Rescue Orphaned Primates

We are grateful for your ongoing support for the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance’s programs. As a result of your generosity, over 3,000 primates are receiving specialist care and have a safe future, and we are continuing to fight the threats to wild primates. We hope you enjoy this update on PASA’s recent activities and thank you again for the important role that you are playing in helping us to protect Africa’s primates.

As the wildlife trade continues to wreak havoc across Africa, PASA members in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been especially busy in fighting to protect primates caught up in this heinous trade.

In late May, PASA was made aware of 20 colobus monkeys that were seized as part of a major operation to apprehend a well-known wildlife trafficker in DRC. The monkeys were kept in such terrible conditions that four of the monkeys died before reaching the safety of Lwiro Primates Rehabilitation Center, a PASA member sanctuary. However, the remaining 16 were rushed to the sanctuary and given life-saving care. Thanks to support from GreaterGood, their lives were saved and PASA members are working together to form a reintroduction plan for these monkeys.

Meanwhile, in West Africa, another PASA member sanctuary was dealing with a particularly heartbreaking rescue. Chimpanzee Conservation Center in Guinea was alerted to a small female chimpanzee that had been rescued from the illegal wildlife trade. She was kept in a tiny box that was thrown from a moving vehicle when the driver encountered a roadblock. When the rescue team from CCC arrived, the terrified young chimp was too weak to use her legs and could only crawl. This poor orphan of the wildlife trade is only around five years old. Though she had been tied up and contained in an inhumane box, presumably to be sold, she now will have a second chance at life.

These are tragic circumstances, but thanks to donors like you, she isin safe hands at an accredited sanctuary. Expert caregivers at CCC gave her immediate medical care, cleaning her wounds and providing treatments to help her build her strength. With 24 hour care and careful, patient attention from the caregivers, she is slowly beginning to trust her rescuers. We’re happy to report that she is now eating and drinking well and on the road to recovery. She will soon be introduced to her new family – the other young orphans at CCC and will once again play in the forests where she belongs. Thank you for making it possible to save this little chimpanzee and countless others.

As you can see, PASA and our members are needed more than ever in the ongoing battle to save Africa’s wildlife. Your support of our mission is so appreciated. We couldn’t do this without you.

I want to take this chance to remind you what an amazing impact your support has on the lives of rescued chimps, gorillas, bonobos, and monkeys. With your help, PASA member sanctuaries have been able to save countless orphaned baby apes and monkeys and give them a second chance in life. Thanks to you, an orphaned baby gorilla now has a brand new family!

Mbailassem is a young gorilla who was rescued from the illegal wildlife trade by PASA member Ape Action Africa. After his parents were killed for bushmeat, Mbailassem was sold to a zoo, where he languished in a cage all alone. While he had a terrible start in life, his story is one of hope.

Happily, he was rescued and brought to Ape Action Africa in Cameroon. Two dedicated human caregivers gave him the expert care and round-the-clock attention he needed to start to recover from his trauma.

Once Mbailassem was strong enough, it was time for him to learn how to play and interact with others – skills that he would have learned from his mother and siblings in the wild. However, he was still too small to meet the older gorillas, whose boisterous play wrestling might have accidentally injured him. Since many more chimpanzee orphans arrive at the sanctuary each year than gorillas, and there were no other young gorillas for Mbailassem to play with, he was introduced to several young chimp orphans. Though these species wouldn’t naturally play together in the wild, this temporary phase of Mbailassem’s rehabilitation plan was the best way to ensure that he developed important social interaction skills that he would need in later life.

Recently however, Mbailassem took a big step in his rehabilitation and was introduced to his new gorilla family! Social bonds are incredibly important to gorillas and staff at the sanctuary were delighted with how quickly he bonded with his new brothers. Mbailassem now spends his days racing around his spacious forest enclosure, wrestling with new big brothers Bobga and Chris and feeding his seemingly endless appetite!

Like many other PASA sanctuaries, Ape Action Africa was hit hard by the pandemic, but your generous donations mean they are able to keep providing a safe home for all the orphans who need them. Thanks to your support, Mbailassem will receive all the care he needs to live a full and happy life with his new gorilla family. You are giving him the safe future that he deserves!