Sad News This Morning - RIP Ponso

Very sad news to wake up to.  Heartbreaking.  I am sorry to all on scene who have taken care of and/or helped Ponso over the last nine years.  I've been following his story since the news broke of his discovery in August 2015, as well as the Liberia 66 the month before.  What was done to these Chimpanzees was pure evil.  If you are not familiar, I will write a brief bit, but if it's of interest, it's worth doing some research.  What happened to Ponso and the other abandoned Chimpanzees should never be forgotten.  

In March of 2015,  a group of sixty-six Chimpanzees used in Lab experiments, was released onto an island in Liberia, by the Demons at the New York Blood Center.  These Chimpanzees were abandoned and left to fend for themselves.  They became known as the Liberia 66.  I came to know about them in July, which I think was when this horror first hit the news.  A month later, news that a lone Chimpanzee was discovered on another island on the Ivory Coast.  That was Ponso.  Ponso too came from a life of being experimented on in the Labs of the NYBC.  He was abandoned there in a group of twenty, in 1983.  He watched everyone in his group get sick and die, including his wife and children.  It's unknown how many years he was alone.  

Many efforts to help raise awareness for this atrocity, both in person and online were put into action.  One was the #IAmPonso campaign.  Followers from all over the world made signs with this slogan... 

My effort to spread awareness, 

shared on the SOS Ponso Facebook page

Those words meant to relate us as fellow Great Apes to our DNA relatives, Chimpanzees.  To further emphasize the cruelty put on those Chimps by Humans. 

I was working on posts yesterday, but never sorted my words into any one in particular enough to post.  Maybe it's meant to be that this one follows the one I wrote about the anniversary of our SFZoo Chimpanzees plight.  2015 was a heavy year for my emotional state regarding my love for Chimpanzees.  

Thankfully they all had wonderful humans on the ground and around the world helping them, when those responsible ignored what they did.  I followed their plight closely,  my heart breaking with every thought of what had been done to them.  My soul weeped for them all,  especially dear Ponso who was left all alone after losing his Chimpanzee family.  The Liberia 66 caught the attention of a married couple, who moved to Liberia to help them.  They also eventually started the Liberia Chimpanzee Rescue, that takes in babie Chimps orphaned by the poaching trade.  Efforts to both move Ponso to a Sanctuary and to bring him in a companion failed.  He continued to be cared for by a local family, his human family, who came by boat daily to bring him food and give him companionship.

Since learning about Ponso, there have been many tears shed for him, but many smiles too, as we, his fans, were shared the happy times he spent with his caregivers.  

I'll never forget this boy and the life he led. 

RIP Ponso, Bless Your Soul.