Lola Ya Bonobo

Category: the sanctuary | Date: Dec 14 2007 | By: admin

ok, i’m back after a little break. I’ve asked for updates so hopefully we shoudl have those soon on our 3 little survivors.

But first of all, I just got the list of donations and I would like to give a huge THANK YOU to these people:

Michael de Plater who donated $240, thank you so much.

Brigitta, who has set up a monthly $10 donation, Gary C, who donated $50, Lisa Hickey who donated $25, and Kaia G, who also donated $50.

I would also like to introduce Wilhelmabegleiter - a group of volunteers at the zoo “Wilhelma” in Stuttgart, Germany, which I think is just adorable. They’ve set up a donation of $70 a month.

I’ve just caught up on the comments, and the new bonobo reserve the Congo government is setting up is not the same one as Claudine is looking at. For the Lola bonobos, who have been habituated to humans, the site we need is really specific and will probably take a little longer to find.As to penalties for people capturing and selling bonbos, it’s hard for people like us to understnad how anyone could hurt such wonderful creatures. But the people of Congo have been through a lot, including a war where over 4 million people were killed. That’s more people killed than any war since WWII. It only ended in 2003, so the Congolese have an extremely vivid memory of what it was like to live with the threat of death around every corner.

So it’s hard for them to appreciate animal rights, even for bonobos, who are more like cousins.

I just wanted to share this photo, taken by my friend Charles Alexander, called ‘Gorilla Drawing for Sale’. (www.natureartists.com/artists/artist.asp?ArtistID=1273)

It breaks my heart every time I look into his eyes.

I think if the future for kids like these was a little brighter, the future of bonobos would be too.