If you watched our Restore Our Earth webinar, you will have heard Jenny Desmond, Co-founder, with her husband Jimmy Desmond, of Liberia Chimpanzee Rescue and Protection Sanctuary and Conservation Center (LCRP), introducing you to a baby chimpanzee named Mary Beauty, a victim of the bushmeat and pet trade.
With more than 7,000 chimpanzees living in its deep forests near transboundary areas, Liberia is home to the second largest population of West African chimpanzees. Sadly, based on confiscation figures in the first quarter of 2019, it is estimated that Liberia is on its way to losing more than 600 adult chimpanzees every year, exposing its population to a very real risk of being wiped out in the next 10 years due to habitat loss, bushmeat hunting, conflict with humans, and international trafficking.
Trade in live primates has a devastating impact all across West Africa. In Liberia, Born Free USA is partnering with LCRP and national authorities to bring it to an end.
Field assessments led by Born Free USA in 2017 showed that the need for enforcement trainings was urgent and that very few wildlife crime cases were brought to trial in Liberia. Born Free USA responded by organizing specialized trainings for customs officers, judges, and prosecutors in 2020 and distributed a series of informative posters to support authorities in the efforts they lead to raise awareness. We now regularly collaborate with LCRP and the Liberia Forestry Development Authority to continue this important work. This partnership has highlighted the importance of finding long-term solutions for wild primates rescued from the illegal bushmeat and pet trades.
LCRP is home to around 60 orphaned chimpanzees. All but two are under seven years old – the youngest, Mary Beauty, was less than a week old when her mother was killed. Most of the chimpanzees in LCRP’s care are not able to return to the wild.
Earlier this summer, LCRP celebrated the grand opening of their sanctuary expansion.
Additions include a night dorm, composed of six interconnected rooms with many platforms at different heights for sleeping that can house 55 adult chimpanzees, and a nursery with four bedrooms, a kitchen, laundry room, bathroom, and a huge covered porch where the babies can play and stay dry when it is raining. You can take a tour with Jimmy and see the chimps’ joy as they discover their new home.
Born Free USA congratulates our partner on this wonderful achievement. As Born Free USA works to eradicate the threats faced by chimpanzees that make sanctuaries necessary, we are grateful LCRP is there to help those in need!
Keep Wildlife in the Wild,
Aurora
