Four-Year-Old Chimp Who Lived as Selfie Prop in Iraqi Zoo

After more than a year of struggle, the Ol Pejeta Conservancy and its legal

counterpart PEGAS have made history by brokering the release of a young chimp from the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq. The chimp in question is named Manno and he is barely four years old. Manno was born in captivity in the Damascus zoo and like most captive chimps, his life was far from what he deserved. He was almost immediately ripped from his mother’s loving embrace and smuggled out of Syria and into Iraq, where he was purchased for $15,000 by a private zoo. From 2013 up to today, Manno was forced to dress up and perform for the zoo’s patrons and used as a prop for photos.

Manno’s luck changed when a Canadian, Spencer Sekyer, saw the young chimp in a cage and decided to help. He eventually got in touch with Jane Goodall who was speaking near his hometown of Edmonton, Alberta. She was moved by Sekyer’s story and contacted the Ol Pejeta Conservancy and attempted to coordinate a rescue – but this was a logistic nightmare. The Islamic state occupied the territory adjacent to the one Manno was trapped in and on top of that, they had to go the Iraqi’s bureaucracy and the Kurdish Regional Government’s red tape. But, through sheer force of will, Manno was released this morning and is on his way to Kenya.

http://www.onegreenplanet.org/news/chimp-gets-rescued-from-iraqi-zoo/?utm_source=Green+Monster+Mailing+List&utm_campaign=bdf6882430-NEWSLETTER_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_bbf62ddf34-bdf6882430-106919241