Sunday 27 November 2016

Three traffickers arrested with live chimp



Live chimp
Three people were arrested in Batouri in the East Region on November 21, 2016 for illegal possession of a live chimp they had caged and loaded in a van for transportation to Bertoua to sell.
                The three men were arrested by wildlife officials of the Kadey Divisional Delegation of Forestry and Wildlife in front of the home of the owner of the chimp. They had converged to make arrangements and payments for the transportation of the chimp. The three included the owner of the car, driver of the car and the owner of the chimp who claimed on the spot that he had been with the chimpanzee for twelve years.
                They were stopped and rounded up by wildlife officials working in collaboration with the Batouri Gendarmerie Territorial Brigade in a swift move that left them surprised.The owner of the car was visibly the more surprised of the three as tried he to explainghy he was there.
                This did not deter the arresting officers as they quickly got them into the car they were to use for the transport of the chimp and into another car that brought in the gendarmes. Shortly after the arrest the Kadey Divisional Delegate of Forestry and Wildlife, BangyaDieudonne explained that ‘It is a chimpanzee that had been captured by someone and kept for a long time in detention and he was preparing to go and sell the animal somewhere”. The operation was carried out with the technical assistance of The Last Great Ape Operation (LAGA)

                The chimp had been put into a small cage that could barely contain its size although for a chimp of 6 years, clearly it was too small; had been underfed and badly treated. It was frail and melancholic with a pitiful face as it looked on with hopelessness. Specialist say she is 5 or 6 years old despite the claims from the owner that the chimp had stayed with him for12 years. Bangya declared that rescue was possible because “we had put in place a strategy and this enabled us to arrest the individual and the animal rescued”.
                The owner of the chimpanzee had covered the cage containing the animal with a dusty tarpaulin to hide it from protruding eyes. He is a staff with a logging company in the East and this raises the old question of logging companies and their responsibility towards protecting wildlife.
                These companies are facing allegations of not properly tackling wildlife trafficking and consumption by some of their staffs within the areas where they work and the operation is a clear reminder of what is going on.
                Although the origin of the chimp was yet to be declared, it is probably an orphan chimp that found herself in the hands of the suspect after her mother was shot dead. Many apes find themselves in this situation, ending up living with humans. Immediately the proper paper work was obtained, in a show of a strong sense of responsibility, wildlife officials accompanied the chimpanzee right to the Sanaga Yong Chimpanzee Sanctuary that had dispatched a veterinarian upon getting the news that Akim, as the chimp was called, had been rescued.
                The journey took two days as Akim was presented to the East Regional Delegate of Forestry and Wildlife before completing her journey to the sanctuary. She was immediately quarantined and the Assistant Manager of the Sanaga Yong Chimpanzee Sanctaury, Nicholas Banadzem declared that “we shall do some tests to ensure that she doesn’t have diseases such as tuberculosis that may contaminate the population of chimps we have here and then we do some vaccination including tetanus vaccine. She can then be integrated into one of the groups of chimpanzees after a three –month observation period”. That is the new life Akim is living after her rescue
Meanwhile, the case against the three traffickers opens at the Batouri Court of First Instance on November 29, 2016 with all three to face charges.


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