Chimpanzee Attack Sparks Violence at Guinea Research Centre
A violent attack on a chimpanzee research centre in Guinea was triggered by the death of an infant, reportedly killed by a chimpanzee. The angry crowd destroyed equipment and documents. The incident highlights the increasing risk of attacks due to the dwindling food supply in the reserve.
- Country:
- Guinea
People living near a chimpanzee research centre in Guinea attacked the facility on Friday following claims by a woman that one of the animals had killed her infant, according to the centre's managers. The enraged crowd ransacked the building, destroying and setting fire to equipment, including drones, computers, and over 200 documents.
Eyewitnesses reported that the crowd reacted to the news of a mutilated infant's body found approximately 3 km from the Nimba Mountains Nature Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The infant's mother, Seny Zogba, told Reuters she was working in a cassava field when a chimpanzee attacked her and dragged her baby into the forest.
Local ecologist Alidjiou Sylla attributed the increasing frequency of such incidents to the dwindling food supply in the reserve, forcing the animals to venture out more frequently. The research centre has documented six chimpanzee attacks on humans within the reserve since the beginning of the year.
The forests of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone host the largest population of the critically endangered western chimpanzee, whose numbers have plummeted by 80% between 1990 and 2014, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The Bossou forest in Guinea, part of the Nimba Mountains Nature Reserve and close to subsistence farming communities, has only seven remaining chimpanzees.
Chimpanzees are respected in Guinea, often receiving gifts in the form of food, enticing some to venture into human settlements, where attacks can occur. The Nimba Mountains also harbor one of Guinea's largest iron ore reserves, raising environmental concerns about the impact of mining on the chimpanzee population.
(With inputs from agencies.)
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