As the African forests disappear at an unprecedented speed, the communities of free-living chimpanzees are more in touch with human communities.

In western Uganda, in Hoima and Bunyoro regions, forests are disappearing at a rate of 8,367 hectares per year. In 15 years there will be no more forests at Ugandan territory, and communities of chimpanzees will possibly disappear.

Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary reports a recent case in which a two-month old human baby was taken by free-living chimpanzees in the forest. After much effort, the baby could be rescued with some injuries and is now recovering in a local hospital.

It is increasingly common this danger surrounding those areas of western Uganda, as in most of Africa, where chimpanzees and gorillas in the wild are losing their habitat and are practically in contact with human communities.

Chimpanzees and gorillas have a deep affinity for babies and newborns, and the possibility of kidnaping those increases dramatically.

The African Sanctuary draws the attention of the world that we must protect the remaining forests, which are essential for humans and chimpanzees. The human communities derive their livelihood from forests in many ways. The forest is a barrier that allows non-human primates are protected from human action, because they are considered a danger to the surrounding communities.

The Sanctuary has a number of programs to replace the income from forest to humans and encourage other activities and the forests to be protected, to avoid this confrontation between humans and non-human primates to become tragic.

Source: http://ngambaisland.com/support/adopt-to-chimp/