in the hands
of humans that do not
know
anything about our needs.
We
are very cute when we
are young.
We like to play, laugh,
hug, kiss and
we are in need of loads
of love
like human children.
But when we grow older,
we become too strong
to be handled and
we are either shot dead
or left isolated in
small cages or chained
by our necks.
When
you visit Tacugama, you
will see that we have
been given a chance
to form and live in
a family group
in a semi-wild environment.
We are highly social
primates and
we need to live with
our kith and kin.
Family
means ALL to us.
We
need to be in close
contact to our mothers,
fathers, siblings, uncles,
aunts and cousins.
In
the wild, we live in
large families and
the bonds between the
members
of each family are forever.
Here at Tacugama, we
have been granted
the opportunity to have
a foster family.
We are not direct relatives,
at least not that we
are aware of,
but we are now as tight
as a normal chimpanzee
family in the wild could
be.
Don’t
assume for one minute
that
to achieve this situation
has been easy.
Chimpanzees
are very territorial.
Normally the family
members will attack
and sometimes kill unknown
chimps.
In our case, we were
all
strangers to each other.
That means we had to
learn to accept each
other and define our
social status within
the group.
Bruno
was the original alpha
male,
as humans like to call
him.
Tacugama wouldn’t exist
if it wasn’t for him.
Bruno was the first
one to be rescued by
Bala & family when
he was less than a year
old.
Bruno has since left
the Sanctuary.
We all pay respect to
him.
He kept within our group.
He knew everyone and
noticed everything.
Nothing escaped his
attention.
He would protect the
weak and
keep in line the disobedient.
Second
in rank is Philip.
He has a tough time.
Being second is never
easy.
Then
there are Charlie boy,
Christo,
Tito, Jojo, Ole...
Everyone has his own
rank and
plays his own role within
the group.
As
for the females, the
eldest and
more revered one is
Julie.
She happened to be the
second
chimpanzee rescued by
Mr. Bala.
She
and Bruno lived together
for several years
before others progressively
joined them.
Julie has been mother
to almost all of us.
She has filled us with
her love,
the gap left by our
murdered mothers.
In
2002, she gave birth
to her son, Jumu.
Not only has she been
an excellent mother
to him, but she still
professes care and
love to the rest of
the family.
She has always a spare
hug, kiss or
embrace for those in
need of reassurance.
Of course, Jumu has
become the favourite
of all the uncles, aunts
and cousins.
He is playful and brave,
for that
he has Julie’s constant
protection.
If
you want to know more
about each
and every one of us,
you can read about some
of us from our webpages
on the left or come
visit us in Sierra Leone.
