Our team is making so many sacrifices to protect our residents against the virus and we really thank THEM for their hard work!

This morning, many of our youngsters gathered on the fake termite mount to “hunt” for some honey. Young Mata decided he would wait until all the others have gone – but, was there still some honey left???

Mata and Ekolo came closer to the camera just to say ‘hello’

On March 31st, the so expected decision of the DRC Wildlife authority (ICCN) was announced: for the coming month and from the second April on, J.A.C.K. will be totally locked down as a result of the so many precautionary measures that are being taken by the government to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus.

Kinshasa, the capital of the DR Congo, is already infected and so are cities of a few other DRC provinces. No Covid-19 cases have been really confirmed in Lubumbashi and this is why the ICCN (DRC Institute of National Parks) and J.A.C.K. Founders decided to anticipate. Remember: this is a brand new virus and we don’t know what impact it can have on chimpanzees…

ICCN Provincial  Director of Greater Katanga, Mr MUIR Robert, came at the sanctuary to share his decision. J.A.C.K. is no longer allowed to accept visitors and its personnel has been asked to stay at the complex with the chimpanzees. The ICCN Rangers ensuring the security of the sanctuary have to stick to the same rules. And both Founders, Franck and Roxane, have been asked to take good care of the teams staying at the centre as they are the only ones allowed to enter the place to provide food and equipment.

The Rangers and J.A.C.K. team were aware of this decision and had accepted the lock down of the sanctuary. The Founders provide them with food, have bought items for their accomodation (matrasses, mosquito nets, buckets, cooing  ustensils, etc), have offered weekly airtime for the workers to call their families and athey were also given a bonus to store food for the families. This decision represents a huge sacrifice for all of them especially in these very particular times (disease, growing insecurity due to increasing prices, etc).

More updates to come soon – thank you for following us…

https://www.facebook.com/JACK.CHIMPS.CONGO/videos/271458107158091/

For the more curious, here is a small summary of his history…

This young male was called “SEC” and as he was too old to change his first name completely, we made it “SEKI”.

One day, a young expatriate lady came to the project, explaining that she had a baby chimpanzee. Little Seki was no longer a chimp like the others and had become the child of the house. He ate pizzas, sweets, went to the fridge and in the cupboards and watched TV…

“SEC” had his little habits of a spoiled child since he was the only child in the house. After a year of hesitation, the mistress finally decided to give him back to the authorities and then to the project since she realized that he was becoming more and more powerful and that his real place was among its pairs and not in her living room…

So Seki arrived at J.A.C.K., adorable, relentless tenderness, he had to relearn by himself to become a chimpanzee! From the start of his arrival at the sanctuary, we did our best.

Today, J.A.C.K. succeeded , Seki is a beautiful chimpanzee and he’s well in his group and with his family, fully integrated.

Oh, before I finish: SEKI has two physical features: 1 / it has large drooping ears (which makes it recognizable from a distance and 2 / it has the phalanx of the index finger of the right hand severed. No doubt was he caught in a trap …

For more information concerning the sponsorship of our chimps and their stories … it’s here => https://jackchimp.yolasite.com/support-a-chimp.php

ENJOY YOUR MEAL SEKI !

Thanks to the precious support of our donors we managed to offer our team new boots for Christmas! A very appreciated gift especially during this rainy season!

🍊EARLY MORNING ENRICHMENT – food is hidden every day on the playgrounds to help our friends keep their #instinct of #forraging