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The Family Group
 
   
 ROMIE came from the Canary Islands and was probably born in the wild. Before her rescue she was used solely to  produce babies, which were taken from her at a very early age. All of her babies were then sold or trained for the  entertainment industry. Presently, we have located two of them, Sara and Nico who have already appear in various  TV programmes. Our dream to reunite then with their mother Romie has recently came true. Romie´s sweetness  shows no limits and she gives kisses and caresses to all of her companions.
 
     WATY is one of our newest residents at MONA. She is seven years old and came from a travelling circus in Spain.
  She was kept alone in a small cage that barely allowed her stand. Not surprisingly, she was very nervous when she  arrived at the sanctuary and she also had some difficulties interacting socially with Romie and Bongo but day by day  she improves significantly and now she tumbles and plays with them. We can hear her laughing especially when she  is tickled. She loves to put a blanket over her head and swing from the top of the enclosure.
 
     BONGO is also one of our newest residents at MONA. He is three years old and he came from the same travelling  circus as Waty. He was kept in a small dog kennel, barely bigger than his body, alone and in the dark. When he first  arrived at the sanctuary, he exhibited the typical stereotypical behaviour of any traumatised baby chimpanzee, taken  away from their mother too early. Wild chimpanzees normally stay close to their mothers until they are at least five  years old. Although he has had a terrible start in life he is making excellent progress, his stereotypical behaviour has  decreased and he behaves like any fother boisterous baby chimpanzee, playing and tormenting his adopted mother  Romie and big sister Waty.
 
     TOTO arrived at the sanctuary this year from Frankfort zoo, he is 46 years old and he was born in the wild in Nigeria.  Toto has spent nearly all of his life in German zoos and has spent the last three years alone. He now lives happily  with Romie, Waty and Bongo and they have formed a close-knit family group.
 

JUANITO arrived at the Mona sanctuary shortly before Christmas 2003, when he was less than a year old. He was confiscated by the Spanish customs authority in the Canary Islands when his owner tried to sell him to an animal dealer in Madrid . Despite his tiny size he is full of confidence and has had no trouble mixing in with his new family. He is loved by all of them, especially Bongo who can spend hours cuddling him.

 

SARA is the daughter of Romie, however she was taken away from her only a few months after her birth in 1998. She was trained to perform in circuses and TV commercials by her owner and was kept alone in a tiny cage and he refused to let her rejoin the rest of her family. After a three-year battle Sara was rescued and brought to the Mona sanctuary in 2004 where she was reunited with her family. Sara has had a hard start in life and she still shown signs of stereotypic behaviour such as rocking her head back and forth. However, she has integrated well into the family group and has formed a close friendship with Waty, who is a similar age. She is improving slowly and we are confident that the peace and security that she now enjoys at Mona will help her to overcome her stereotypical behaviour.

 

NICO is the younger brother of Sara and was born in 2001. He was rescued with Sara from an animal trainer in 2003. Nico has a unique temperament and a distinctive expression which resembles Toni, one of our male chimps at the sanctuary. It is very likely that he is Toni’s son although we are unable to be absolutely sure. His first couple of months at Mona have been quite difficult for Nico because has been very stressed and continually bites himself. This behaviour is typical of young chimps that have been deprived of attention. He needs to be monitored 24 hours a day by staff and volunteers until he settles in. He was now been introduced to each member of his new family and this has gradually helped him feel more comfortable. He is a very sweet chimp and loves the attention of his keepers.

 

Photos by L.Docherty © 2004