ADOPT A CHIMP

You don't have to watch and feel helpless — you can actually make a difference in the lives of the chimpanzees you see on Escape to Chimp Eden.

Income generated by tourism to the sanctuary helps fund their food, shelter and medication. But, in order to overcome their psychological trauma — and have a chance at being reintroduced into the wild — the chimps need special care and rehabilitation activities.

A cash donation to the Jane Goodall Institute South Africa can help provide exactly that.

Donations also help establish protection and sanctuary in the chimpanzee's natural range, and continue to help fund the very rescue missions that you see on Escape to Chimp Eden.

CHIMPANZEE CONSERVATION

Chimpanzees are continuing to vanish in Africa. At the turn of the 20th century, there were roughly one million chimps living in the wild in West and Central Africa. At the turn of the 21st century, only about 200,000 remained, a rate of decline equal to a loss of 8,000 chimpanzees a year.

The three major factors contributing to these enormous losses are habitat loss, the bushmeat trade and the live animal trade.

Habitat Loss: Africa has one of the highest population growth rates in the world. The continent roughly doubles its population every 24 years, leading to ever-greater demands for natural resources, including wood for firewood, charcoal and building poles. The constantly growing human population also needs space, and so forests are clear-cut to provide room for more houses, more crops and grazing for domestic livestock. Timber companies also continue to harvest wood at an alarming rate. All of these factors lead to an enormous loss of habitat for chimpanzees.

Bushmeat Trade: Logging roads created by the timber industry have allowed easy access to previously inaccessible areas of forest. Where once chimpanzees, gorillas, forest elephants and other animals were taken by local villagers for subsistance, now poachers are hunting them at unsustainable levels to sell on the black market and to feed the influx of loggers. Chimpanzee meat is sold not only in Africa but in cities around the world, including some in the United States.

Live Animal Trade: A sad product of the bushmeat trade is that it also supplies the live animal trade. After witnessing the deaths of their mothers, baby chimps are frequently captured and sold as pets and for entertainment uses. These chimps grow up in isolation, confined, half-starved and often physically abused.

The Jane Goodall Institute is on the ground floor in the fight for chimpanzee conservation and the rescuing and rehabilitation of illegally held chimps. To learn more, and to find out what you can do to help, click on the adoption link above.