3 years since Monga, Hussein, Cesar, Banda, and Bunia were kidnapped from their night house at JACK Primate Sanctuary.

36 months since silent abductors made their way past armed eco-guards and onto sanctuary grounds. 

156.5 weeks since a trusted, compliant individual helped to drug and steal 5 already traumatized baby chimpanzees from their nests, their only source of comfort, their place of healing.

1,096 days since Monga, Hussein, and Cesar disappeared into the night, taken away from the sanctuary while Banda and Bunia were abandoned in the forest,

26,304 hours since the foundress, Roxane, was awoken to texts threatening her life, her children’s life, and the chimpanzees’ life if she and Franck did not meet the thieves ransom requests.

1,578,240 minutes since Roxane raced to the sanctuary to find Banda and Bunia miraculously walking out of the forest and returning to safety, physically unscathed but deeply traumatized.

94,694,400 seconds of searching, wondering, grieving.

It is not an exaggeration to say that each of those 94,694,400 seconds have been felt by the team. Every decision made concerning the sanctuary is calculated with that life altering moment in mind. Who to trust, what to post, what next steps to take.

The team will never stop searching for Monga, Hussein, and Cesar. They will never stop coming up with new and innovative ways to find the three missing chimps. They will always remember.

September 9th will always be a constant reminder of the ever-looming threat that lingers above conservationists’ heads; what lengths people will go to for money; what desperation and greed can do.

But September 9th is also a day that we remember our strength and resilience; what lengths we will go to for conservation; what kindness and compassion will do for the world.