The world has come to a standstill as we all face the challenge of the Coronavirus pandemic, but here at Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary our work must continue to protect the 96 rescued chimpanzees in our care.

It is very challenging for the sanctuary as an institution at the forefront of its work in animal welfare and conservation to encounter this significant outbreak. There is no fundamental understanding on how the virus could affect the chimpanzees but experts are predicting it will be be fatal if it reaches great apes. We are morally obligated to look after this critically endangered species and cannot afford to take any risks. As such - the sanctuary has been closed since March and without visitor income and rapidly increasing prices we are facing an extremely rough stretch.

Thanks to the support received over the last month we've covered the Sanctuary's running costs for April! Its a huge relief, but we are still on high alert as it's impossible to predict how much more of this madness we will need to endure. We still need to cover running costs for May, June, July and possibly beyond. It's a difficult task considering the level of hardship and suffering all over the world, but perseverance is in our DNA and we somehow need to find a way through these crazy times, otherwise, 25 years of conservation work can easily get wiped out in an instant as well as the very species we are trying to protect.

Please donate to help the chimpanzees! Those of you who can't donate at this moment, please circulate this appeal within your networks and mention what Tacugama means to conservation in Sierra Leone.

On behalf of everyone at Tacugama, thank you for your support!