Motek: A Bushmeat Orphan in Cameroon

Ofir Drori, Executive Director, The Last Great Ape Organization, Cameroon
June 2006

He looked as if he were already dead except that his eyelids would occasionally open. I looked at the baby chimp and thought, “We are going to lose him.” I immediately called Dr. Sheri Speede, the veterinarian for In Defense of Animals’ Sanaga-Yong project in Cameroon. Sheri rushed to Motek’s side to fight for his life. He was rescued from the hands of a dealer who specialized in trade in protected wildlife species, together with four large sacks of marijuana weighing a total of 50 kilograms (over 100 pounds). The baby had a poacher’s bullet wound in his head.

Motek as he was found, in the back of a smuggler’s car surrounded by enormous sacks of marijuana

This operation was conducted in January of this year by The Last Great Ape Organization (LAGA), an NGO operating in Cameroon.

LAGA’s main goal is promoting wildlife law enforcement in central and western Africa. LAGA is helping governments fight wildlife crime by investigations, operations, legal follow-up, and media coverage.

LAGA has achieved an improvement in the enforcement of wildlife law in Cameroon, starting from a baseline of a decade of zero prosecutions to more than 50 successful prosecutions to date in recent years.

What may come as a surprise to many is a well-known fact to wildlife law enforcement specialists: there is a clear connection between large scale drug trafficking and the illegal wildlife trade. The dealer involved in Motek’s case has been professionally active in both trades on a regular basis; he had employed at least four poachers and admitted to trading many other protected primates.

The dealer had sold Motek’s mother for meat four days before the operation took place. Chimpanzee babies are very similar to human babies and are in constant need of motherly love. Up to the age of three years they cling to their mother’s back. Motek is about one year old. When the poacher killed his mother, she was apparently in a tree. Motek got a bullet in his skull and fell down while clinging to his dying mother. Motek was badly injured, breaking his spinal chord in different places. The poacher had removed the bullet (that miraculously stopped before penetrating his skull) and planned to sell him.

The first few days were very difficult, as we were not sure of his diagnosis. Every few hours he started screaming in pain and experiencing seizures and cramping. He was very weak and could not hold his head up. There was no vet for a while, and I had to learn the hard way how to inject him with valium to calm him down every time.

The dealer is now behind bars. The orphaned chimp, Motek, is now at the Limbe Wildlife Centre (LWC), where the struggle to rebuild his health continues. Motek is gradually recovering: he is getting lots of attention and is recovering feeling in his legs, but the damage caused by the multiple fractures along his spine will not be easy to repair. All we can hope for is that in a year or two Motek will be able to use his legs once again.