Lola ya Bonobo

Well the silly season’s arriving and I think it’s a good time to offer up a little prayer of thanks for Malou.

She was Claudine’s Christmas baby, because exactly two years ago an airport official at a x-ray machine at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris noticed something the size and shape of a small child stuffed into someone’s hand luggage. He detained the owner, who was on transit to Russia and unzipped the bag.

The creature inside was so wasted with dehydration, the official presumed it was dead. It looked so human, it could have been a child, but the official finally concluded it was a chimpanzee.

Malou was neither a child nor a chimpanzee. She was a five year old bonobo. Her mother had been shot and the humans who killed her were smuggling Malou out of the Democratic Republic of Congo to sell her as a pet in Eurasia. On the black market, a baby bonobo can sell for up to $60,000US.

By the time Malou got to Lola she was almost dead. Claudine was almost certain she wouldn’t make it. But on a wing and a prayer, Malou held onto life with all the strength in her bony little fingers, and now, two years later, she’s one of the most beautiful bonobos at Lola.

Generally, I’m not a fan of Christmas. Tackling shopping malls, waiting for hours in line, and never finding anything that anyone really wants, isn’t one of my favourite chores and tends to take up all my time. But I like to stop and think when I can, about the things that really matter, like the people we love, and how fortunate we are, and how every now and then, there’s a little Christmas miracle like Malou.

ps. all the Lo-lo fans will see how similar Malou looked to little Lomela when she first arrived. Lomela and Kata are in the nursery now, hopefully the photos will arrive soon – but i think they’re just keeping us all in suspense so that when we finally see little Lo, we’ll all be seriously and happily surprised:)