S SANCTUARIES of them held in appalling conditions One of these, whom I went to see for myself, was Whiskey His owner came to greet me and led me through his noisy garage to a cement-floored 6-foot-by-6 foot space that had once been a lavatory The only light came through a hole in a corner of the corrugated iron roof A five- or sixyear-old male chimpanzee with a collar around his neck was chained to a pipe in the wall Whiskey held his hand towards us, stretching as far as he could, but his chain was only two foot long and we were out of reach, so he turned and stretched back with one foot When I went in and crouched down beside him, he put his arms around my neck Whiskey’s mother had been shot for the illegal live animal trade so that her infant could be stolen and sold as a pet or to attract visitors to a hotel or bar He had been captured in neighboring Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), then smuggled over the border and sold in Bujumbura At first he had been part of a human family, sitting with them at table, riding in their car, and playing with the children, until he was about four years old, when they realized how strong and potentially dangerous he was Then he was banished to his prison cell Eventually we (formerly JGI-Burundi) persuaded his owner to hand him over to what we called The Half Way House This was a small backyard facility where other ex-pets were waiting until we could There are thousands of sanctuaries for animals around the world, havens offering protection to individuals rescued from circuses and other forms of entertainment, from medical research laboratories, from factory farming, from the pet trade, and indeed from all situations in which they are shamefully neglected or horribly abused, as well as orphan animals whose mothers have been killed for food, for sport, or for any other reason There are sanctuaries for animals of all kinds, from hens to elephants, and while some are small enterprises in backyards, others are big operations that require a large staff and considerable funding Unfortunately, once a refuge has been created it tends to grow, an indication of the number of desperate creatures needing care Fortunately, there are also a growing number of people around the globe who are not only aware of, but care, sometimes desperately, about animal suffering Chimpanzees are classed as an endangered species and it is illegal to hunt and sell them; however, these laws are seldom understood, let alone enforced I became involved with sanctuaries for orphan chimpanzees in Burundi in l990 This was when The Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) initiated a conservation project there, and people began telling us about the pet chimpanzees in the country, many 495