By Osman Benk Sankoh
Mama P’s (Posseh Kamara) name rings a bell in the world of wildlife, especially in the animal kingdom of Sierra Leone. She held firmly to her chest a baby chimp like any mother would do to her new-born. A few minutes later, she starts to sing as if lulling Celia, the baby chimp with diapers to bed. Well over fifteen years now, Mama P has been playing the role of a surrogate mother for rescued chimpanzees who arrive at the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary in the Western Area Forest Reserve located about half an hour’s drive from Freetown, the capital city of Sierra Leone. She loves her job, and she says being with the chimpanzees makes her happy – happiness that is now being threatened by a lockdown due to the raging novel coronavirus pandemic.
If you are in a Coronavirus induced lockdown and unsure of your paycheck or where your next meal is going to come from, then you are no more different from Mama P and the chimps at the sanctuary. The Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary was founded 25 years ago as “a natural haven for rescued chimpanzees.” The founders hoped that, at some point, these chimps would return into the wild. Sadly, the Sanctuary has been closed since April this year when the country’s Defense Minister and Coordinator of the COVID-19 response, Retired Brigadier Hassan Kellie Conteh announced a three-day lockdown. Now, it is an indefinite partial lockdown in efforts to contain the spread of the Coronavirus after the country recorded its second case of the disease.
Fifty percent of Tacugama’s income is generated from daily tours at the cost of Le30,000 (the equivalent of US$3) per person, a once a month yoga retreat, bird watching and breakfast, and curry night – an evening of fine dinner under the stars. Since 2012, proceeds from the six eco-lodges, providing a one-of-a-kind retreat in the heart of the forest, go towards their conservation programs. All of these can no longer happen, which makes it challenging to care for the 96 chimps in their custody. In 2019, the government announced that the western chimpanzee was now the country’s national animal and the new face of tourism replacing the diamond. But unlike the diamond, only a few are willing to sacrifice their happiness for the chimps.
Aram Kazandijan is the Development Manager at Tacugama. He said, “Even the chimps have started noticing that something is up. They are no longer receiving attention from our daily tour visitors. Without visitor’s income and rapidly increasing prices, we are facing a tough stretch.” While the sanctuary remained closed, “Forty staff members have volunteered to remain with the 96 chimps in lockdown, even though this means living away from their families- so that they can look after the chimps and make sure they are safe and healthy,” according to Aram. He also indicated that they are faced with an urgent need to find a way to raise US$10,000 monthly to pay staff salaries, feed the chimps and staff in lockdown as well as meet the sanctuary’s running costs. For the Development Manager, “We are morally obligated to look after a critically endangered species and cannot afford to take any risks, however small they are perceived to be. Otherwise, 25 years of conservation work cannot easily get wiped out in an instant as well as the very species we are trying to protect.”
The authorities at the sanctuary fear that the prevailing situation in Sierra Leone may last till probably the end of the year. A coronavirus relief fund asking for donations by visiting https://www.tacugama.com/coronavirus has been set up. They say they are looking for external support to help with the purchase of essential food and supplies for the resident chimps. Given the pandemic’s origin, Aram indicated that they have to educate people about the links between deforestation, human/ wildlife conflict and the spread of zoonotic diseases like COVID-19. “We have established the first wildlife reforestation project in Sierra Leone- connecting fragmented patches of forest along a three-kilometer stretch in the southern district of Moyamba.” Augustine Sankoh, a journalist in Freetown, narrated a story he heard from tour guides of the ‘great escape,’ after a visit to the camp. Quoting an extract from his publication, he said, “The story of Tacugama is incomplete without the infamous escape of 31 chimps from the sanctuary headed by Bruno, their leader. Care staff failed to close the tunnel properly. So, one of the chimps went to the sliding door and removed the padlock. The chimps mauled one man to death and attacked four others after escaping from their enclosure. In the following two weeks after the escape, 21 chimpanzees returned, 19 did so of their own will. After two months, 26 of the 31 came back. After another three months, one more adult chimp, Ole, was brought back. Until today, four chimpanzees remain at large: Bruno, Abi, Toko, & Charlie Boy.
Sierra Leone is believed to be the home for 10 percent of the 53, 000 western chimpanzees still in the wild. These are available only in eight West African countries. The Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary is the country’s leading tourism destination. It survived the decade long civil war in the 90s and the 2014 Ebola outbreak through the determination and resilience of the founder and Program Director, Bala Amarasekaran.