Janet the young chimpanzee is in forest school at the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary after tumultuous first year of life
Janet the chimpanzee is celebrating over a year of safety and love.
The two-year-old primate resides at Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Sierra Leone, where she is currently in “forest school” with the facility’s other orphaned rescue chimps.
It’s a happier life, far different from where Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary found her in January 2023.
A spokesperson for Tacugama tells PEOPLE that the sanctuary first learned of Janet when they received an “alarming call and footage all the way from Australia.”
In January 2023, John Kamara, a Sierra Leonean man based in Australia, received information from Sierra Leone Environment Matters, a volunteer youth group he founded in Sierra Leone. A volunteer from the group sent Kamara footage of “a baby chimpanzee in a bad state,” left tied outside a home by a rope around her neck, according to Tacugama.
Even though he was in Australia, Kamara knew he had to take action to save the chimp in the video. He called Tacugama and informed the sanctuary about the situation. After getting the information from Kamara, Tacugama quickly launched a rescue mission to save Janet.
“She lost her mum, her family, and her home and was held as a pet, living outside the house on a tightrope,” the Tacugama spokesperson says about why they helped the orphaned chimp. “For every baby chimp obtained, the mum and several other family members have been killed. For a family will never give up their young without a fight.”
The sanctuary spokesperson notes that when Tacugama’s rescue team — which consisted of a driver, a camp supervisor, outreach field officers, on-site rangers, NPAA (National Protected Area Authority) rangers, and the local police — moved to save Janet from the neglectful conditions, they found an animal who was malnourished, traumatized, dehydrated and suffering from severe a skin disease. She also had a tight rope around her neck.
“She was in a very bad state, physically and mentally,” the Tacugama spokesperson explains.
The rescue team brought Janet back to the sanctuary, where they immediately started her medical treatment and started the young chimp, estimated to be a year old at the time, on a three-month quarantine period.
Tacugama quarantines all new arrivals for three months. During this time, orphaned chimps like Janet are under the 24/7 care of a surrogate human mother.
“Janet responded very well to her treatments, started to eat well, and quickly proved to be a very independent little girl. She was constantly climbing fast and high, keeping her surrogate mother very busy,” the Tacugama’s spokesperson shares.
Once her quarantine period was over and she was deemed healthy, Janet moved to forset school. Here, she is with other orphaned chimps under the sanctuary’s care. Tacugama is home to 120 rescue chimpanzees at the sanctuary, including 40 babies and toddlers. At the forest school, Janet and the other young chimps are learning to climb, forage, and socialize.
According to the sanctuary, rehabilitating traumatized baby chimpanzees takes a long time. Tacugama is preparing the young animals for the next phase of their care. It involves introducing them to a larger group of adult chimpanzees that share an outdoor enclosure during the day.
Tacugama is honored to give Janet “a second chance at a chimpanzee-worthy life,” but the sanctuary is concerned about the “alarming” number of chimpanzees being kept as pets, according to the organization’s spokesperson.
“Almost all the young animals we rescue are taken from homes where they are kept as pets. All the animals are malnourished and severely traumatized. Often, they also have pellets in their bodies because the rest of their families were shot,” the spokesperson adds of what their rescue chimps have endured.
According to the sanctuary, western chimpanzees like Janet are critically endangered. Only 5,500 western chimpanzees remain in the wild in Sierra Leone. Tacugama is dedicated to protecting these at-risk animals and preserving our planet’s biodiversity.
Animal lovers can assist with this goal by donating to Tacugama via the sanctuary’s website. People can also help the sanctuary by subscribing to Ecoflix, the world’s first nonprofit streaming platform. Tacuguma is among the numerous nonprofits Ecoflix users can dedicate their subscriptions to. To learn more about EcoFLix and the nonprofit the platform supports, visit www.ecoflix.com.
