A six-year-old chimpanzee called Amaanyi was returned to her home in Rweshama Forest Reserve in Masindi district on Sunday after being hospitalised in Entebbe for over a month.
Amaanyi was caught in a trap, which forced doctors to amputate his leg because the bones had been shattered.
The chimpanzee was accompanied by a team that included Dr. Andrew Seguya, the director of the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre (UWEC).
Seguya said Amaanyi was taken to UWEC, the former Entebbe Zoo, on July 27 where he underwent two surgeries.
“We feel elated because this is the first time such an operation has taken place here,” Seguya said. “This is the first time a chimpanzee has been rescued, treated and returned where it was rescued.”
Seguya said chimpanzees were an endangered species, meaning if nothing is done to protect them and their habitat, they would become extinct.
He added that their habitat was being turned into farmland.
“As the chimps look for food, they sometimes end up in traps set up by the local people to protect their gardens from destruction,” Seguya said.
He was speaking to the press following Amaanyi’s release into the forest.
Amaanyi was sedated at 3:00pm by doctors David Hyeroba and Peter Apell and gently carried into the forest on a tarpaulin. She gained consciousness at 4:00pm and climbed on the nearby trees.
“We are excited about the prospect of the chimpanzee re-uniting with her group,” Apell said. “We have removed chimps from traps before, but this was different because her leg was damaged and needed further medical attention.”
Apell, a field programmes manager under the Jane Goodall Institute, said about 25% of the population of chimpanzees in Budongo had injuries caused by traps.
