The target was the children of the founder of the reserve, but then they took the three small primates
For the first time in the world, or at least in this Central African state, an animal reserve in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is undergoing a ransom demand to get three of its kidnapped chimpanzees back this month. The CNN website reports it.
“This is the first time in the world that baby monkeys have been kidnapped for ransom,” said Franck Chantereau, founder of the reserve where the kidnapping took place. It is “the first of its kind in the history of the Democratic Republic of Congo,” confirmed Michel Koyakpa, media advisor to the Congolese Environment Ministry. The ‘sanctuary’ for “Jack – Jeunes Animaux Confisqués au Katanga” (“Young animals confiscated in Katanga”), is located in Lubumbashi, near the border between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia, on a key route of the smuggling of monkeys to the rest of the world.
The kidnappers broke into the sanctuary around 3 am on 9 September, Chantereau said, and took away three of the five baby chimps he had rescued so far this year: César, Hussein and Monga. The other two escaped the kidnappers by hiding in the kitchen, summarizes the CNN. An hour after the raid, Chantereau’s wife received three messages and a video of the abducted chimpanzees.
“They told us they planned to kidnap my kids who were supposed to come here on vacation. But, not having arrived, the kidnappers took these three little ones hostage and asked us for a large amount of money », the animalist continued. The kidnappers claimed to have drugged the chimps and threatened to injure them if the ransom is not paid. “Obviously, it is impossible for us to pay,” said Chantereau. “Not only do we not have the money, but we must understand that, if we come to meet them,” the kidnappers “could very well do it again after two months.”
“We also have no guarantee that they will return us,” the little monkeys. But, above all, paying “could create a precedent” by pushing criminals to do the same in other animal sanctuaries, the environmentalist argued.
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