Habitat Ecologique et Liberté des Primates:
Reintroducing Chimpanzees Back to the Wild

by Kay H. Farmer
Fall 2002 newsletter

In 1989, Aliette Jamart, a French businesswoman living in the Republic of Congo (or Congo Brazzaville as it sometimes known) took the first two chimpanzees into her home in Pointe-Noire. The chimpanzees, named Jeanette and Choupette, were survivors of the trade in bushmeat (the trade of meat from wild animals); their mothers had been killed by hunters but they were taken alive destined to become part of the lucrative pet trade. Confiscated from their owners, with no sanctuary established in the country at that time, wildlife officials placed the chimpanzees in the local dilapidated zoo. Luckily for Jeanette and Choupette, they were later transferred into the care of Aliette.

By May 1991, Aliette had 21 chimpanzees living in her house and the search was on for a more suitable home. Permission was obtained from the government to use three forested islands on the Conkouati Lagoon (approximately 180 km from Pointe-Noire) where the chimpanzees could be released. At the same time, Aliette created an association named 'Habitat Ecologique et Liberté des Primates' (HELP) to protect threatened primates in the Congo. By that August, all the chimpanzees were moved to their new home, and Aliette's neighbours in Pointe-Noire breathed a big sigh of relief! By 1994, HELP had 48 chimpanzees living on the three islands.

Unfortunately, none of the islands were large enough to allow the chimpanzees to be nutritionally self-sufficient and Aliette dreamt of returning the chimpanzees to their forest home. The general consensus has been that rescued chimpanzees cannot simply be reintroduced to the wild due to their complex social structure and ignorance of wild foods. In an unpublished report, Stella Brewer showed that reintroduced chimpanzees in Senegal could learn what to eat but due to negative encounters with wild conspecifics1, they were subsequently removed and placed onto forested islands on the River Gambia. Undeterred, and still seeking a long-term solution for the chimpanzees on the islands at Conkouati, Aliette began a search for a suitable release site.

1 An organism belonging to the same species as another.

A release site must be able to provide sufficient resources for the released individuals without negatively impinging on the requirements of species already present. Additionally, the site must offer adequate protection from threats such as logging and hunting, and not expose the released chimpanzees to situations of conflict with humans by being located close to villages and plantations (Tutin et al., 2001). Surveys were conducted and a potential release site known locally as the Triangle in the Conkouati-Douli National Park was highlighted. The Triangle is an area of 21 square kilometres bound by rivers on all sides but not isolated from the rest of the park (5045 sq. km.) due to natural bridges of crossing canopy and fallen trees. A low population density of wild chimpanzees, combined with the high density of wild chimpanzee foods, suggested that extra individuals could be reintroduced without negative effects on the resident fauna and flora.

A complete medical assessment of the chimpanzees was undertaken, and the staff familiar with the character and behaviour of each chimpanzee judged who was and was not suitable for release. Since 1996, 37 chimpanzees in six stages have been transferred from the islands to mainland forest in the Conkouati-Douli National Park. When released, chimpanzees were fitted with radio collars to facilitate post-release monitoring, and data were collected on their ranging, diet and behaviour patterns.

To date, 27 chimpanzees are confirmed alive and well and that including six that were released over five years ago. Three chimpanzees have died (two males were killed by wild chimpanzees) and the whereabouts of seven remain unknown. That is a confirmed 73% success rate with a possible 92%! Data analyses have revealed that the chimpanzees' diet and activity budgets are comparable to those of their wild conspecifics. Furthermore, all the chimpanzees build night nests high in trees post-release; the ability to obtain a suitable place to sleep is listed as one of the skills necessary to successfully adapt to a natural environment (Box, 1991).

So what has happened to Jeanette and Choupette? They were both released in 1996 and are thriving; they spend most of their time ranging the forests of Conkouati together. Choupette has recently given birth to a baby boy and genetic analyses have revealed that Mekoutou, a male also reintroduced in 1996 is the father (Goossens et al, submitted).

The results of this study indicate that chimpanzees born in the wild yet reared in semi-captivity are able to adapt to life in the wild (Farmer and Jamart, 2002). As numbers of African sanctuaries and the animals within them continue to increase, reintroduction may offer a long-term solution for some chimpanzees. This addresses not only welfare but also conservation concerns of a great ape whose number are rapidly diminishing in the wild (Butynski, 2000). However, finding an appropriate release site is difficult and the unique situation at Conkouati (e.g., ideal pre-release environment) may not be applicable to captive chimpanzees in most African sanctuaries.

The HELP island sanctuary is one of 18 ape sanctuaries that range across 13 African countries and presently cares for over 500 great apes (Farmer, submitted). A combination of hunting, logging, mining, farming and the commercial trade in primates impacts cumulatively on ape populations, and as the pressures escalate so do the number of orphaned primates needing refuge (Teleki, 2001). The numbers of apes in African sanctuaries represent the tip of the iceberg as in each country there are many more animals being illegally held as pets or for entertainment in bars and hotels.

