Tacugama gives sanctuary to chimpanzees - through war and peace
Even an 11-year civil war couldn't stop Bala Amarasekaran from rescuing and rehabilitating chimps in Sierra Leone.
After Bala Amarasekaran rescued a chimp tied to a tree by side of the road, he founded Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary near Freetown, Sierra Leone, where about 100 chimps are saved from exploitation.
Paige McClanahan
Regent, Sierra Leone
Bala Amarasekaran hasn鈥檛 gotten a paycheck in 16 years, but this middle-aged husband and father 鈥� who regularly clocks 60-hour workweeks 鈥� isn鈥檛 complaining.
Quite the opposite, in fact: He says he has his dream job.
Amarasekaran is the founder and director of Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, a 鈥渉alfway house,鈥� as he puts it, for chimps that have been abandoned or abused and can鈥檛 make it on their own in the wild.
Far too many chimps fall into that category here in Sierra Leone, the small West African country that Mr. Amarasekaran has called home since he was a teenager. Habitat destruction, the pet trade, and bushmeat hunting have left scores of chimps orphaned or stranded. Amarasekaran is doing what he can to rehabilitate them and 鈥� he hopes, someday 鈥� help them move back into the wild.
鈥淭his all happened by accident, basically,鈥� Amarasekaran says, sitting in a plastic chair on Tacugama鈥檚 jungle-covered grounds, with chimps hooting in the background.
It all started in 1988, when Amarasekaran, who was then working as an accountant in Freetown, the capital city, happened to come across a chimp tied to a tree on the side of the road in rural Sierra Leone. The chimp, a young male, was dehydrated and sick, and he clearly wasn鈥檛 going to last long much longer tied to the tree.
So Amarasekaran brought him home and started nursing him back to health. Word spread, and soon other orphaned chimps started showing up at his door. Within a few years, Amarasekaran and his wife, Sharmila, were taking care of seven of the rambunctious little animals at their home in Freetown.
But the chimps were getting big and needed space, and Amarasekaran knew he couldn鈥檛 take care of them at home forever. So with the help of animal activist Jane Goodall, who paid him a visit in 1992, he located a chimp sanctuary in Zambia that was willing to take the animals in. They made the necessary phone calls, and even obtain permits for the chimps to travel. But he wasn鈥檛 sure he was ready to say good-bye.
鈥淚t occurred to me that sending these chimps that I had rescued to a project in Zambia, that was really passing the problem to someone else rather than trying to do something here,鈥� he says. 鈥淪o that鈥檚 the time when I turned around and thought, 鈥楳aybe we should do something in Sierra Leone.鈥� 鈥�
Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, which sits on 100 acres just a few miles outside of Freetown, opened in 1995. It endured some rough times early on, thanks to Sierra Leone鈥檚 11-year civil war, which ended in 2002. Rebels attacked the sanctuary three times, looting medical supplies, food, and equipment.
Amarasekaran and a small clutch of Sierra Leonean staff kept working as the conflict raged around them. If they left, he says, they knew they would have lost the chimps.
Today, Sierra Leone is at peace, and the sanctuary is now home to nearly 100 chimps, looked after by about two-dozen Sierra Leonean staff members and a handful of volunteers from overseas.
The Arcus Foundation, based in Kalamazoo, Mich., helps cover the sanctuary鈥檚 operating costs. Several other donors have funded individual projects, but raising money is always a challenge, Amarasekaran says. Tacugama has built a few eco-lodges on the sanctuary grounds to make money from tourists, and it's looking to expand its adopt-a-chimp program.
But whatever happens with funding, one thing鈥檚 for sure: Amarasekaran is going to keep showing up at work every day, weekends included. A Sri Lankan native, he recently applied for Sierra Leonean citizenship; he expects his new passport to arrive sometime this year.
鈥淚f they looked for someone with the right capacity [to run a chimp sanctuary], probably I would be in the back of the line,鈥� says Amarasekaran, who admits that his background in finance is not especially relevant to rehabilitating chimps. 鈥淏ut if you look for someone who鈥檚 prepared to stay for the long haul and try to do something, then probably I would be at the front of the line.鈥�
鈥� For more information about Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, visit .
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