Orphaned Chimp “Motek” Recovers at Limbe

Felix Lankester, D.V.M., Project Manager, Limbe Wildlife Centre, Cameroon
September 2006

In the June 2006 issue of IPPL News, readers learned of the fate of a one-year-old chimpanzee, a bushmeat orphan, who had been found in the rear of a drug smuggler’s vehicle in Cameroon, surrounded by enormous sacks of marijuana. The smuggler was apprehended, thanks to the determined work of The Last Great Ape Organization, a local wildlife protection non-profit. The infant Motek—now known as “Ghaa”—had been badly wounded when the poachers shot his mother, and it was not clear that he would survive. Fortunately, he was taken to Cameroon’s Limbe Wildlife Centre, where he has made amazing progress.

Since the arrival of Ghaa at the Limbe Wildlife Centre, early in 2006, it has been an uphill struggle for both Ghaa and his caregivers. Initially unable to use any of his four limbs, due to multiple fractures at the base of his skull and in the vertebral column of his neck, the prognosis for Ghaa was fairly bleak. However, it was apparent that, due to his ability to sense deep pain in his toes and fingers, the nerve routes had not been totally severed, and so there was a chance of some recovery of motor function. Thus with intensive daily physiotherapy sessions and anti-inflammatory medication, Ghaa slowly but surely began to regain some motor activity in his limbs.

The staff at the LWC was overjoyed when it became clear that, after a few weeks of therapy, Ghaa was slowly recovering some use of his right hand and then his left. However, despite the progress made in the use of his limbs, Ghaa’s postural muscles remained very weak and so, in order to encourage Ghaa to strengthen them, a small wheeled baby walker was constructed that enabled Ghaa to sit up and use his weakened legs to push himself around. After a month of using the walker, Ghaa’s postural strength slowly improved, and gradually he began to learn to crawl without the walker.

In May 2006 Ghaa was introduced to the four other infant chimpanzees being hand-reared at the LWC, and to everyone’s amazement he summoned all his strength and—for the very first time since arriving at the LWC—he stood up and knuckle-walked! Perhaps it was seeing the other infants running around that gave him the final impetus to stand up but, whatever it was, this was a huge leap forward in Ghaa’s recovery.

In the past few weeks, Ghaa has spent more and more time with the four other infants. Recently, he has even begun spending the nights with them, sleeping in his own hammock.

Ghaa has a long way to go before his recovery is complete, and he is still very much slower and less coordinated than a chimp of his age would normally be. At this stage we cannot be sure what degree of disability will remain once the recovery phase ends, but with the degree of recovery witnessed so far it is hoped that, even if Ghaa does not regain full motor function of his limbs, at least he will be able to walk, climb, and feed himself, and will be able to be successfully integrated into a family group. The therapy is ongoing.

A message from Felix Lankester and the Limbe staff

The Limbe Wildlife Center staff would like to thank all those who so kindly responded to IPPL’s request for donations to help with the rehabilitation of this resilient baby chimpanzee. Without this support, the LWC would have found it very difficult to give Ghaa the level of care that his condition warranted. We will keep you all informed of Ghaa’s ongoing progress.