The Ol Pejeta Conservancy’s Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary has carried out the transfer of a rescued infant chimpanzee from Rumbek, Southern Sudan. The orphaned infant, Roy, arrived in Nairobi on Friday the 2^nd of October and is currently at the Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) quarantine facility for health monitoring and observation. He will later be transferred to join 43 other orphan chimpanzees at the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary.

Currently estimated at 2 and a half years of age, Roy is believed to have originated from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, probably orphaned by the illegal bushmeat trade and illegally transported to Southern Sudan. In mid last year, he was confiscated by the Wildlife Conservation Administration of Sudan and handed over to volunteers Rusty and Sue Knight and later Peter Ngere in Rumbek, who would care for him while a sanctuary was identified to transfer him to.

The Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary was approached at the end of 2008 to provide refuge for the orphaned chimpanzee and plans to transfer him were begun in January this year. After a lengthy process of acquiring import and export permits and veterinary health permits among other documents from both countries, Roy was finally ready to travel to his new home. On a free return ticket kindly donated by the Aircraft Leasing Services (ALS) Kenya, the Sweetwaters sanctuary manager Martin Mulama travelled to Rumbek and brought Roy to Nairobi.

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), which are listed among the world’s most endangered species, are the human being’s closest relatives, sharing 98.6% of our DNA. They’re highly intelligent creatures with excellent memory, that live in organised social structures and are said to express relatively high levels of emotions.

Owing to the destruction of their natural habitat (the rain forests of Central and West Africa) resulting in the bushmeat trade, it is feared that chimpanzees could be extinct within the next 50 years if drastic measures are not taken to reverse current trends. Destructive human activity including extensive logging and the illegal trade in bushmeat results in growing numbers of chimpanzee orphans, which are then illegally sold as pets across borders. Some of these are confiscated in transit or from their illegal “owners”, whereupon sanctuaries such as Sweetwaters are asked to care for them for the rest of their lives. It costs approximately USD 4000 per annum to care for one chimpanzee.