Loneliest chimp in the world
The hug that says: I’m so happy to have a new friend
THIS was the touching moment a former research chimpanzee surviving alone on an isolated island fell into the embrace of a campaigner trying to ease his plight.
Ponso, his mate and their offspring were abandoned when a blood supply company had finished conducting studies on them.
But when his family reportedly died from malnutrition and disease three years ago, he was left on his own – perhaps the loneliest chimp in the world.
So the elderly ape’s relief was plain to see when, with what looked like a wide grin, he hugged Estelle Raballand, director of the Chimpanzee Conservation Centre, during her visit to the tiny Atlantic island off the West African nation of Liberia.
Now a campaign called SOS Ponso has been launched to ensure his welfare.
Chimps can live to 50 years in the wild, and Ponso is believed to be around 40. He was one of 20 chimps used for hepatitis research by the New York Blood Centre.
When the studies ended, they were relocated to a string of African islands where they received supplies of food and water. But 11 chimps soon died and the nine survivors, including Ponso and his family, were
‘The sad life he is reduced to’
moved to the Liberian island where he now lives. The blood centre continued to drop off food and water because there was not enough on the island, but unrest in Liberia led to a row over who was responsible for the apes.
Campaigners say that without a proper agreement in place, it became impossible for the blood centre to continue supplying the chimps.
For years, a local farmer named Germain and his elderly father were Ponso’s only company, visiting him occasionally with bananas and bread – his only source of food.
SOS Ponso has so far managed to raise more than £20,000 towards his care.
A spokesman for SOS Ponso said: ‘Imagine yourself alone on an island that offers no resources, listening for the least sign or noise that indicates a visitor. This is the sad life Ponso is reduced to.’
Campaigners say that ideally, he would be relocated to a primate sanctuary with other chimpanzees, but many of the blood centre chimps were infected with hepatitis and charities say West African governments are reluctant to issue transport permits for animals that have been exposed to diseases.
The recent outbreak of the Ebola virus in West Africa also complicates the movement of primates across borders.