Traffickers smuggle baby chimpanzee
Apr 08, 2005
A baby chimpanzee has disappeared from Kisaasi, a Kampala suburb, where suspected traffickers were holding it.
By Gerald Tenywa
A baby chimpanzee has disappeared from Kisaasi, a Kampala suburb, where suspected traffickers were holding it.
Sources within wildlife institutions said a Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) team stormed the area after a tip off, “but were too late to recover the chimp.’’
Speaking on Thursday, UWA’s legal officer, Rehema Nabunya, said, “It (the chimp) was nowhere, but the team arrested a suspect who was held at Kira Road Police Station.’’
Nabunya said the suspect was later released over what she called “inadequate evidence.’’
She said they were still making inquiries and trying to locate witnesses that could help them pursue this case.
Wildlife sources said the suspect said the chimp had walked away before the officials went to the house.
She said a search was mounted, which culminated into the arrest of the suspect.
They said the suspect saw the chimpanzee hanging on a window one rainy evening and gave it “sanctuary.’’
The New Vision could not establish how long the chimp had been kept in captivity, prior to its alleged disappearance.
Chimps are endangered with extinction and the pet keepers and researchers in Europe and the US fuel smuggling of the apes.
In a separate interview yesterday, Lilly Ajarova, who heads the Ngamba Island chimpanzee sanctuary, refused to comment about the failed attempt to recover the chimp.
She said confiscating chimps was a mandate of UWA, which is the lead agency on wildlife and that Ngamba was established for holding orphan chimps because it is hard for them to return to the wilderness.
Sources said traffickers connive with wildlife traders by putting chimps together with other primates like monkeys before they are shipped out of the country.
Uganda Wildlife Society blames UWA for slow response.
A baby chimpanzee has disappeared from Kisaasi, a Kampala suburb, where suspected traffickers were holding it.
Sources within wildlife institutions said a Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) team stormed the area after a tip off, “but were too late to recover the chimp.’’
Speaking on Thursday, UWA’s legal officer, Rehema Nabunya, said, “It (the chimp) was nowhere, but the team arrested a suspect who was held at Kira Road Police Station.’’
Nabunya said the suspect was later released over what she called “inadequate evidence.’’
She said they were still making inquiries and trying to locate witnesses that could help them pursue this case.
Wildlife sources said the suspect said the chimp had walked away before the officials went to the house.
She said a search was mounted, which culminated into the arrest of the suspect.
They said the suspect saw the chimpanzee hanging on a window one rainy evening and gave it “sanctuary.’’
The New Vision could not establish how long the chimp had been kept in captivity, prior to its alleged disappearance.
Chimps are endangered with extinction and the pet keepers and researchers in Europe and the US fuel smuggling of the apes.
In a separate interview yesterday, Lilly Ajarova, who heads the Ngamba Island chimpanzee sanctuary, refused to comment about the failed attempt to recover the chimp.
She said confiscating chimps was a mandate of UWA, which is the lead agency on wildlife and that Ngamba was established for holding orphan chimps because it is hard for them to return to the wilderness.
Sources said traffickers connive with wildlife traders by putting chimps together with other primates like monkeys before they are shipped out of the country.
Uganda Wildlife Society blames UWA for slow response.