Chimpanzee rescue in the Albertine rift of Uganda :

A status report

A. Seguya*, Executive Director, Uganda Wildlife Education Centre, D. Hyeroba, Vet , Uganda Wildlife Education Centre &

P. Appel, Field Programmes Manager, Jane Goodall Institute

Uganda

director@uweczoo.org

The main causes of chimpanzee injury requiring rescue in the Albertine region of Uganda includes wire snares – locally produced wire loops that ensnare the hand or foot and tightens more whenever the chimpanzee fights to free itself; man traps – locally made vice grip tools used to deter chimpanzees from crop raiding; physical injuries – (such as spearing) following crop raiding expeditions; consfication – from illegal trade or unauthorized capture and witchcraft – mainly in local tribes where the sounds made by the chimpanzees are made belief to be those of ancestors or spirits. Habitat loss (cutting of forests) remains the most important underlying problem as human population grows and starts competing for the meager resources such as food, energy and land for agriculture. This is compounded by destruction of the forest corridors joining the major forests is causing a limitation in genetic mixing of chimpanzee population leading to inbreeding.

The rescue of chimpanzees in distress faces a number of challenges including: the lack of sufficient numbers of trained veterinarians; insufficient equipments – dart guns, pistols, drugs; lack of a field clinic as the desired course of action is treatment and immediate release back into the wild; lack of field vehicles for the rescue effort (4x4 vehicles only required due to the terrain), fuel, maintenance costs; insufficient surgical equipment in the veterinary hospital at the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre (UWEC); insufficient quarantine facilities for the rescued chimpanzees and insufficient long-term care facilities for the rescued chimpanzees that cannot be returned to the wild.

To date, 13 cases have been rescued, rehabilitated, or brought into captive management since 2005. 7 cases have been rescued, treated right in the forest and released. In 4 cases, rescue was attempted and failed because of the rough terrain or intervention of other chimpanzee group members. 2 cases have been found dead though there are suspected to be many more that we never get to see. It is also estimated that up to 25% of the chimps in the Albertine region carry some form of human inflicted injury.

The way forward to stem this trend of events is the acquisition of field education kits to create awareness in the local communities around the forests against trapping and killing of the chimpanzees; developing tourism products around the chimpanzee areas which involve the local communities so that they can see the value of the chimpanzees (as was done for the mountain gorillas); to promote alternative economic activities to the illegal trade in chimpanzees; restitution of forests and forest corridors to provide sufficient space for the chimpanzees to avoid crop raiding leading to human/wildlife conflict; acquisition of a fully fledged field veterinary unit to reduce on the removal of injured chimpanzees from the wild; strengthening of the law and penalties against capture, injury and illegal trade in chimpanzees, including for such use as witchcraft and creating awareness against the bushmeat practice especially among the refugee communities from Central Africa where the practice is common.