Bullet in the arm of a chimp !!

Hi dear Readers!

Fifteen chimpanzees are now staying at our Refuge Centre and Mwisho is the orphan we worry about most. Arrived last December, he still keeps himself isolated and selects the people he wants to have contacts with.  

For the last weeks, Mwisho had a swollen thing, something like a « bubble » in the bend of his right arm. 

 As we thought it was a cyst, and because we wanted to have a medical check up made, a Congolese vet came to  anaesthetize the young male .

To our surprise, the little « bubble/cyst » turned out to be completely different than expected as we all discovered that it was a piece of metal that had settled in his arm.

 

Then, when looking closer, we realised the « thing » actually was the fragment of a bullet.

 

How could this have occured? Maybe, when the poachers attacked the group of chimpanzees  to catch the youngsters, Misho might have been slightly hurt… or, maybe, this is a fragment of the bullet that killed Mwisho’s mum… A lot of theories can be given for this fragment and we will never know the truth. Though, one thing is sure: Mwisho is now rid of this « thing » and has fully recovered.

We still don’t know when Mwisho will join the main group and remain certain the earlier the best. This traumatised chimp orphan has problems to deal with humans,sure , but the aim at JACK isn’t to domesticate chimpanzees .  So, we are thinking of splitting the main group in two: (1) the group of the very young ones who still need contacts with the surrogate mothers and (2) the group of the elder ones, like Mwisho, who are already very independent  and who no longer need to stay close to humans. But, doing so means JACK takes a new step forward and it won’t be an easy task to separate individuals who have been very close. Also, in order to organise these two groups, we need more space , extra fencing, advice, additional help and support …

 

We’ll keep you posted!

 

Roxane, Franck and the Chimps