CHIMPANZEE RESCUE CENTER

While at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya I visited the 250 acre (one square kilometer) Sweetwater Chimpanzee Sanctuary. It maintains almost 40 chimps integrated into two troops separated by a river in a tropical forest environment surrounded by a perimeter fence. Almost all of the chimps are rescues from the illegal pet trade, circuses and other unnatural situations. Many have histories of past traumas. Through food conditioning the chimps have been trained to go into housing at night, which means that they can be more easily attended to if problems arise.
The sanctuary was created in 1993 as a joint alliance between the Jane Goodall Institute and Kenyan Wildlife Service to replace the chimpanzee rescue center in Burundi that was forced to close because of civil war. The chimps are too acclimated to humans to ever be released into the wild. While the center still accepts rescued chimps, the females are implanted with contraceptives to prevent the population from expanding beyond what the facility can handle. Each chimp costs thousands of dollars to maintain all of which is supported by donations, visitor fees and grants.
While chimpanzees are not native to Kenya, small endangered populations are found in the rainforests of Tanzania, Uganda, and other Central and West African countries
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