IPPL remembers the “Pitch in for Pitchou” campaign for an orphaned gorilla in Cameroon

In 1998, IPPL raised over $35,000 from our supporters to help a unique baby gorilla girl named Pitchou, whose mother had been shot for bushmeat.

Pitchou had languished for three days in a small crate in a tourist area hotel before being bought by the hotel’s owners, who could no longer bear to see her suffer. They paid about US$20 for her. A couple of weeks later, the owners realized what a commitment it is to care for a gorilla and turned her over to the hardworking folks at Cameroon’s Limbe Wildlife Centre (LWC).

When she arrived at the LWC, Pitchou had severe ringworm, her body covered with scabs, scars, and bald patches from the infection. She was malnourished and so traumatized that (just like some stressed-out humans) she perpetually ground her teeth. She was a real mess!

At that time, IPPL had already been helping to support this rescue center for a couple of years, so we immediately began raising more funds, with our “Pitch in for Pitchou” campaign, to help sustain the work of the facility and enable it to meet Pitchou’s needs. Thankfully, with the help of professional expertise and 24-hour care, Pitchou made a full recovery.

Now, so many years later, Pitchou is still doing great and is one of the leaders of LWC’s gorilla group. She would not be alive today if it were not for the great care she received from Limbe’s African and expatriate staff members, who are grateful for IPPL’s long-time support.

Escape from a cancer lab: Arun Rangsi’s story

Maybe you’ve seen those heartbreaking photos of tiny monkey babies being raised in a lab, clinging desperately to a wire “mother.”

Such cruel old experiments confirmed that all primates—human and nonhuman alike—need love and affection to grow up normally.

Sadly, that was how our own Arun Rangsi spent his early life. Born in a cancer lab in California in 1979, this little gibbon (the smallest of the apes) was rejected by his mother within a week. He was placed on a wire surrogate mom and tattooed with “HLA-98” in blue on his chest. He suffered repeated bouts of illness for almost two years.

Then, as luck would have it, the cancer lab lost its funding and the lab director was reduced to cleaning his own gibbon cages. Arun Rangsi, underweight and sickly, was threatened with euthanasia.

That’s when we got a call from a concerned lab employee—and stepped in to rescue this poor little fellow. We had him flown from California to our sanctuary in the lush Lowcountry of South Carolina, which we established in 1977. We gave him his Thai Buddhist name, which means “The Rising Sun of Dawn.” With lots of love and care, Arun Rangsi grew strong and healthy. We gave him the opportunity to enjoy a companion and raise a family.

Now, decades later, he still lives with his long-time mate Shanti (another lab gibbon) at our sanctuary, surrounded by dozens of gibbon neighbors. Their happy whoops echo among the Carolina pines.