Health is Wealth
It’s the time of the year when the chimpanzee community at Ngamba Island gets shivers; it’s health check season. This year was so exciting since we live streamed the procedure for one day to enable our friends and supporters all over the world to have a chance to see the procedures.
The entire exercise begins a day before; chimps to be examined the next day are selected, and we ensure they don’t leave with the group to the forest the morning of the healthy check something which betrays the Vets; cause these individuals realize it’s time.
Every year the veterinary team needs to find new and innovative ways to coax and cajole the chimpanzees to undergo this. Just like humans, they don’t really like to go to the doctor’s!
The Chimpanzee Trust uses this opportunity to partner with veterinary volunteers or health professionals to share knowledge and experiences. The team this year was privileged to have eight Veterinary students in their final year at Alfonso X el Sabio University in Madrid and Dr Lina Adolpine a veterinarian from Lwiro Sanctuary in Africa.
To date all the chimpanzees have been examined and pronounced healthy. The most common health issues last year 2017 were dental problems and this year only two chimpanzees had their teeth extracted.
