By Claire Quarendon | Office Administrator
Meet La Vielle
La Vielle, one of the long term residents at the Jane Goodall institute’s (JGI) Tchimpounga Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Centre (TCRC) in the Republic of Congo, has taken on a new role as surrogate mother to six young orphan chimpanzees living at the sanctuary.
La Vielle’s Early Life
Like the majority of the young orphan chimps at Tchimpounga La Vielle has had a tough life. She was most likely kept as a pet when young but as she reached adolescence she likely became unmanageable and too big and powerful for her owners to care for. In 1974 La Vielle was abandoned at the Point Noire Zoo. Unfortunately conditions at the zoo were very poor. Eventually the zoo was closed by the government and in 1992 and La Vielle, at the age of 24, was transferred to Tchimpounga.
La Vielle’s Life at Tchimpounga
For her first 16 years at the Sanctuary La Vielle lived with Grégoire, Africa’s oldest known chimpanzee, until he passed away in December 2008. After she lost her close companion, caretakers at Tchimpounga carefully monitored her while she was integrated into the sanctuary’s young chimpanzee group. At first caretakers were unsure how La Vielle would like living with young chimps. However she surprised them by not only accepting the infants but acting as their ‘mother’.
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