PREVIEW

Somebody the Chimp has a remarkable story, having battled disability to become a talented user of tools and an amazing mum.

The primate arrived at Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Sierra Leone in 2013. She was caught in a snare close to Makeni, then sold to a couple who kept her for almost two years before handing her over to the sanctuary.
Somebody was already 6 years old when she was rescued, but despite her handicap, she learnt how to be a very skillful chimp - utilising tools as well as her peers despite her damaged hand.


She is now also a mother to Someone, a young male chimp born towards the end of 2019. Although the birth was unplanned, everyone in the sanctuary – both chimps and humans – have fallen in love with this new chimp addition.


Most chimps that arrive at the sanctuary are fewer than five years old and would normally still be suckling milk from their mothers.


Many are mistreated by their owners, injured, malnourished, or disabled; they have been abandoned or illegally sold as pets. In most cases the mothers, and sometimes the family, have been hunted as part of the illegal bushmeat trade or as a result of human-wildlife conflict and their young have been sold as pets by the poachers.


Due to their small size, the young chimpanzees are worth more alive than as bushmeat. All of the chimpanzees arriving at Tacugama have suffered some kind of mental trauma as a result of the violent separation from their families and many come with physical injuries such as wounds from shotgun pellets or machetes.


Somebody is an ambassador chimp for Tacugama, as it relies completely on donations.


This means that people can become her virtual guardian and get an update from her four times a year as well as a certificate of their guardianship.