Watch: The man championing chimpanzee conservation in Sierra Leone.

euronews (in English)

Bala Amarasekaran, the founder of Tacugama Sanctuary, has dedicated 30 years of his life to rescuing and protecting chimpanzees.

Transcript

00:00What I love about working with chimps is there's never a dull moment.

00:05It's always interesting.

00:06You're working with a species that's so much like you as human.

00:10There's so many traits they have.

00:12All that loud jealousy and anger, it brings out what we have as humans.

00:17The only thing is they don't talk our language.

00:20So it's interesting, challenging and motivating being with them.

00:23We claim to be intelligent.

00:25I think we should be intelligent enough to understand that we need to look after them.

00:30My name is Bala Amarasekaran.

00:32I'm the program director and founder of the sanctuary.

00:35I've been looking after chimpanzees for the last 30 years.

00:50Takugama Sanctuary was established as an orphanage for rescued animals.

00:57We've created a safe haven for rescued animals

01:00so that the chimpanzees can be brought to this place where they can be looked after.

01:05Takugama is located in the western area of Peninsula National Park.

01:10The Ministry of Lands has declared 6,000 acres as a tourism development area

01:16and the Ministry of Tourism has nominated Takugama to be the custodian and manage this place.

01:23At the moment we are taking care of 120 chimpanzees.

01:28The ages range from 6 months old to a 45 year old male.

01:34Chimpanzees at Takugama are in large forested enclosures.

01:38But you also see sometimes some chimpanzees in cages.

01:42This can be for various reasons.

01:44Maybe someone had a health problem.

01:46Sometimes it is also the weather condition.

01:48But usually everybody is out in forested enclosures.

01:53Takugama Sanctuary

01:58My days are quite varied.

02:00There are not many typical days when working with chimps.

02:03They like to keep you on your toes.

02:06Pretty much all of the animals at Takugama have come from the pet trade or bushmeat industry.

02:14They are often malnourished.

02:16Sometimes they still have pellets and bullets inside of their body.

02:19They can have injuries because of that.

02:21Such as broken limbs or wounds from snares.

02:24So often when they come in they require a lot of veterinary attention.

02:29They are very prone to getting respiratory infections.

02:31Which is why we have to be very careful.

02:33Whenever we are close to the chimps here we wear masks.

02:36Because they can give stuff to us as well as we can give stuff to them.

02:41What I love about working with chimpanzees

02:43is because I have never ever felt I am going to work.

02:45That is what I love.

02:47It is about being here, being with them.

02:49Having that satisfaction that you made a difference for them.

02:53These chimps are coming from problems created by our fellow human beings.

03:01So I am happy that we are contributing in some way.

03:04When they come here they are given a second chance of life.

03:12Takugama is more than a sanctuary.

03:14Initially Takugama was built as an orphanage.

03:17But with time we realised that you cannot sustain this operation

03:20just by receiving chimpanzees.

03:23We really need to look at the problems that they are facing

03:27and see how we can mitigate.

03:30Our activities are very diverse.

03:32Research, ecotourism, education.

03:37Most of our staff here are employed from the local communities.

03:40This work is not just about chimps.

03:42It is about using the chimpanzees to make a difference for people.

03:48In our outreach program we work with various communities across the region.

03:53And these communities are places where we have our rescues.

03:58We have different interventions like education.

04:01We have biomonitoring and research.

04:05We also have reforestation, livelihood activities

04:09and everything that is conservation-wise in these communities.

04:15By providing this facility and running it so well over the years

04:19this has become the number one ecotourism destination for Sierra Leone.

04:24The Ministry of Tourism have actually declared the chimpanzee as the face of tourism.

04:30And that's a huge boost for us.

04:33No other country can boast about having chimpanzee as your national animal.

04:37And Sierra Leone has done it and it's a proud moment.

04:42It's about creating the awareness with the people.

04:46It's your national animal.

04:47You cannot be eating your national animal.

04:49You cannot be chaining your national animal.

04:52You cannot cram your national animal in a cage.

04:55So this is also creating that love between you and that species.

04:59They are so much like us and I think they deserve at least this from us.

05:08All across Africa chimpanzees are facing a lot of challenges.

05:13The long-term survival and well-being of the chimpanzees

05:16is left in the hands of us humans.

05:19We cannot call ourselves intelligent if we continue to destroy everything around us.

05:23Protecting chimpanzees and their habitats is crucial for all of us.

05:28A healthy ecosystem cannot survive without

05:33well-being and presence of chimpanzees, birds and other wildlife.

05:38It's an ecosystem where all of us have to thrive.

05:41We are all in this together.

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