It is obvious 2020 isn’t a good year! Too many animals are being poached, slaughtered and rescued by rescue centers. It seems the situation is worse than ever and it is clear that, one day, Mother Nature won’t be as generous any more….

This time, we rescued an adult female chimpanzee –  we named her Lulah

Lulah looks fine but only the bllod work and lots of observations will tell us in the coming days/weeks how she really is! (Sorry, the spelling of Lullah’s name on the video is not correct – small mistake!!

Sania is the name of the latest chimpanzee orphan we have been handed over by the DRC wildlife authorities. She arrived last October. We estimate she is about 4 years old.

The  primate baby was malnutrished and dehydrated. In addition to this, she was deeply trraumatised, feeling extremely lonely and was seriously affected mentaly. When she arrived, Sania never interacted, never showed interest in anything – even in food… To me, she had decided not to live any more because of the loss of her mom, the slaughter of her family and because off all she had been through.

Because the baby ape was so fragile and also because of the Covid pandemic, it was decided Sania would not go to the sanctuary to be monitored 24h/day at our house. Sania needed  plenty of TLC and a peaceful place to recover both psychologically and physically. We had to work quickly – Sania had given up the fight and we had to show her she was in good hands!

Therefore, and since the day Sania arrived, Mama Angeline (our surrogate mom), Franck (my husband) and myself have been taking care day and night of our little newcomer. The sanitary protocol of the sanctuary has been implemented at our house too and we were all checked daily for fever, coughing or any other Covid related symptoms.

Despite her mental fragility Sania was fine and, during her Covid quarantine of 14 days, she didn’t show any health issues at all.

After one long week of patienceness, Sania started eating, playing, interacting and even vocalising with us! We were all happy to see Sania had finally accepted to take the second chance we were offering her in life – this sounded like a real victory to us against all these horrible traders and poachers who kill and destroy everything around them! Sania was now out of danger!

Also, since the Covid-quarantine was finished, we decided to bring Sania at the sanctuary so that she could understand she was not alone and that chimp friends were waiting for her. We have had several bushwalks already…

Today, it’s been 4 weeks Sania has been rescued and she is now spending her normal quarantine with us. Sania is a playful little chimp. She has gained some weight (2.8kg/ 6.17lbs) and if she keeps on progressing this way, she will probably continue her quarantine at the sanctuary next December.