Arcus Awards IPPL $200,000 Grant for Ape Sanctuaries

August 2004

The Arcus Foundation announced last June that it was awarding IPPL a two-year grant of $213,840 to help support six ape sanctuaries in Africa and Asia. This amount is twice the original grant request. Through IPPL, the Arcus Foundation’s Great Apes Fund has since 2002 generously supported a number of primate rescue centers in countries where apes are native. IPPL is grateful for the foundation’s enduring support and encouragement.

This year, Arcus took the initiative to distribute the grant award over a two-year period, instead of adhering to the more usual one-year funding cycle. This means that the primate rescue centers that will benefit from the foundation’s generosity can count on a stable source of funding for two years. That kind of financial stability is invaluable for an organization’s long-term planning and ultimate viability.

Each of the six ape sanctuaries named in the grant also received financial assistance from Arcus via IPPL in 2003. These sanctuaries are:

• Tacugama Sanctuary, Sierra Leone, which cares for 71 chimpanzees, all rescued from trade.
• The Friends of Bonobos Association, Kinshasa, The Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire), which houses over two dozen confiscated bonobos (or pygmy chimpanzees).
• HELP Congo, Brazzaville, the Republic of Congo, which looks after a group of 50 chimpanzees, of whom 24 are currently being carefully monitored as they are reintroduced to the wild.
• Highland Farm Gibbon Sanctuary, Amphur Prop Pra, Tak Province, Thailand, which houses 36 gibbons.
• Kalaweit Gibbon Sanctuary, Kalimantan, Indonesia, which cares for over 100 gibbons and approximately 60 siamangs.
• The Endangered Primate Rescue Center, Cuc Phuong National Park, Vietnam, home to 19 gibbons.

All six facilities operate on tight budgets while providing essential services. They offer facilities where local wildlife officials can place illegally traded, confiscated apes into custody. And they are often the only disseminators of wildlife education efforts targeting local people, aimed at halting the illegal ape trade at its source.

Again this year, IPPL did not request any funds for administrative fees or overhead as part of the grant application: IPPL is dedicated to the mission of our partner sanctuaries, which actively promote the survival of apes within ape habitat countries.