No one knows what happened to Pongo’s family, but the area where this tiny bonobo was found in the Democratic Republic of Congo is known for illegal hunting. She was all alone and in desperate need of expert care.
Investigators learned of sweet three-year-old Pongo when they were alerted about a man in illegal possession of a baby bonobo. They arrived prepared to make an arrest. According to the man, he found Pongo in the forest and tried to reunite her with her family, but they were nowhere to be found. We can only guess what horrible fate her loved ones might have suffered.
Your support allowed PASA member sanctuary Lola ya Bonobo to spring into action and bring Pongo to safety. She was swiftly taken to sanctuary veterinarian Dr. Jonas for urgent medical attention. Afterwards, she was introduced to bonobo surrogate mother Mama Yvonne. It takes experienced sanctuary caretakers like Mama Yvonne to give orphans like Pongo the love, trust, and patience that they need to recover. Soon, Pongo will join the other rescued bonobos in one of the sanctuary’s large forested enclosures. Someday, she might return to the wild where she belongs.
With innocent lives on the line, we can’t afford to stop rescuing apes like Pongo – even during a global crisis. We are so thankful for supporters like you who make these rescue operations possible.
Pongo is just one of several orphaned bonobos recently brought to safety. This past May, Omandja came to Lola ya Bonobo in horrific condition, with swollen eyes and sores all over his body. Tiny Monkoto arrived in mid-July, looking like nothing but skin and bones. The global COVID-19 pandemic continues, exhausting animal caretakers and straining the sanctuary’s resources…but like you, they won’t give up on these animals.
Another call about a baby bonobo in distress could come at any moment. Because of you, PASA member sanctuaries will be able to save them.
I can’t tell you how grateful I am for your support, even through the darkest times. I don’t even want to think about where animals like Pongo, Omandja, and Monkoto would be without you.
Sincerely,
Gregg Tully
Executive Director
Pan African Sanctuary Alliance
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Every day for 12 years, Joanna and Rikita stared out from the bars of their cages at the trees they would never climb and the grass they could never touch. Stolen from their families in the forest, then sold as novelty pets, they only knew a life of cruelty.
Joanna and Rikita were still nursing from their mothers when they were caught by bushmeat poachers and sold into the illegal market for pet chimpanzees in Angola. Once they were too big for their owner to put them in diapers and coddle them, he locked them in separate concrete and steel cages and never let them out again.
When I first learned about Joanna and Rikita over two years ago, I was horrified at the barbaric conditions they lived in. The floors of their cages were packed with garbage and filth and had no drainage. Come rainy season, they were often wading in flooded trash. To make matters worse, their owner struggled to buy them enough food to survive.
Because there’s no sanctuary in Angola to send them to and very few people that could help, it took us years to coordinate Joanna and Rikita’s rescue. PASA and our partners IFAW and Tchimpounga Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Center worked hard to arrange import and export permits, mandatory blood tests, veterinary exams, and transportation to Tchimpounga. At times, I worried that this rescue might never happen.
But because of you, Joanna and Rikita are finally free.
In one of the biggest days of their lives, Joanna and Rikita were rescued and brought to forever safety at Tchimpounga. Now, because of you, they spend their days in their forest habitats, feeling the grass under their feet, drinking clean water, picking flowers, and climbing trees with their new chimp friends.
These are the kinds of life-changing rescues that you make possible. Will you donate today to save another chimp?
I’ll be honest with you – these operations are not easy. They take lots of time, patience, hard work, and funding.
PASA is working to rescue more great apes from unthinkable suffering, but we can’t do it without you.
Will you join us in bringing more chimpanzees to safety?
Very best wishes,
Gregg Tully
Executive Director
Pan African Sanctuary Alliance
Links:
Trapped in a cruel snare in the forest, baby JK tried frantically to free himself before the poachers that killed his mother returned. His leg was bloody and mangled; he was starving and cold. Time was running out for this tiny mona monkey. Can you imagine how much pain he must have been in?
The poachers that killed JK’s family stole him from the forest and took him—horribly injured—to sell in a market in Douala. I’m so grateful that someone rescued JK and brought him to the Limbe Wildlife Centre, a PASA member in Cameroon. Without help, I’m sure he would have died from his injuries.
