Behind the scenes of a historic chimp relocation in Liberia

After months of planning, a team of international primate experts and Humane World for Animals veterinarians and staff gathered at Second Chance Chimpanzee Refuge in Liberia for a complex mission: temporarily relocating six chimpanzees from their island home to our sanctuary’s updated housing facility on the mainland.

This move marked the second phase of a multiyear project to upgrade sanctuary facilities and the 61 chimp residents’ island homes. Humane World will build veterinary clinics and chimp villas on the islands to enhance health care and provide improved shelter during extreme weather. But before contractors can break ground, our team had to strategically relocate the primates island by island to keep animals and humans safe during construction.

On that March morning, the team boarded boats to reach Island 4, the first estuary island to be upgraded. Second Chance caregivers then tossed laced mango treats to the chimps who live there—Bean, Kowura, Hannie, Denyon, Will and Goofie—to help relax them before anesthesia.

According to Ben Johnson, manager of animal care at Second Chance, ensuring all the chimpanzees were medicated and captured simultaneously was the most important and delicate part of the mission.

“If some chimps remained awake while others were sedated, it could have created a dangerous situation—awake chimps might panic, escape or become aggressive, potentially putting themselves, other chimps and the team at risk,” he explains. “Coordinating the sedation helped maintain control, reduce stress and ensure the success of the relocation process.”

Therefore, Second Chance caretakers strategically tossed the food directly to each animal based on their rank in the group. The team experienced one failed attempt earlier that week when some chimps rejected peanut butter treats. But on the second attempt, the months of planning and years of experience paid off.

Sue Tygielski, senior director at our Black Beauty Ranch sanctuary in Texas, joined as a consultant in the planning process and assisted in the move. “Once it started rolling, it was like, ‘OK, we’re going to be successful. I don’t know if it’s going to be all six chimps, but we’re going to get some of them off the island.’ And then, it just all lined up. It started ticking into place, and the plan went really, really well.”

The vet team was able to safely tranquilize each chimp. Once all were anesthetized, vets, techs and sanctuary staff identified each primate, gave them quick checkups and carried them with cargo nets to the small boats. The team then traversed the river and hoisted the animals onto the transport boat before loading them into travel crates.