Support orphaned and wild Chimpanzees in Uganda

Our project looks at ensuring the welfare of chimpanzees and the restoration of their habitat in the wild. Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary was established in 1998 for the care and welfare of orphaned and rescued chimpanzees in Uganda as well as while conserving the ecosystem of the sanctuary and promoting conservation and environmental education awareness in the people of Uganda. The sanctuary was established through a collaboration between national and international organizations with the ultimate aim of developing and implementing a long-term strategy for conservation of chimpanzees and their habitat in Uganda and beyond. Currently, the sanctuary is home to 50 orphaned rescued chimpanzees and Chimpanzee Trust provides for their welfare needs including veterinary health care, feeding, infrastructure, and staffing.

Our project here has helped us continue with our project activities, especially following the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on the tourism industry that has been the main source of resources for the day to day operations of the sanctuary, as well as the supporting our education program. The project has to date raised nearly USD48,000 and we have been able to accomplish the below activities;

1. The orphaned and reduced chimpanzees have been kept well fed. The lockdown, made access to fresh food, especially fruits and vegetable especially difficult and costly. However, funds raised in the first quarter especially ensured that we were able to secure this much-needed food as well as enrichment materials for the chimpanzees. 
2. The welfare of the chimpanzees in our care is also hinged on maintaining their health through our veterinary health management program. We conduct annual health examinations on our chimpanzees and though this was delayed last year, due to lack of adequate resources at the time, we were able to conduct the annual health checks and examinations of all the chimpanzees in our care in November. All the 50 chimpanzees underwent full medical examinations, dental checks as well as full blood works. The results show that generally, all the 50 chimpanzees are in fairly good health.
3. An eco-friendly stove was also installed at the sanctuary. this uses heated volcanic rocks which have drastically reduced use of charcoal at the sanctuary and therefore will save trees. We aim to promote this stove on our communities who rely on wood fuel for their energy and cooking. In Uganda, about 70% of the population rely on charcoal and wood fuel leading to the destruction of millions of trees annually.
4. As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the sanctuary developed and deployed strict Standard Operating Procedures to protect the staff and especially the chimpanzees from exposure to the SARs CoV 2 virus. These procedures included the procurement of soaps, disinfectants and sanitisers, as well as improved personal protective equipment of the staff that interact with the chimpanzees. The soap and disinfectants are used in the cleaning and disinfection of chimpanzee facilities while the sanitisers are used by staff to sanitize surfaces. The entire sanctuary is disinfected every few days before and after every shift change. 
5. In the last quarter, we also procured and planted 5000 seedlings of indigenous species with additional support from trees for trees. 
6. We continue to monitor the wild chimpanzee habitats, to protect them from poachers. Our field monitors, have able to continue to do their work through the lockdown period and even with current restrictions 

Management of Chimpanzee Trust that manages Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary is grateful to our donors who have generously contributed towards the welfare and survival of the chimpanzees at the sanctuary during the hard economic times brought about by COVID19 pandemic. However, there is still a need to continue to care for the 50 orphaned chimpanzees at Ngamba Island and to enhance their veterinary care through medical and surgical interventions. Therefore we are kindly requesting for more donations through the GlobalGiving fundraising drive.

Links:

• Health checks 2020