Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary received a Standards of Excellence Award from the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries  during the recently held Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA) workshop in the United Kingdom.  This award is given to sanctuaries that successfully meet the qualifying criteria set by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries and Sweetwaters was one of the few sanctuaries to get the highly sought after recognition.

The Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary is committed to providing a secure and permanent refuge to the chimpanzees under its care by subscribing to the basic tenets of chimpanzee welfare, veterinary care and education. This is the reason why the Senior Supervisor at the Sanctuary, Dr. George Paul, attended a health check at the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Uganda early last month. The main objective was for him to practically learn the preparation and procedure of conducting health checks specific to chimpanzees. “The Ngamba Island visit was very empowering in terms of narrowing down the range of veterinary knowledge into chimp specific analyses, diagnostics and approaches” said Dr. Paul.

Participating in the Ugandan health check enabled Dr. Paul to set up a health check for the Sweetwaters chimpanzees this month. The comprehensive health check is being carried out on all 41 chimpanzees in the Sanctuary and is scheduled to last 10 days. The ongoing health checks are a collaborative effort between the Conservancy and the Kenya Wildlife Service with the work being led Dr. Lawrence Mugisha President of Uganda Wildlife Veterinary Network.

The health checks are mainly preventative and help the veterinary officers understand possible diseases the chimpanzees could be carrying and prevent transmission of diseases from the animals to staff and vice versa.

The ongoing health checks are being led Dr. Lawrence Mugisha President of Uganda Wildlife Veterinary Network	Dr. George Paul of the Ol Pejeta Conservancy is performing the health check on one of the chimpanzees

The Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary was honoured for addressing humane and responsible care of animals and meeting guidelines defining an ethical and legal sanctuary and it is no wonder considering the amount of care, such as the health check, given to these animals.  “We are thrilled with this honour” the Chief Conservation Officer, Mr. Martin Mulama, commented, "our primary focus is to take care of orphaned chimpanzees and educate the world on the plight of these endangered creatures.”