The hunting of wild animals for food is no longer a subsistence activity; the image of a hunter stalking a single animal to feed his family is a dim and distant myth. This is a commercial trade, satisfying the needs and greed of a growing urban population not only in Africa but overseas. One study in the Congo found that 5 - 7% of chimpanzee and gorilla populations were killed each year and counted 293 chimpanzee carcasses during a 12-month study (Ape Alliance, 1998). Recently in the UK, customs and excise officers found on one flight alone that 110 passengers out of 120 were carrying bushmeat in their personal baggage (Rosen, 2002). Such is the scale of the problem.

Sanctuaries try to address not only the symptoms of the bushmeat trade by such means as offering refuge to the orphans, but also its root causes through conservation education, habitat protection, and local development. However, whilst sanctuaries are able to attract public sympathy and small amounts of funding, this popularity does not translate into international support. Nearly every project is perpetually short of funds and simply finding the money to pay the salaries of the local staff and feed the animals can be a major problem. The lack of international support is exacerbated by some wildlife biologists who argue that sanctuaries are a waste of money, money that would be better spent on habitat protection. This lack of support prevents sanctuaries from opening in countries such as Liberia, Angola and Central African Republic; countries that are known to have orphaned chimpanzees in need of refuge.

African sanctuaries, however, are gathering strength. For the first time, in May 2000, managers of chimpanzee sanctuaries gathered together to discuss formulating universal guidelines and objectives for sanctuaries. The Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA) was formed, an umbrella organisation designed to represent all African primate sanctuaries. Sanctuary managers now meet on an annual basis; the meeting this year was held in Kenya and previous meetings have taken place in Cameroon and Uganda. It is hoped that this alliance will create and promote a more professional unified approach to sanctuary management, ultimately improving standards of care, increasing participation in conservation issues and promoting the recognition and support that sanctuaries deserve and urgently need to enable them to continue their work.

Despite their critics, sanctuaries do provide a place for government officials to place confiscated animals and furthermore, with an understanding of local attitudes, properly managed sanctuaries can play a role in public education and in nurturing respect for animals and their environment. Although habitat protection should be at the heart of conservation thinking, these approaches need not be in competition with one another, as ultimately the survival of the great apes will rely on a more eclectic approach.

For more information on HELP contact: Dr Benoit Goossens, Biodiversity and Ecological Processes Group, School of Biosciences, Cardiff University,
Cardiff CF10 3US. Wales. UK. Email: goossensbr@cardiff.ac.uk
Website: www.help-primates.org

For more information on PASA contact: Doug Cress, PASA Secretariat, PO Box 86184, Portland, Oregon 97286. USA. Email: carol@andkeys.com
Website: www.panafricanprimates.org

References:

Ape Alliance (1998) The African bushmeat trade - a recipe for extinction. A report produced and distributed by the Ape Alliance, London.

Box, H.O. (1991) Training for life after release: simian primates as examples. In: Beyond captive breeding, reintroducing endangered mammals to the wild. Gipps, J.H.W. (ed), Oxford Science Publications, Oxford, pp.111-123.

Brewer, S. The rehabilitation of captive chimpanzees into the wild in Niokolo Koba national Park, Senegal. Unpublished report.

Butynski, T.M. (2001) Great apes in the wild. In: Great apes and humans, the ethics of coexistence. Beck, B., Stoinski, T., Hutchins, M., Maple, T.L., Norton, B., Rowan, A., Stevens, E.F., Arlike, A.. (eds.), Smithsonian Press, Washington, pp. 3-56.

Farmer, K.H., Jamart, A. (2002) Habitat Ecologique et Liberté des Primates: A case study of chimpanzee reintroduction. In: Re-introduction NEWS: Special Primate Issue. Soorae, P.S. & Baker, L.R. (eds.), Newsletter of the IUCN/SSC Re-introduction Specialist Group, No.21, Abu Dhabi, UAE, pp.16-18.

Farmer, K.H. (submitted) African ape sanctuaries: present status and range of activities.

Goossens, B., Setchell, J.M., Vidal, C., Dilambaka, E., Jamart, A. (submitted) Successful reproduction in wild-released orphan chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes).

Rosen, C. (2002) Untitled. Monkey Tales: The Newsletter of IPPL-UK. Issue 8, March, p.4.

Teleki, G. (2001) Sanctuaries for ape refugees. In: Great apes and humans, the ethics of coexistence. Beck, B., Stoinski, T., Hutchins, M., Maple, T.L., Norton, B., Rowan, A., Stevens, E.F., Arlike, A.. (eds.), Smithsonian Press, Washington, pp. 133-149.

Tutin, C.E.G., Ancrenaz, M., Paredes, J., Vacher-Vallas, M., Vidal, C., Goossens, B., Bruford, M.W., Jamart, A. (2001) Conservation biology framework for the release of wild-born orphaned chimpanzees into the Conkouati Reserve, Congo. Conservation Biology, Vol. 15, No. 5, pp.1247-1257.