1988
Bala Amarasekaran and his wife Sharmila were travelling through a
village about 150 miles north of Freetown, when they saw a baby
chimpanzee being offered for sale. The chimp looked weak and sick, which
prompted Bala and Sharmila to pay $30 for him, suspecting that if he was
left without care any longer, he would die. Like most people, Bala and
Sharmila knew very little about chimpanzees in general, nevermind how to
care for a tiny infant. With care and attention, the little chimp
started to recover and he was given the name Bruno. The reason was that
on the day the chimp was bought, Frank Bruno and Mike Tyson were
fighting for the boxing world heavyweight title and Bala wanted Bruno to
win.
For one year, Bruno lived inside their house, free to roam
and get into mischief. As he grew, he became more destructive and so
Bala built him a cage located in their garden. As their knowledge about
chimps grew, so did their realisation that there were many more chimps
in Freetown, most of which were kept in appalling conditions.
1989 - 1992
Bala teamed with Rosalind Alp, who was studying wild chimps
in Sierra Leone and they completed an investigation into pet chimp
numbers. They found 55 captive chimps in Freetown alone.
Bala heard that one of the chimps seen in Freetown had been
abandoned by her Scottish expatriate owner. Bala went to the address
where he found Julie alone in her cage. He took Julie to his house where
she was gradually introduced to Bruno. After a few weeks the two chimps
were inseparable and have been together ever since.
Soon, as news spread that there was a couple of people in
Freetown who were helping chimps, so Bala was offered more chimps to
look after and he also continued to rescue other chimps suffering
varying degrees of neglect.
1993 - 1994
By 1993, more than half of the 55 chimps seen in Freetown in 1989 had
disappeared or been killed, and Bala had 2 chimps (Bruno & Julie) at his
home. As there was no prospect of returning these chimps to the wild, a
more permanent and suitable home would have to be found for them.
Bala then contacted Dr. Jane Goodall for advice about the
future of the 2 chimps and eventually arrangements were made for the
chimps to be relocated to the Chimfungsi Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Zambia.
But before this occurred, Bala was driving along a road one day when he
saw another two chimps being offered for sale in Freetown. It suddenly
struck him that the solution was not to send chimps to another country
to be looked after, the problem had to be solved within Sierra Leone
itself. Within little time Bala's chimp family grew to 7.
If he sent these chimps to Zambia, what would he do with the
next few that needed to be rescued in Freetown? He realised that the
chimp situation had two aspects that had to be stressed. One would be to
stop the selling and keeping of chimps, by educating people about the
law and to punish offenders. The other aspect would be to build a
sanctuary near Freetown, where already captive chimps could live in a
semi-wild environment within a forest. Thus, the seeds for the idea of a
sanctuary in Sierra Leone for chimps were sown!
1995
Bala liased with the Conservation Society of Sierra Leone (CSSL)
and produced a detailed project proposal, including an environmental
educational programme. This year the proposals for a chimp sanctuary
were approved. The Wildlife Conservation Branch of the Ministry of
Forestry (WCB) allocated 100 acres of prime rain forest for the chimp
project and so the work of creating a sanctuary began. The area assigned
to the project is just a 20 minutes drive from Freetown in the Western
Are Forest Reserve.
Financial support was required for the project, therefore a
number of concerned parties were invited to form a committee; its
mandate was to initiate fund raising initiatives and to steer the
project ahead. All the spending would be approved by the committee,
which was chaired by Mr. Prince Palmer. This year the European Union
(EU) awarded a conditional grant of $34,000 to the sanctuary premised on
Bala becoming Project Director as his commitment to the cause was clear.
These funds were made available on the condition that there was a full
time project manager for the programme. Bala accepted this and made a
major commitment to the chimps, he since gave up his 15- year career as
an accountant to work full time for the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary.
In November 1995, the sanctuary was officially opened. The
chimps were gradually moved to the new site and placed in their new
cages. The Wildlife Conservation Branch deployed three members of staff
to care for the chimps, and the Conservation Society of Sierra Leone
employed an education officer for the environmental education programme.
1996 - 1997
As news of the chimp programme spread, so did the reports of
more captive chimps in Freetown. Some chimps were handed over to the
sanctuary and others were confiscated under the provisions of the
Wildlife Conservation Act of 1972. For the next two years, chimps
continued to be rescued from desperate situations and by 1997, there
were 24 chimps at the sanctuary.
The next objective was to build electrified enclosures to
enable the chimps to be integrated together as a family unit in part of
the forest. however, funds were short, but WSPA became aware of the
needs of the project and arranged to visit the sanctuary in June 1997.
the aim of the trip was to assess the rehabilitation programme and to
consider support for the building of the chimp enclosures.
CIVIL WAR BEGINS
In May 1997, a month before WSPA was due to visit the
sanctuary, a coup occurred in Sierra Leone. It soon became clear that
rebel forces had seized power of the capital Freetown and were running a
campaign of terror and looting, causing the President to flea. The
Nigerian led West African Intervention Force, ECOMOG, was brought in to
oust the rebels from Freetown and reinstate the President.
Heavy fighting ensued and eventually Bala was forced to take
refuge, with other civilians, in a hotel under the protection of ECOMOG
soldiers. The hotel came under attack for two days, until the Red Cross
successfully negotiated a 1-hour cease-fire allowing the civilians to be
evacuated.
