Bowled over

A chimpanzee issue in South Sudan is requiring some careful management. A few years ago the Wildlife Service came into possession of three orphaned babies after their mothers were killed by poachers. Because chimpanzees are 'wildlife' the Wildlife Service believes it must take care of them, which would be a noble decision if there was any knowledge or equipment to deal with what are now adolescent, and therefore dangerous, animals. In the past such creatures under the care of the Wildlife Service have shown signs of beatings, which is not surprising when there is no knowledge of primate care and intelligent primates kept in confinement can develop all manner of aggressive behaviours and mental health problems. The default response to aggression by anyone untrained would be beat an animal into submission.

In most countries there would be at least one facility where wildlife could be taken ideally for rehabilitation and release, or if that's not possible, some semblance of human treatment that's better than being tethered to an office with a chain. In South Sudan that's not possible and to avoid these creatures facing a life of misery, eventually injuring a human and being shot and killed by someone, I'm looking into where the nearest accessible overseas refuge is.

As a conservationist interested in the broader picture, this issue massively distracts from our work to protect forests and wildlife, to prevent poaching incidents like this from occurring in the first place. Mercy missions for chimpanzees that have been inappropriately kept are not within the project's scope as if they can't be rehabilitated and have been removed from the wild by mistake, they have little conservation value.

We're casting around for advice on what to do to resolve the issue as I know that when I'm there in a few weeks I'll likely be presented with a chimpanzee on a leash and asked to transport it to where it can be near the forest. I'd be hugely uncomfortable with this. The Wildlife Service wants to return the animals to the forest, but they haven't learnt forest survival skills and would be attacked as outsiders by resident chimps. There are very few realistic solutions at present.