By: Mohamed Sahr
Even though Sierra Leone is known for the brutal civil war, deadly Ebola epidemic and the horrible mudslide that killed tens of thousands of Sierra Leoneans, many sectors have remained resilient and determined in their operations. Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary is one of the sectors that has stood firm during the time of sorrow and grief. Twenty-five years ago, the Sanctuary had been in operation with only two chimps brought from owners, and now Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary has total of one hundred and eleven chimps that are well cared for and properly treated.
In 2019, the Government of Sierra Leone declared these endangered species as the National Animal. It means Chimp is the face of Tourism and its emblem of intimacy is tourists attraction. This silver lining has sent shock waves to lots of foreigners in an unprecedented adventure to see the Western Chimpanzee. The mass influx of people especially both local and international tourists to Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary has caused scores of attraction to the projection of the country in the spotlight by Western media like Al Jazeera as well as the local print and broadcast media in positive high. In February 2021, the New York Times published that Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary is the number one tourist destination in Africa.
Three outreach components are established within the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary in order to see the need of communities, education and tourism. Among these components is Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary Community otherwise Environmental Outreach Program, Education Program and Eco- Tourism. The Community Program hinges on addressing the needs of people and figuring out the drivers behind the capturing and killing of the endangered Western Chimp.
Also, this program emphasizes on working with communities on how to protect the catchment areas, water sources and promoting sustainable livelihood for these people in the settlements such as agriculture, health and hygiene facility among others. The Eco-Tourism component shows some of the ways of providing campaign and creating awareness to community people about the important of forest as well as the rudiments of protecting Freetown Peninsula Reserve.
For the education component, Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary constantly works with lots of schools across the country by imbibing the culture and the significant of wildlife preservation into the minds of the younger generation. An instance of this is seen during the Chimp week campaign and awareness which captured pupils across major schools in Freetown who joined in spreading the message around Chimp as the National Animal, mitigating deforestation and adhere to the preservation of wildlife as well as planting of trees.
On the other hand, according to a census conducted by Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary in 2021, it has proved that Sierra Leone has five thousand five hundred (5,500) western chimps. At the same time, the rest are in the mercy of hunters, poachers, farmers and loggers. Other human activities such as gold and diamond mining continue to deplete the ozone layers. With the camera surveillance at the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary Freetown Peninsula Reserve it has confirmed that there are compelling number of other animals living in the demarcated areas of the sanctuary.
Nevertheless, chimpanzees are 98.6% genetically similar to humans and can carry many diseases common to humans. Most captive chimps have had close contact with man for a long period. The worst case in this regard is that the potential therefore to acquire disease is massive. Chimps are the closest relative to humans. They use tools like stick to fish out termites, stone to crack hard nuts, leaf to drink water in the well. Also, grooming is part of their social behaviour. Chimps have emotional feelings and capable show out facial expression. Interestingly, chimps work straight up by doing back-pedalling with their paws on the ground and they breast feed their babies.