Bala travelled to London, where he approached several animal
welfare organisations to request emergency assistance to help the
sanctuary. As the coup continued, all the sanctuary’s money was frozen
in a closed bank in Freetown, but food and medicine for the chimps still
had to be purchased every day. Bala managed to channel funds to Freetown
through various means to keep the Sanctuary alive and running. WSPA and
other organisations offered financial assistance, which Bala took back
to SL as soon as he was allowed. It took him five days travelling before
he reached the sanctuary in November 1997, and was relieved to see that
the sanctuary staff had survived.
Rebels had passed through camp twice, each time looting all
chimp food, medicine and the staff’s personal belongings. The staff had
risked their lives to creep around the forest and find enough food to
keep the chimps alive. They had little money and so often had to take
loans from the local people while awaiting funds from Bala. The local
community was very generous and understanding, considering that they too
were suffering from a lack of food themselves. This has created a
permanent bond between Tacugama and the local community.
Sadly however, five chimps had died during these tragic months, due to
stress of the shooting, the bombing and the unavailability of medical
supplies. The remaining chimps had lost weight and were traumatised by
the events of the war – the sounds of gunfire, the looting soldiers and
the disruption of their family routine. When the coup ended, most of the
chimps reverted to their old characters, but one chimp named Little Boy
was mentally scared. He started pulling his hair out, rocking back and
forth and carrying a comfort blanket everywhere. This behaviour was
aggravated by seizures that led to his death months later.
1998 - 1999
In November 1998, WSPA were finally able to visit the project
and support the building of three electric fences, covering a total area
of 8 acres. There were 21 chimps at the Sanctuary and a new chimp
recently confiscated by WCB called Christo being nursed at Bala's homein
Freetown.
A few weeks after WSPA’s visit, rebel forces made another
attempt to overthrow the government and on January 6th 1999, rebels once
again advanced on Freetown. Heavy fighting ensued in the capital and
more than 3,000 people were killed and many others mutilated in the
following weeks. Sadly, this included Mr. Prince Palmer, the chairman of
the Tacugama Sanctuary steering committee, who had been so encouraged by
WSPA’s visit a few weeks before.
The staff once again hid close to the sanctuary, getting what
food to the chimps they could. Bala was fortunate to be living in a part
of Freetown that remained under the protection of ECOMOG forces allowing
Bala to stay in SL despite the war. Within days of the coup starting,
and during a curfew, Christo fell sick with tetanus and Bala was forced
to break into a pharmaceutical store to obtain the life saving drugs.
2000 - 2003
Tacugama made a big step forward in 2000. Three electric
fenced enclosures, dens, food storage room and office were constructed.
Bruno’s group was the first group of chimpanzees to be socialized and
released into the enclosure. Tacugama together with 17 other African
primate sanctuaries also formed an alliance, the Pan African Sanctuary
Alliance (PASA).
The complete disarmament in 2001 marked the end of the civil
war and led the country to peace. Many young chimpanzees were brought
from up-country to Freetown, mostly to be sold as pets to Peace Keeping
Operation soldiers and expatriates. As Tacugama’s active sensitisation
on the illegal chimpanzee pet trade was going on, many pet chimpanzees
were confiscated and this doubled the number of chimpanzees under the
sanctuary’s care.
The first documentary on Tacugama titled “Forest of Hope” was
filmed. Its main story was around Pinkie’s introduction to Bruno’s
group. Unfortunately, Pinkie died unexpectedly in 2002. She will forever
be remembered as the amazing white chimp.
As the documentary, “Forest of Hope,” attracted much
attention around the world, another documentary, “Chimps Under Fire” was
filmed to update the on-going activities at the sanctuary. By 2003
Tacugama now had a basic resource center, a quarantine clinic for new
arrivals and a food preparation room thanks to funds from the European
Union, the National Authorising Office & Animal Planet.
2004
Four additional enclosures and dens were built in 2004 to accommodate
the increasing number of resident chimpanzees. Jaguar’s group, a younger
group of chimpanzees who were released in one of the new enclosures. The
release was filmed to create the third documentary “Bala, the Friend of
Chimpanzees” which was aired in France.
2005
In 2005 the volunteer and staff quarters were built together
with new dens to accommodate 16 more young chimpanzees. An onsite
veterinarian joins the team at Tacugama for the first time.
In order to promote the conservation of wild chimpanzees in
Guinea and Sierra Leone, a nationwide education program is launched in
collaboration with the Jane Goodall Institute funded by USAID.
On the 6th of October, Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary hosted
more than 500 guests to celebrate our 10th Anniversary. It was a great
honour for us to have His Excellency, Dr. Alhaji Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, the
President of the Republic of Sierra Leone. We were also delighted with
the presence of many Government Ministers, Ambassadors, International
guests, heads of NGO´s, village elders and children.
2006
On the 23rd of April 2006 a group of 31 chimps of various
ages escaped from the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary. In the following
two weeks after the escape, 21 chimps returned, of which 19 had done on
their own will. After two months, 26 out of the 31 were back. There was
a lapse of three months before we were able to rescue one more adult
chimp, Ole. Up to today we have had sightings of two of the younger
chimps, Sabi & Toko but sadly none of Bruno nor of Charlie Boy.
New enclosures have been built for the new arrivals, and
Tacugama is now home to 85 endangered & orphaned chimpanzees. Congo and
her daughter, our visiting wild chimp continues to visit Bruno &
Augusta's group.
In 2006 our community support programmes gathered momentum.
The Regent primary school received books & stationary upgrades.
Clothing, shoes & various relief supplies were distributed as far as
Kailahun village, 300 miles north of Freetown.
Source: Official web of
Tacugama Chimpanzee
Sanctuary (2009)
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