African sanctuary gives hope to chimps—and their rescuers

October 15, 2021

Lwiro Primates Rehabilitation Center was founded in 2002 when war in the DRC spurred bushmeat poaching in nearby Kahuzi-Biega National Park. Wildlife authorities confiscated orphaned chimps from poachers and villagers, housing them in old lab rooms at an abandoned Belgian science research center in Lwiro. As the numbers of orphans grew, two institutions—the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature and the National Center for Research in Natural Sciences, also based in the DRC—created the sanctuary.

Bernard Masunga, a senior veterinarian who’s been at Lwiro since its inception, has seen the haven grow into a home to chimps and monkeys, more than a hundred each, in forested enclosures. “I am very proud of local efforts to arrive where we have arrived,” he says. But as primates keep coming, he says, the long-term strategy is to release as many as possible back into the wilderness once they’ve regained health and confidence.

Sitting with a group of chimps one day last year, Vélez del Burgo flips her phone’s camera to selfie mode and points at the curious apes. Billi, a six-year-old male, looks with what seems to be amusement at the image on the screen. A few other chimps peer over his shoulder. Billi bares his lips to examine and pick his teeth. Then he squishes his cheeks with his fingers as if popping pimples. Vélez del Burgo chuckles as Billi pokes a forefinger up his nose.

“I’d always dreamed of working in primate conservation,” says the soft-spoken Vélez del Burgo, who arrived at Lwiro in early 2014, when the sanctuary had about 55 chimps. Born in Vitoria, a small town in northern Spain, she felt a call to protect animals.

Vélez del Burgo has come to understand how important Lwiro is to members of the staff, such as Balanda, who in helping chimps recover find that the animals help them in return. That goes for Vélez del Burgo herself. The biggest lesson the chimps have taught her, she says, is how to be strong in the face of struggle. “They never give up.” Life here is not easy, she says, “but I won’t abandon them—the chimps or the team.”