AWI continues its partnership with the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance by providing support to three member sanctuaries in Africa this year: the Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Project in The Gambia, the Limbe Wildlife Centre in Cameroon, and the Vervet Monkey Foundation in South Africa.
The Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Project rescues chimpanzees who are survivors of animal trafficking or the research industry and provides them with an island home where they are free to roam, form social ties, and forage their own food in a natural forest environment. The Limbe Wildlife Centre cares for over 350 primates, including gorillas, chimpanzees, and drill monkeys, who are victims of the illegal wildlife trade, including infant chimps who require around-the-clock care. The Vervet Monkey Foundation operates a rehabilitation program for injured and orphaned vervet monkeys whose families have been killed by hunters. Orphans are integrated into the foundation’s existing social groups so they can experience rich, complex social lives in a manner similar to wild monkeys. AWI’s support provides desperately needed food, veterinary care, caregiving, and enclosure enrichment and maintenance for the primates in these sanctuaries.