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From pigsty to sanctuary
Tony
and Sampa are now safe at JGI SA Chimpanzee Eden
following a complex rescue late last year.
Aged
about three and seven respectively, the two
chimps were discovered by Eugene Cussons and his
rescue team following a tip-off while he was in
Angola to fetch Josephine in August last year.
They
were both malnourished and young Tony needed
medical attention for his eye. They were
imprisoned in a small cage with only a narrow
plank for a floor, in a filthy backyard that was
also home to goats, pigs and sheep.
Eugene managed to confiscate the two with the
help of the Angolan Department of Forestry and
move them to safekeeping near Luanda.
This
was far from simple. The team first had to
improvise a new cage by cutting up and
re-assembling a derelict one they found at the
zoo in Luanda and then find a “surrogate” family
for the chimps until their blood samples were
checked and permits obtained. This was followed
by the actual rescue - a tense confiscation,
complete with a heavily armed Department of
Forestry official and two guards.
The
chimps were cared for by a South African family
until Eugene, armed with permits, could return
to Angola in December to bring the pair back to
Mpumalanga.
Josephine, Tony
and Sampa have now served their quarantine
period, and Sanctuary Manager Phillip Cronje
will begin introducing them to their new family
groups. Josephine will join Abu’s camp, while
the others will become part of Joao’s family.
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