A chimpanzee and its babysit and eat on an island in the Douala-Edea Nature Park in Marienberg on December 14, 2024. (Photo by Daniel Beloumou Olomo / AFP)
By AFP - Agence France Presse
Cameroonian islands offer a safe home for orphaned chimpanzees
Marienberg, Cameroon: Adolescent chimpanzees are in some ways quite similar to their human counterparts.
They live with their mother until adolescence, are sometimes a little cheeky, and, being highly social animals, struggle to survive on their own until they learn to fend for themselves.
So when poachers kill chimpanzee mothers for food, keep their young chained up in captivity for the exotic pet trade, or when the family group is destroyed when the forest where they live is cleared for commercial palm oil plantations, orphaned chimpanzees need help.
In Cameroon, the NGO Papaye International runs a sanctuary for the endangered animals on three islands in the Douala-Edea National Park.
“The chimpanzees in the sanctuary are chimpanzees that have had a tragic past due to illegal hunting, deforestation, and groups that have been killed,” said Marylin Pons Riffet, 57, the French director of the charity.
“We only take in orphaned chimpanzees, who are young and therefore need man's help after having a gun pointed at them or their habitat destroyed,” she told AFP.
The charity helps the orphans get used to surviving in semi-wild conditions again but on islands far from their only predator - the humans with whom they share 98% of their DNA and a good degree of behavior.
Common chimpanzee populations, which used to roam 26 countries in equatorial Africa, have plummeted since the 1980s and are at risk of extinction in the wild.
We are a family
Fabrice Moudoungue, a 39-year-old caretaker, travels by boat every day to bring food to the three rainforest-covered islands in the Sanaga River where Papaye International's 34 chimpanzees live.
“This is Water Lily! This is Star!” he calls.
The chimps, who recognize his voice, run excitedly along the shore of Yakonzo-Okokong Island towards the boat and hug him when he comes out to offer them bananas, coconuts, tomatoes, and dates.
“They are not 'like' my family. They 'are' my family because we spend all our time, every day, with them,” he said with a smile.
In general, chimpanzees are afraid of humans and can be aggressive when frightened, especially if they have been mistreated in captivity in the past.
But with daily, gentle contact, Moudoungue and his colleagues at the sanctuary have won their trust.
“These are cubs we released about four or five years ago. We visit them all the time to keep in touch so that if one of them gets sick, they will still accept us,” said manager Francois Elimbi.
When he arrives on Yatou Island, Honey wraps him in her long black arms.
The adult female chimpanzee was released there in 2019 after needing almost 10 years of care at the sanctuary.
“It's inexplicable, very powerful. You get goosebumps when a monkey hugs you. That means he still recognizes you. You are his friend,” said Elimbi.
Special bond
Tchossa and Conso are still too young and inexperienced to be released on the islands.
They have a large cage near the caretakers' quarters in Yatou, where they play on their swings and sleep in hammocks, waiting for their daily walk with the team to rediscover the forest.
Alioum Sanda, 67, has a special bond with Conso.
“He has the handcuff marks because, after the poachers killed his mother, the little guy didn't trust them, so they handcuffed him,” he said, pointing to the scars on the chimp's body.
He recalled how Conso had changed since his arrival at the sanctuary.
“He was very aggressive, considering the mistreatment he had received when he was in Douala. It took at least two months before he trusted me,” Sanda recalled.
“I put diapers on him. I cleaned his wounds.”
Conso, now fully recovered, began to dance, feeling that it was almost time for his daily walk.
Sanda took his bony hand.
“If we don't do what we're doing, they'll disappear,” he said softly.
“Let's say then that there was an animal called a chimpanzee. We have to try to preserve them so that future generations - our grandchildren - can see them too.”
Lnf/hpn/gil
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