An orphaned baby chimpanzee who captured the heart of the internet has died.
Named Nemley Junior, the young chimp had been seized by poachers in West Africa and offered for sale, luckily he was rescued and when he had begun to recover he was highlighted to foreign ministers as an example of a successful operation against animal traffickers.
Despite attentive care in the past few weeks, Nemley succumbed to a series of illnesses including malaria.
A leading vet who helped care for him told BBC that, without his mother, Nemley suffered from a “failure to thrive”.
Baby chimps usually live with their mothers for at least four to five years in the wild – from that relationship they receive valuable nutrients, a close companionship, and learn vital chimpanzee survival skills.
They are much like human children. To survive, they need not only food, they need love and care. Trauma, which they experience when they see their mother and their family being killed, is not easy to forget.
BBC reports that during his capture, Nemley would have witnessed the killing of his mother during a poaching raid that would have seen as many as 10 adults in his family shot. The two men who were found guilty of his trafficking were released from jail 10 days ago.
Sarah Crawford, an American NGO worker who had been caring for Nemley full-time for the past three weeks, told BBC: ”He died in my arms. He did not die alone in a cage. He really fought to stay alive. He was taking fluids until 30 minutes before he died. I am still in shock. None of us can quite believe what has happened.”
Nemley was 15 months old when he died. His body will be autopsied. ”This will give us useful information, which will be helpful to others caring for baby orphans,” said Samouka Kane, director of the National Zoo of Abidjan, and a vet.
Infant chimpanzees are high in-demand as pets in Asia and the Gulf states, their market value is around $12,000 – but prices change dependent on the chimp.
If they are lucky enough to be rescued from traffickers, then they have to beat the poor odds of surviving – those few that have survived have received intensive care right from the moment they were liberated.
Nemley was placed in a zoo in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire where initially he was placed in quarantine.
He was reportedly gaining weight and confidence, and was placed in a cage with other chimpanzees in the hope that an older female would adopt him.
But none of the older female chimps showed any interest in him, and while in the cage Nemley also suffered injuries from being bullied by an older male.
One visitor spotted Nemley sitting alone and rocking backwards and forwards, a typical symptom of stress among chimpanzees.
At this stage he became ill, losing weight, becoming dehydrated and suffering from a series of illnesses – according to BBC.
He was removed from the cage to be given more dedicated support, including infant formula, and showed signs of recovery with a better diet and the attention of volunteers.
Video taken earlier this month showed him sitting upright but also looking far older than his one year of age and far more sluggish in his movements than is normal.
In the past few weeks, however, his decline continued.
A vet specialising in chimpanzees, Jimmy Desmond, visited Nemley. He and his wife Jenny care for rescued and abandoned chimpanzees in Liberia.
Jenny Desmond told BBC that Nemley that “he simply never had enough good days in a row to recover and turn a corner.”
“Among all Nemley’s physical ailments, to me this is a ‘failure to thrive’ situation. He never got the intensive nurturing he needed after his confiscation.”
