VIP veterinary surgery, Lagos, Algarve, Portugal

Saving Africa
Wading through a sea of police, authorities and onlookers, the rescue team from charity MONA UK and I were finally allowed to walk up the narrow steps of a delapidated cement block house on the Spanish island of Gran Canaria. Invited along by fellow vet and MONA sanctuary director Olga Feliu to take part in the rescue of a captive primate, we could hear the frightened hoots and screams of a large ape as we climbed, incarcerated in a tiny, unfinished room on the upper terrace. Reaching the top and walking around the small 6 feet by 10 feet room to the other side, I peered through the barred window into the darkness, my first glimpse of the sad inhabitant, a female chimpanzee called Africa.

Underweight, traumatised, and with a severe skin condition affecting her head and shoulders, ‘Africa' was in a terrible state. With just a smattering of thick black fur over her head, neck and fore-arms, she had literally pulled her hair out with stress, living solely with humans for the twelve years of her life so far. Purchased as a baby from a boat moored at Gran Canaria harbour, Africa 's only lingering early memory would have been witnessing her entire family being killed during capture. Chimpanzee mothers are highly maternal and live in intensely social groups who fervently protect their youngsters, just as we humans would do to protect our children. It is no wonder that primates have in the past been a much sought after pet, with their baby-like characteristics as youngsters giving them a wide appeal. Yet they make totally unsuitable and potentially dangerous pets, developing five times the strength of a human when fully grown and becoming aggressive when sexually mature at around seven years of age.

As Africa began to flex her muscles and become more wilful as a troublesome teen tends to do, her misguided owners had to confine the chimp for increasing amounts of time to her dark and foul room. Scattered with old cardboard boxes for company and held up by rusted metal support beams, the chimps' cage could only be described as a horrifying solitary confinement cell. Never allowed to experience anything outside of her captors home, neighbours tipped off the authorities of this grounded teenager presence in the house. As she was being illegally held, her owners had just been fined a whopping 15 000 euros and CITES (Convention on International Trade in endangered species) had asked whether animal charity MONA UK could take her in. Headed up by veterinarian and pocket dynamo Olga Feliu, The Mona Foundation rescues and rehabilitates pet and circus chimpanzees, while working towards an end to the exploitation of primates in captivity.

Now reacting violently to the many un-invited house guests, her owners ‘introduced' me to Africa , making a waving gesture between us to tell her that I was a friend. With this simple act, the frightened chimp immediately calmed down and seemed to warm to me, disregarding her nerves for a moment to blow kisses through the bars. On one hand upset at the loss of what they saw as their ‘other daughter', but on the other appreciating that they could no longer care for her, the owners beckoned Africa to one side of the room. The local Spanish vet working in conjunction with the Gran Canarian police, prepared to blow dart the distracted chimp through the barred window. Deflecting the first sedation dart by using a piece of cardboard to block it, the astonished and impressed vet managed to hit his mark on second attempt and Africa went down.

Once sedated we moved Africa to the family dining table to quickly check her microchip, marvelling as I listened to a chimpanzees' heart for the first time as we examined her in preparation for her long journey ahead. Impossible not to notice the amazing similarity between her hand structure and mine, even down to individual fingerprints and apposing thumbs, it was not surprising that with just 1.2% difference between my DNA and Africa's, chimpanzees are man's closest cousin. Noticing strangely irregular dentition, like a child in desperate need for braces, I asked charity vet Olga why the chimps' teeth were so bad. Previously examining the chimp prior to the seizure, Olga had found an old fracture in Africa 's lower jaw, likely sustained from a heavy blow when she was ripped from her mothers arms during capture. Such severe injuries were common place in the chimps under her care Olga admitted, with lost fingers and broken bones a depressingly familiar sight.

With the help of the local constabulary, we lifted Africa onto a stretcher and down the many flights of stairs, before placing her into a waiting transport crate. Witnessing a tearful goodbye between Africa and her former owners, she was given an injection to reverse the sedation as we set off for Gran Canaria airport. Just as we were leaving, I discovered a shocking revelation, that there were three other baby chimps sold at the harbour at the same time as Africa , unwittingly assuring that this would not be the last time MONA would save a primate from the barren island. Raising many eyebrows as we delivered our precious load to the cargo bay, we began the long and convoluted journey to her new home. Flying to capital city Madrid, we spent hours jumping the beauracratic hurdles needed to release the chimp from customs, eventually reloading Africa into a van for a gruelling six hour land journey across Spain to the Mona sanctuary, in Ruidellots de la Selva, near Girona.

