Bala Amarasekaran, the founder of Tacugama Sanctuary, has dedicated 30 years of his life to rescuing and protecting chimpanzees.
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00:00What I love about working with chimps is there's never a dull moment.
00:05It's always interesting.
00:06You're working with a species that's so much like you as human.
00:10There's so many traits they have.
00:12All that loud jealousy and anger, it brings out what we have as humans.
00:17The only thing is they don't talk our language.
00:20So it's interesting, challenging and motivating being with them.
00:23We claim to be intelligent.
00:25I think we should be intelligent enough to understand that we need to look after them.
00:30My name is Bala Amarasekaran.
00:32I'm the program director and founder of the sanctuary.
00:35I've been looking after chimpanzees for the last 30 years.
00:50Takugama Sanctuary was established as an orphanage for rescued animals.
00:57We've created a safe haven for rescued animals
01:00so that the chimpanzees can be brought to this place where they can be looked after.
01:05Takugama is located in the western area of Peninsula National Park.
01:10The Ministry of Lands has declared 6,000 acres as a tourism development area
01:16and the Ministry of Tourism has nominated Takugama to be the custodian and manage this place.
01:23At the moment we are taking care of 120 chimpanzees.
01:28The ages range from 6 months old to a 45 year old male.
01:34Chimpanzees at Takugama are in large forested enclosures.
01:38But you also see sometimes some chimpanzees in cages.
01:42This can be for various reasons.
01:44Maybe someone had a health problem.
01:46Sometimes it is also the weather condition.
01:48But usually everybody is out in forested enclosures.
01:53Takugama Sanctuary
01:58My days are quite varied.
02:00There are not many typical days when working with chimps.
02:03They like to keep you on your toes.
02:06Pretty much all of the animals at Takugama have come from the pet trade or bushmeat industry.
02:14They are often malnourished.
02:16Sometimes they still have pellets and bullets inside of their body.
02:19They can have injuries because of that.
02:21Such as broken limbs or wounds from snares.
02:24So often when they come in they require a lot of veterinary attention.
02:29They are very prone to getting respiratory infections.
02:31Which is why we have to be very careful.
02:33Whenever we are close to the chimps here we wear masks.
02:36Because they can give stuff to us as well as we can give stuff to them.
02:41What I love about working with chimpanzees
02:43is because I have never ever felt I am going to work.
02:45That is what I love.
02:47It is about being here, being with them.
02:49Having that satisfaction that you made a difference for them.
02:53These chimps are coming from problems created by our fellow human beings.
03:01So I am happy that we are contributing in some way.
03:04When they come here they are given a second chance of life.
03:12Takugama is more than a sanctuary.
03:14Initially Takugama was built as an orphanage.
03:17But with time we realised that you cannot sustain this operation
03:20just by receiving chimpanzees.
03:23We really need to look at the problems that they are facing
03:27and see how we can mitigate.
03:30Our activities are very diverse.
03:32Research, ecotourism, education.
03:37Most of our staff here are employed from the local communities.
03:40This work is not just about chimps.
03:42It is about using the chimpanzees to make a difference for people.
03:48In our outreach program we work with various communities across the region.
03:53And these communities are places where we have our rescues.
03:58We have different interventions like education.
04:01We have biomonitoring and research.
04:05We also have reforestation, livelihood activities
04:09and everything that is conservation-wise in these communities.
04:15By providing this facility and running it so well over the years
04:19this has become the number one ecotourism destination for Sierra Leone.
04:24The Ministry of Tourism have actually declared the chimpanzee as the face of tourism.
04:30And that's a huge boost for us.
04:33No other country can boast about having chimpanzee as your national animal.
04:37And Sierra Leone has done it and it's a proud moment.
04:42It's about creating the awareness with the people.
04:46It's your national animal.
04:47You cannot be eating your national animal.
04:49You cannot be chaining your national animal.
04:52You cannot cram your national animal in a cage.
04:55So this is also creating that love between you and that species.
04:59They are so much like us and I think they deserve at least this from us.
05:08All across Africa chimpanzees are facing a lot of challenges.
05:13The long-term survival and well-being of the chimpanzees
05:16is left in the hands of us humans.
05:19We cannot call ourselves intelligent if we continue to destroy everything around us.
05:23Protecting chimpanzees and their habitats is crucial for all of us.
05:28A healthy ecosystem cannot survive without
05:33well-being and presence of chimpanzees, birds and other wildlife.
05:38It's an ecosystem where all of us have to thrive.
05:41We are all in this together.