A little chimpanzee named Manno is now settling in to his new home at a sanctuary in Kenya, after an Edmonton-area man spent several years working to rescue him.
Three years ago, Sherwood Park teacher Spencer Sekyer was volunteering in northern Iraq over Christmas break when he first met Manno, who was living in the Duhok Zoo near Sekyer’s hotel.
Staff at the zoo allowed Sekyer to interact closely with the one-year-old chimp. “I think something got lost in translation and I think they thought I was some kind of ape expert, because they gave me full reign of Manno.”
Sekyer said he quickly developed a bond with the little chimp.
“He kind of picked me. This ape, this small, little ape, I mean, I just started taking care of him and I’d show up at the zoo and he’d come tearing over and jump all over me.
“Just started to pull at my heartstrings. There was an emotional bond with him and … I felt compelled not to leave him in a situation that would end badly.”
Sekyer said Manno was generally well-cared for by staff, but was living in a large bird cage and was harassed by zoo visitors. “They were unable to care for him in the proper manner that an ape needs to be cared for.”
Manno then went to live with a family that had young children, which Sekyer said was basically “asking for disaster.”
“As you see, when they are young they are beautiful, they are cute, they are basically mini humans. But as they get older they get more aggressive and can actually get quite dangerous as well.”
Sekyer said the zoo owner was initially reluctant to give up Manno because he’d paid US$15,000 for the chimpanzee. The private zoo is located just 75 kilometres from Mosul, where fierce fighting is taking place to dislodge the Islamic State terror group.
With the help of some influential people, including the Kurdish prime minister, they were able to rescue Manno – but then had nowhere to put him.
That changed when Sekyer spoke face to face back in September with Dr. Jane Goodall, who is considered to be the world’s foremost expert on chimpanzees.
“I just met Jane, and I had my little spiel down to a five-second face time with her, and said , ‘ I got this guy named Manno,’ and so she put me in touch with her people, who put me in touch with Daniel Stiles.”
Stiles is the project manager for the Project to End Great Ape Slavery, and helped arrange for Manno to be relocated to the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary. The sanctuary, which is a two-hour drive from Nairobi, Kenya, is part of the Ol Pejeta Conservancy that boasts 90,000 acres of savannah and natural habitat.
Manno, now four years old, arrived on Dec. 1. “We went with him from Kurdistan, to Dubai to Kenya.”
Manno is in quarantine for 90 to 120 days, during which time he will be observed and tested to rule out herpes, tuberculosis and other diseases. If all goes well, staff will then start the process to integrate Manno with the rest of the chimps at the reserve.
“He’ll be able to do chimp things like chasing other chimps through the bush, making friends with them, getting into fights, and when he’s older having ‘a bit of fun with the ladies,'” Daniel Stiles told the CBC.
Sherwood Park is located directly east of Edmonton.
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