Finally reaching the safety of the sanctuary, the weary team and I released Africa into her new enclosure, wiping away the tiredness and stress of the journey in an instant. Her new bedroom was large and spacious, fitted with slings, swings and soft bedding for the chimp to enjoy a well earned nap. As vet Olga intently observed her new chimpanzee recruit settling in, charity director of MONA UK, Dr Lorraine Docherty kindly offered to give me a tour of this special place. Marvelling at the football field sized outdoor enclosures where a family group and bachelor group were busily playing, the dedicated Lorraine joked in her Scottish brogue that although the bachelors were not given their own sports cars, to play in an area as big as a football pitch kept the boys pretty happy.

The sanctuary is built on seven hectares of beautiful land in green and leafy Catalonia , housing twelve other chimpanzees rescued from zoos, travelling circuses and the pet trade. Saved from truly awful circumstances, I was overjoyed to see successfully rehabilitated primates now happily reunited with their own kind, swinging between climbing frames or ambling along beside us from the other side of the impressive 15foot high perimeter fence as we walked. Introducing me to the very happy and healthy looking animals, Lorraine retold each chimpanzees' harrowing tale. From Bongo, a now healthy male who was kept in dog kennel for a year and couldn't stand up, to Nico who was so psychologically damaged from his former life that he gnawed off his own fingers, the stories were truly heartbreaking. Although the memories of such atrocities linger on, the chimps showed no signs of ill will towards us or each other, gently grooming one another and even playing a game of tug a war with straw through the fence. With parenthood on the horizon for yours truly in the very near future, I was saddened to hear that female Romie was treated like a baby machine, giving birth to six offspring that were quickly torn from her and sold into the entertainment industry. As chimpanzees care for their injured and mourn the loss of loved ones just like human families, it was hard to fathom how Romie had managed to survive such heartache. Yet the charity's work is far reaching, and amazingly they managed to track down and seize two of her babies, Sara and Nico, both of whom now live with their mother at the sanctuary. The Mona Foundation will continue to look after these animals for the remainder of their lives, with chimpanzees living to around 50 years. Like current oldest resident Toto can attest to at age 53 and looking amusingly similar to Sean Connery, this is no short term commitment.

Rescuing chimpanzees from circuses and the pet trade is a full time job for all at the sanctuary, but Lorraine also pointed out the charity's work to advocate the protection of the remaining chimp population in the wild. In the sixties there were an estimated population of 600,000 chimps in Africa , today they have declined to around 200,000. The biggest threats to the great apes are deforestation, hunting for bushmeat and the pet trade. A great part of the work MONA UK does is to promote the welfare and conservation of chimpanzees in the wild, while helping to offer chimps like Africa a fresh start, free from exploitation.

Now settled and relaxed, Africa greeted me with a genuine smile as I returned to check on her. The new resident has a slow and intense rehabilitation process ahead of her, vets treating her skin wounds to avoid transmission between her and others, before beginning the long task of teaching her to be a chimp again. Still not used to the company of fellow chimpanzees, her vocal arrival to the sanctuary was quickly silenced when hearing the other residents, almost like a child nervous and tight-lipped on the first day of school. Eventually she will be allowed to see the other chimps from a distance, once her fear has subsided she will then be gradually introduced to one of the less intimidating individuals. Watching my every move with such emotive and expressive eyes, and reacting to my amateurish attempts at chimp friendly vocalisations learnt from the sanctuary staff, it was clear to me that Africa was now home.

Spending such an intense period of time with such an extraordinary creature and then seeing her in a more natural and suitable environment, one thing is for sure, Chimpanzees are not pets. These animals are complex and social wild creatures, requiring a great deal of space and the company of other chimps to thrive. So as the battle goes on to save our closest cousin in the wild, its good to know that closer to home, there are inspiring places like the MONA sanctuary, giving chimpanzees like beautiful Africa , a second chance.