Limbe’s emergency staff rushed to care for JK. Their expert vet staff had to amputate the foot that had been caught in the snare and give him intensive medical treatment. Limbe staff also reached out to the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife to find and arrest the poachers that had brutally captured JK.
Less than a year old and malnourished, JK urgently needed to recover from his surgery. Limbe’s staff gave him around-the-clock care including frequent bottle feedings. Unfortunately, his condition worsened until the vet team decided that in order to save JK’s life, they would have to amputate his entire leg.
I’m incredibly proud of the dedicated Limbe team that gave JK the outstanding care he desperately needed. Without them he wouldn’t have survived.
Hope for Tomorrow
I’m happy to tell you that JK is improving more with every passing day. He’s loving life at the Limbe Wildlife Centre! He has learned to play, jumping and climbing in his enclosure despite having one leg.
His caregivers tell me how happy they are to see him thriving after his horrible emotional and physical trauma. They’re excited to begin introducing him to a mona monkey troop soon.
Although JK’s recovery is going better than we could have hoped, he has a long and challenging road ahead of him. He’s still a tiny infant who lost a leg, and needs nonstop loving care and excellent medical treatment to continue his recovery.
JK has a long way to go, and he can’t get there without you.
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Terrified, starving, and lost, KK—a two-week old baby vervet monkey—wandered through dusty city streets looking for her family. Can you imagine how lonely and scared she must have been?
I’m so grateful that someone saw KK and called the Lilongwe Wildlife Centre, a PASA member in Malawi, before she died of starvation, a car accident, or worse.
Lilongwe’s Wildlife Emergency Response Unit rushed to the town and brought this suffering infant to the sanctuary. A day after rescuers were notified, KK was receiving the compassionate emergency care that she desperately needed to survive.
Weighing less than a pound, KK urgently needed to gain weight. Lilongwe’s expert staff gave KK around-the-clock care including frequent bottle feedings. I’m incredibly proud of the dedicated Lilongwe team that gave KK all the loving care her mother would have. Without them she wouldn’t have survived.
Building her future
I’m happy to report that KK is quickly settling into life at the Lilongwe Wildlife Centre! She loves to play, jumping and climbing in her enclosure, and has become a favorite of the caregivers. She’s learning to explore her surroundings and the other skills she’ll need as she grows up and joins a vervet monkey troop.
Although KK’s recovery is going smoothly, she has a long and challenging road ahead of her. She’s still a tiny infant and needs nonstop loving care and excellent medical treatment to continue her recovery and prepare her to join a vervet troop.
KK still has a long way to go, and she can’t get there without you. One day KK and her new family will be released to the wild to roam free—but this future is only possible with your help.
Give KK the care she needs to thrive – donate now.
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It breaks my heart to tell you that in the last year PASA member sanctuaries in West Africa have seen a shocking increase in the victims of wildlife trafficking that they rescue. Illegal pet smuggling has reached crisis proportions.
Your support makes it possible to fight back—together, we have saved Mussa, Tita, Nana, and countless other baby chimps from the wildlife trade.
These traumatized infants witness their families’ brutal murders at the hands of poachers. Then these highly intelligent animals are sold as “pets,” often for over $15,000. Some of these orphans spend days squeezed into the bottom of a box so they won’t be detected as they’re smuggled across continents. Then they spend the rest of their lives all alone in a cage.
PASA, our members in West Africa, and supporters like you are teaming up to end this crisis. In just a couple of months, we’ll host the groundbreaking Action for Chimpanzees conference where government officials, nonprofits, and private businesses will meet to fight to smuggle. We’ll use the conference as a springboard to forge new partnerships, strengthen law enforcement against wildlife trafficking, and educate tens of thousands of people.
We’ve made a commitment to save the chimps of West Africa – before it’s too late. But we can’t do it without you. Will you join us today to save western chimpanzees from extinction?
With your support, PASA member wildlife centers are working hard to end the illegal wildlife trade. You have made it possible to save Mussa and many more baby chimps from the poachers who viciously murdered their mothers. But western chimpanzee trafficking is escalating—and we can’t stop it without your help.
Join the growing movement to stop wildlife trafficking. Babies like Nana deserve to live safely in the wild. Chimpanzees in West Africa desperately need you – now more than ever before. I can't thank you enough for helping PASA to end poaching and keep chimps safe in the forest.
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