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Sanctuaries and rehabilitation centres across Africa and Asia
play a vital role in the battle against the illegal trade in great
apes. These facilities work closely with law enforcement offi-
cials and provide permanent care to the apes that are confis-
cated from illegal traders.
The high rate at which great apes arrive at sanctuaries and re-
habilitation centres indicates that the illegal trade continues
to thrive. Some sanctuaries have kept the confiscated apes as
evidence in smuggling court cases, or have provided expert tes-
timony. This has helped the police officers, customs officials
and wildlife authorities pursuing the prosecution of traffickers.
In Africa, the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA) is comprised
of 22 member facilities in 12 countries that collectively care for
over 1,150 chimpanzees, gorillas, and bonobos rescued from ille-
gal trade. Although some of the sanctuaries were establishedmore
than 40 years ago, most were created as a result of the bushmeat
crisis and black market trade that flourished in the 1990s.
A 2007 survey found that between 2000 and 2006, an average
of 57 chimpanzees arrived at PASA member sanctuaries each
year and most of these were wild-born and had been acquired
through confiscation (Faust
et al.
2011). Four of the PASA sanc-
tuaries individually care for more than 100 chimpanzees, and
all are near or at carrying capacity and struggle with the steep
costs associated with great ape care. Many also exist in regions
of Africa torn by political instability and civil strife. A sanctuary
in Sierra Leone was a major battle ground between government
forces and rebel armies during the civil war (1991–2002), and
bullet holes are still evident in the sanctuary buildings. Amaz-
ingly, no chimpanzees or staff members were injured during
the fighting. PASA sanctuaries in Congo, DR Congo, and Guin-
ea have also weathered years of war and civil unrest.
PASA sanctuaries do not permit breeding and new apes are
added primarily through confiscation of wild-born individuals.
Approximately half of the PASA sanctuaries are committed to
reintroduction programmes in accordance with IUCN guide-
lines (Beck
et al.
2007). More than 100 chimpanzees (Guinea,
Congo), gorillas (Congo, Gabon) and bonobos (DR Congo) have
GREAT APE SANCTUARIES
already been returned successfully to the wild. However, rein-
troduction is a complex, expensive and highly difficult process.
No more than a fraction of the great apes in sanctuaries can
ever return to the forests, and reintroduction is a complement
– rather than an alternative – to traditional conservation.
Non-PASA sanctuaries in Africa also care for a considerable pro-
portion of the population of confiscated great apes, including
two recently established gorilla facilities in eastern DR Congo:
GRACE (home to Eastern Lowland gorillas) and Senkwekwe
(home to Mountain gorillas). In all, an estimated 120 great apes
reside in these sites in Gabon, Cameroon, DR Congo and Liberia.
Zoos double as confiscation centres in many African countries
where no sanctuary exists, and an estimated 60 great apes can
be found in cities such as Abidjan, Kinshasa, Brazzaville, Port
Gentil, and Kumasi. The level of care in these facilities is sub-
standard however, and mortality rates are high.
In Southeast Asia, five rehabilitation centres provide the prima-
ry captive care options and law enforcement support for con-
fiscated orangutans. These centres collectively host more than
1,300 orangutans, led by the Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Centre
in Borneo, which cares for over 600 orangutans on a daily ba-
sis. These centres struggle to keep pace with the agro-industrial
expansion and deforestation that fuels the illegal trade in wild-
life. As in Africa, the rehabilitation centres in Borneo and Su-
matra focus increasingly on reintroduction as a means of plac-
ing emphasis on forest protection. In 2007, the Government
of Indonesia formulated a plan that called for the closure of all
rehabilitation centres by 2015, thereby accelerating the pace of
orangutan release and reintroduction. At present, an estimated
2,000 orangutans have been released back into the wild.
The high rate at which great apes
arrive at sanctuaries and rehabilitation
centres indicates that the illegal trade
continues to thrive.