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Mac’s Story of Survival
June 2008
Dear Friends: I arrived in Uganda for the first time in mid-January, fresh from my once-in-a-lifetime experience of having walked with the wild chimpanzees at Gombe in Tanzania. I was met by Debby Cox, Executive Director of JGI-Uganda, at Entebbe airport and her news was not so good. A baby chimpanzee of about a year and a half had been rescued by JGI staff just the previous afternoon from a home in the west of Uganda. This young chimpanzee, named Mac by the staff, was severely traumatized. It was unclear how long he had been held in the dark room, or how long he had been separated from his mother. But the staff at JGI were almost certain that his mother was dead, as it is virtually impossible to separate adult chimpanzees from their young otherwise. |
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Mac, just after his rescue by JGI staffThe rescue was a grim reminder that, although JGI’s community-centred conservation activities in Tanzania, Uganda, DRC and Congo are making phenomenal progress, there is still a huge challenge to be faced from the commercial bushmeat trade, now the biggest threat to the survival of chimpanzees in the wild.
With your support, JGI’s sanctuaries for chimpanzees in Uganda and the Republic of Congo provide a safe haven for young chimpanzees that are orphaned through the bushmeat trade. Typically, the adult chimpanzees are killed for food, but the infants, too small to eat, are taken to market to be sold as pets or for entertainment purposes. At this point they are often confiscated by authorities and brought to JGI to be cared for.
More than 30 young chimpanzees have arrived in this way at our Tchimpounga Sanctuary in Congo over the past year and the number grows each month. We desperately need your support to provide ongoing care for these individuals, and to work on initiatives that will reduce poaching and put a stop to this devastating trade.
Our sanctuaries do more than just care for orphaned chimpanzees. Increasingly, they are becoming focal points for JGI’s community-centred conservation programs. When villagers from surrounding communities visit Tchimpounga, for example, they come face-to-face with the humanity of the chimpanzees – and see first-hand the terrible toll exacted by the bushmeat trade.
Through conservation education, JGI is also engaging villagers as partners in building healthier, more prosperous communities that are better equipped to preserve their natural resources and protect the wildlife and ecosystems that surround them. The demand for bushmeat is being reduced thanks to JGI programs that empower people by:
- promoting sustainable, higher-yield forms of agriculture
- providing small loans to villagers through microcredit programs
- assisting with the establishment of eco-tourism sites.
With your support, JGI has been able to introduce many conservation programs to ensure the protection of chimpanzees by educating and empowering local communities. There is still much to do and with your donation today, we can accomplish much more.
Chimpanzees are critically endangered in the wild. But despite the fact that it is illegal to kill, capture or keep chimpanzees in Uganda, our staff know of seven chimpanzees that have been killed in the last year alone. Chimps are particularly targeted by farmers who don't want them raiding their sugar cane or other crops. As more and more of Uganda's chimpanzee habitat is destroyed, this human-chimp conflict worsens.
In Mac’s case, the staff in Uganda had received word that a chimpanzee was being held for sale on the black market for $1,000, and immediately went to work with police on a successful sting operation.
When JGI staff arrived and posed as exotic pet traders, they found Mac sitting in the corner of a dark, damp room, with bits of uneaten food thrown around, quivering, so scared of the men around him that his eyes were shaking.
Mac (on the chest) 3 months after his rescue |
JGI staff successfully negotiated a price to purchase the chimp, and then contacted police, who arrived and arrested the sellers. Mac was scooped up by a JGI staff member, and clung to his new-found friend with all his strength. Since then, JGI has worked with the police and the Ugandan Wildlife Authority investigative team to ensure the matter is taken seriously, and the two men have been given a fine equivalent to one year's earnings. Part of this process entailed hand-delivering a copy of the Ugandan Protection of Wildlife Act to the arresting officer, who until that moment had never seen it before, and was unsure what law the men had broken. Mac made the five-hour journey with JGI staff to Entebbe without incident. He spent three months in quarantine at the Ugandan Wildlife Education Centre, but has now been moved to the nearby Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary where he will spend the rest of his life with other rescued chimps on this 100-acre rainforest island. Most importantly, he will have the chance to play, feel the sun on his back, and forge the social bonds so critical to his happiness. |
JGI desperately needs additional resources to care for the ever-growing number of orphaned chimps like Mac. Your donation will help us to purchase food and medical supplies. And your investment will be invaluable in supporting JGI’s work to help local people and governments see the benefits of keeping forests intact by establishing non-threatening revenue streams, as well as improving law enforcement.
Your support of the Jane Goodall Institute of Canada will do so much to protect chimpanzees and their habitat in Africa. By making a gift today of $35, $50 or $100, either online or completing and mailing the form below, you will be helping to save the lives of chimps like Mac. Your dollars will be put to work immediately, helping to protect these magnificent animals from extinction.
Thank you for your generosity.
Sincerely,
Jane Lawton
Executive Director
Jane Goodall Institute of Canada
P.S. My trip to Africa in January was a unique opportunity to see JGI programs in action and renewed my hope for the future. I am confident that you will want to contribute to these incredible and vitally important conservation programs by donating today. I look forward to hearing from you.
All gifts to the Jane Goodall Institute are eligible for a tax receipt. Charitable Registration Number: 14053 0916 RR0001
