Dear Friends,
Terrible news for today, believe me!
Santa/Mapima and Kimo are no longer at home with us and are now staying at the Refuge in the quarantine area ready to be introduced.
Santa (left) & Kimo
They have been presented already to the ‘big’ ones of the main group: Chita, Bachi, Wanza and of course Shasa, our oldest female.
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/uaEKsjkC61s" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
Yesterday, Papa Augustin, their carer, had just cleaned their quarantine cage and left a few minutes asking Faustin to keep an eye on the two little ones.
Kimo & Santa playing in their nest
Suddenly, Faustin heard very strange noises: Santa was screaming and then a long silence. He ran to Santa and saw that her neck was stuck in the handle of her nest and that the baby chimpanzee was almost strangled.
Reconstitution of how Santa was kept in the handle
Faustin immediately called for a knife, cut the handle while Papa Augustin was holding and lifting baby Santa unconscious. She wasn’t breathing any more. Her lips were blue and her face was grey. Without hesitating, Faustin blew some oxygen through her nostrils and, fortunately, managed to reanimate her!
Santa’s face was grey and her eyes remained red for hours
Santa’s eyes remained red and slightly swollen the whole afternoon. She was held in observation until the next morning and everything is fine again now.
Santa and her Teddy
Santa was lucky and has been more lucky than poor Muchana, the eight-year-old-male gorilla that was found dead in his sleeping quarters end of February at the St Louis Zoo. Such horrible accidents unfortunately do occur in captivity although all measures are taken to prevent these. The handles of Santa’s nest were quite small and have just been sewn together so-that no chimp can pass the head through…
Again, thank you Faustin to be here with us! Thank you for the good work!
Roxane
My god! That could have gone very bad without faustin there! THANKS Faustin! Naw , our little Santa, i miss them!
I just heard about Santa today. Faustin is my hero! It’s comforting to know that the chimps are in such capable hands. Many thanks to you, Faustin!
God, what a horrifying story! I felt sick seeing the pictures of the toy chimpanzee hanging. Faustin, you are one in million, sir – a true guardian angel for baby chimpanzees. Thank you for acting so quickly to save little Santa.
s.
Almost a miracle…
Send all my gratitude to Faustin and plenty of love to Santa.
Regards
Susana Pataro (Argentina)
What a horrible scare for everyone! I am so glad Faustin and Augustin were there and thought fast! It would have broken many hearts for little Santa to be gone. Please thank Faustin for resucitating little Santa! He truly is an angel. I thought I read on the gorilla.cd blog that Faustin was leaving due to his father’s death? Please tell him he is my prayers and I am sorry for his loss. It’s exceptionally hard to lose a parent.
Oh my God Roxane — horrible…and really, thank goodness Faustin was there to save her…he really is a miracle worker, isn’t he? I am so grateful she is ok…poor baby!