Hello everyone!
Yes, most of you know about the latest little baby chimp who has arrived at JACK thanks to the help of Samantha. Mapima is the baby chimpanzee that was seized in Goma. You can read more about her on http://gorilla.cd/
Mapima had a good journey with Faustin and safely arrived in Lubumbashi.
Mapima arriving at the Lubumbashi airport
She is actually very young (no canines which means she is less than 1 year old!!!) and she is the youngest and smallest chimp J.A.C.K. has ever welcomed….
As the poor little one had to adjust herself to her new environment, she was rather aggressive at the beginning. Especially with human females. Faustin was the only person who could hug her and take care of her.
Today, Mapima has been introduced to Kimo, the other baby one that arrived in November from Kinshasa, and they are spending their quarantine together at my place because of the rainy weather… Because Faustin is due to leave tomorrow, he has already started keeping his distance from the little chimp. Josefine and one of our keepers are both now taking care of the two babies. You can read more about Kimo on Josefine’s blog
Mapima (left) and Kimo
If the power and the Internet connection are fine tomorrow, I’ll try to send you more info with an update on Tongo and Jane as well.
Mapima is the 19th chimpanzee at J.A.C.K. Each baby represents an average of 150USD a month (food, medical assistance, staff salaries). If each of you could give at least 1 USD, you’d make the difference!!!
Thank you for them!!!
Roxane
Ping :A new group | J.A.C.K.
Amy, you are right, chimpanzees can end up with PTSD from traumas just like humans. We haven’t had severe cases, but almost each chimpanzee that has arrived at our Refuge was traumatised. Two of them didn’t want to live any more, refused contacts, food…Depending on the trauma, it took us some time, a lot of love, attention, care and patience to help them go through these hard times… I’m sure human therapy might work on lost chimpanzees, but we have never had such experience at JACK
Thank you so much for the update Roxane! Mapima is just where she needs to be, with other chimps. I know this must be hard for Faustin. Give him our thanks for the care and love he gave Mapima and for bringing her to JACK where she can be with her own kind. I look forward to seeing more pictures.
Roxane — I know that chimpanzees can end up with PTSD from traumas they experience, like seeing their families killed. How do you deal with this? Does the love, care and security you give them, along with the bonds they create with their caregivers and other orphans heal them generally? Or do you need to give them some sort of therapy beyond that?
Roxane — thanks for the update…I had no idea Mapima was so young! Thank God for Faustin and JACK…poor Faustin though….must break his heart everytime he leaves JACK…I hope he had a chance to visit with Tonga. As always, thank you for all you do…I plan to get our monthly donation back up and running today…
Mapima is a wee baby, that’s for sure. I hope she and Faustin will always be friends and that he can visit her and Tongo again some time. I’m looking forward to updates on all the new babies and some of the « old timers. »
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