Couple’s chimpanzee sanctuary in Freetown turns 26 years
The sanctuary cares for close to 100 chimpanzees on-site, but Tacugama is also actively engaged off-site in community outreach, wildlife field research, environmental sustainability, conservation education and alternative livelihoods programs.
CAPE TOWN, September 15 (ANA) – Meet conservationist Bala Amarasekaran and his wife, Sharmila, the Sierra Leone couple who opened a chimpanzee sanctuary on the outskirts of the country’s capital Freetown over 26 years ago.
According to a recent BBC news report, just over a quarter of a century ago the Amarasekaran’s spotted a baby chimpanzee tied to a tree in a village in a rural part of Sierra Leone, sadly the chimpanzee was for sale.
The chimpanzee’s name was Bruno. The couple felt that they couldn’t just leave him there, so they made the big decision to buy it.
Little did they know that this chance meeting would change their lives forever.
Located in the Western Area Peninsula National Park, Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary was founded in 1995 by then newlyweds and conservationists, the Amarasekaran’s.
“We were newly married and we had this affection seeing this baby chimp and we thought: ‘OK, we’d bring him home and nurse him.’ That’s all we thought about, the couple said in an interview with BBC News.
“But once he came into our lives, I think we got attached.
According to the sanctuary’s official website, it was initially established to enforce wildlife laws and rescue and rehabilitate orphaned chimpanzees.Tacugama has grown into a diverse conservation organisation.
The sanctuary cares for close to 100 chimpanzees on-site, but Tacugama is also actively engaged off-site in community outreach, wildlife field research, environmental sustainability, conservation education and alternative livelihoods programs.
“Once a week, before the babies enjoy the day in their outdoor enclosure, they get a proper bath and some quality time with surrogate mother Mamma P,” the sanctuary recently posted on their Facebook page.
According to the sanctuary, conservationists estimate that there are around 5500 wild chimps left in Sierra Leone.
The couple says Tacugama is not just a sanctuary for orphaned chimpanzees, since they are active in three of Sierra Leone’s four national parks and several non-protected sites to address to the wider underlying problems that are driving chimps to extinction: deforestation, the illegal trade in wildlife and hunting for bushmeat.
One of these parks is Loma Mountains National Park: the park with the highest density of wild chimpanzees in West Africa.
According to reports, the Western Chimpanzee population is estimated to have declined by 80% between 1990 and 2014, to about 52,800.
They mostly live in the wild. Only 17 percent of Western chimpanzees are to be found in protected areas, writes news broadcaster BBC News.
The sanctuary says habitat loss and illegal bush meat hunting are still driving closest animal relatives to extinction.
The western chimpanzee, which is Sierra Leone’s National Animal, is in high risk of becoming extinct and is listed as one of the most endangered primates in the world. Despite Tacugama’s conservation efforts, orphans continue to arrive at their doorstep, they said on their website.
“So far in 2020 and 2021, the sanctuary has received 18 orphaned baby chimpanzees.”
Furthermore, Tacugama has also been accredited by the Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy (QCC) since 2017.
The Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy is a collaborative framework being led by the Royal Commonwealth Society, in partnership with Cool Earth and the Commonwealth Forestry Association.
– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Naomi Mackay