Great Ape Trust conservation grants support a variety of grassroots efforts that include studies of orangutans at a new field site in Sumatra, a sanctuary for orphaned bonobos in Democratic Republic of Congo, a first-of-its-kind natural history museum in Uganda, and reintroduction efforts of golden lion tamarins in Brazil. For more information on Great Ape Trust’s conservation strategies, selecting funding targets and accountabilities for supported efforts, click here.
The following are summaries of the conservation efforts supported by Great Ape Trust in 2007:
Great Ape Sanctuaries
Sanctuaries have a key role in conservation in great ape range countries (countries where apes occur naturally in the wild) since they allow government authorities to enforce conservation laws. Wild apes are captured illegally, and show up in markets, hotels and restaurants, the entertainment industry and in private homes where they are kept as pets. Government authorities will not confiscate these apes unless they can be taken to a sanctuary where they will receive good care. Without good sanctuaries, these poor apes will be left to suffer, and public appreciation and enforcement of wildlife laws is diminished. There is a profound dilemma about what eventually to do with the apes that live in these range country sanctuaries.
Dr. Benjamin Beck, Great Ape Trust’s director of conservation, addressed the issues of range country sanctuaries at “The Mind of the Chimpanzee” conference in March 2007. Over 200 experts in chimpanzee cognition and wellbeing attended the conference. Beck’s’ presentation, titled “Ape Orphans: Welfare, Conservation, and Ethics,” documents about 2,500 orphan apes in range country sanctuaries in Africa, Indonesia and Malaysia. He reviews the feasibility and ethical implications of five options for the future of these unfortunate and long-lived beings. Reintroduction is the preferred option, but is expensive, technically difficult, and requires ever-rarer sites with suitable forest. Beck concludes that funding for sanctuary expansion is urgently needed.
· Lincoln Park Zoo Travel Costs
· Chimpanzee Conservation Center
· Lola Ya Bonobo
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Great Ape Trust is certified by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums
