The Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Project (CRP) is a rehabilitation center associated with the
Pan African Sanctuary Alliance
The Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA) is an association of wildlife centers in Africa, founded in 2000 in Uganda. The activities of PASA includes rescuing and caring for orphaned apes and monkeys, promoting the conservation of wild primates, ed ...
(PASA), located at the
River Gambia National Park
River Gambia National Park is a national park in the Gambia.
Topography
Established in 1978, River Gambia National Park is located in Niamina East district of Central River Division. It lies on the left bank of the Gambia River. The park inc ...
(RGNP), established in 1979. It is the home of 100
chimpanzees
The chimpanzee (''Pan troglodytes''), also known as simply the chimp, is a species of great ape native to the forest and savannah of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed subspecies. When its close relative the ...
living free in four separate groups spread in three islands.
The main mission of the rehabilitation center is the caring and reintroduction of chimpanzees. The center allows visits by boat to view the primates, but humans cannot have contact with them.
History
Background
Gambia’s Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Project started as an animal orphanage established in 1969 by the Director of the Gambia's Wildlife Department
Eddie Brewer and his daughter Stella. From 1969 to 1974, they caretook several orphaned chimpanzees rescued from traffickers.
In 1974, Stella Brewer released the chimpanzees into Senegal’s
Niokolo-Koba National Park
The Niokolo-Koba National Park (french: Parc National du Niokolo Koba, PNNK) is a World Heritage Site and natural protected area in south eastern Senegal near the Guinea border. It is served by Niokolo-Koba Airport, an unpaved airstrip.
National ...
. However, after an incident with a wild community, in 1979 they relocated the survivor chimpanzees to the River Gambia National Park.
Foundation
In 1979, the Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Project was founded with a group of nine chimps on an island, including a chimpanzee raised as a human called
Lucy
Lucy is an English feminine given name derived from the Latin masculine given name Lucius with the meaning ''as of light'' (''born at dawn or daylight'', maybe also ''shiny'', or ''of light complexion''). Alternative spellings are Luci, Luce, Luci ...
. From the beginning, the chimpanzees were temporarily housed in the
Abuko Nature Reserve, in
The Gambia
The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...
, where no chimpanzees were released. Later, the primatologists Stella Brewer and Janis Carter moved to the Baboon Islands in the River Gambia National Park, located 280 km from
.
In the beginning, the primatologist
Janis Carter
Janis Carter (born Janis Elinore Dremann, October 10, 1913 – July 30, 1994) was an American stage and film actress who performed throughout the 1940s and into the 1950s. During the mid-1950s, she began working regularly on television, co-ho ...
was with the group. She taught the chimpanzees how to recognize food sources and predators.
After an incident with a young male chimp, she left the island.
In 1982, the rehabilitation center counted 26 chimpanzees distributed across three different islands.
In January 2006, founder-director Stella Brewer died at the age of 56. She was buried at the Project's Camp. Janis Carter remained as
Project Manager
A project manager is a professional in the field of project management. Project managers have the responsibility of the planning, procurement and execution of a project, in any undertaking that has a defined scope, defined start and a defined f ...
.
Current project
Now, there is no contact between humans and chimps. The center is focused on four areas: education, research, eco-tourism, and development. The center reports 100 chimpanzees living on three islands.
References
{{Reflist
Chimpanzees
Nature conservation
Organisations based in the Gambia