Limbe Wildlife Centre

Category: Chimpanzee | Date: Aug 05 2008 | By: limbewildlifecentre

Last Thursday I was called by a man in Bafoussam, who said he had a baby chimpanzee that he would like to donate to the Limbe Wildlife Centre. He had tried to find a good place for it for more then a month, but it was not until he emailed the IFAW office in France that he found out about the LWC. On Friday our head keeper travelled to Bafoussam to meet the man and bring back the chimpanzee. They arrived on Saturday in Limbe. The man told us that he had bought the chimpanzee from someone in Mbam forest, where he often goes to find herbs. He had paid 50,000 CFA (75 euros) for it. He told us that it was not the first time he had seen a young chimpanzee in that forest. The first time he had not bought the animal and when he came back a few days later the animal had died. This is why he felt he had to buy this chimpanzee to save its life. The Limbe Wildlife Centre never buys animals because it encourages hunters to get more animals from the forest. The man understood this, but he had felt like he had no choice. Just as we were listening to the man’s story, his phone rang. It was the man from the forest, saying that he had another chimpanzee for sale. This is a very sad illustration of the fact that buying animals really creates a market. We will of course try to get this chimpanzee as well, but then through confiscation. 

We have called our new chimpanzee Mbam. He is around one and a half years old and in good condition. He does not trust people yet and does not like us to touch him. No wonder after what he has been through. We take shares sitting with him and let him come to us. Today he started licking my hand, so I am sure he will soon come around.

Best wishes,

Simone de Vries

Assistant Project Manager 

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