A chimpanzee who was a victim of the illegal wildlife trade is settling into her new home in Dorset UK.
Natalie has been rehomed at Monkey World, arriving in the early hours of Wednesday (10) morning with help from the Thai government.
Natalie was smuggled from Africa and transported to Thailand as part of the illegal wildlife trade. Estimated to be 20-25 years old, the female chimpanzee formerly known as ‘Naree’ has been under the care of the Department of National Parks Wildlife and Plant Conservation since the Thai authorities seized her in 2003.
She had been living alone at a government wildlife captive breeding center in Thailand. Due to past mistreatment as a result of the illegal trade, Natalie cannot be released back into the wild. But the move to Monkey World will allow her to live among her own kind again.
General Surasuk Karnjanarat, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment in Thailand, pushed through the move of the chimpanzee to UK rescue center Monkey World, on the eve of the Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference in London.
Monkey World Ape Rescue Center, near Bovington, assists governments around the world to stop the smuggling of primates from the wild. Here, Natalie will join 53 other chimpanzees living in four groups at the centre, most of whom have been rescued from the black market wildlife trade.
Monkey World Director Dr Alison Cronin said: “I first met Naree, now named Natalie, in 2003 when she was working in a circus show at an amusement park in Thailand. She had all her teeth knocked out and her face was deformed.
“She was dressed up and trained to pull an orang-utan and a tiger around the circus ring in a rickshaw. It was a desperate, tragic sight. I called out to Naree with chimpanzee calls and she came over to me at the side of the ring. We were desperate to help her but the amusement park would not let her go.
“It is amazing that after 15 years Monkey World is finally able to give Natalie a family of her own kind and specialist care. Wildlife trafficking is a global problem that needs addressing on an international scale. We are pleased to work with the Thai authorities, Thai and UK CITES offices, Love Wildlife Thailand, and the Jim Cronin Memorial Fund for Primate Welfare & Conservation to support conservation globally and to give Natalie an adopted family that she needs and deserves after being stolen from the wild all those years ago.”
Natalie’s move to be with a new chimpanzee family in the UK would not have been possible without the help of Love Wildlife Foundation Thailand, a non-profit organisation supporting wildlife conservation in Thailand, the Jim Cronin Memorial Fund, a UK charity supporting primate welfare and conservation, and British Airways, who transported Natalie on the 13 hour flight to her new home.
