Posted on 04/24/2006 9:58:25 AM PDT by null and void
Bruno, the alpha male, is said to be large, powerful and wary of visitors Police in Sierra Leone are on the hunt for a group of chimpanzees, who escaped from their wildlife sanctuary after a fatal attack on construction workers.
Armed reinforcements are combing the area after a Sierra Leonean died and two Americans were seriously injured.
Security personnel said four men were attacked on Sunday after entering the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary.
Angry chimps killed and mutilated the driver. The two Americans are in a hospital in the capital, Freetown.
A worker at Tacugama told the BBC that some 24 chimpanzees had escaped, and six had already returned.
Armed police arrived after the attack and fired shots which caused panic among local people.
Tourism Minister Okere Adams visited the scene and said police are combing the area to bring the chimps back to the sanctuary.
"We are combing the area and beyond to bring the chimpanzees back but would not harm them," a police officer told AFP news agency.
The sanctuary was set up a decade ago to give shelter to orphaned and abandoned chimpanzees.
Across West Africa, chimpanzees are under threat from hunting, logging and human encroachment.
Whatever that means!
HILARIOUS "smelly chimp" video
http://www.2fusion.net/dloads/movies/?n=smelly.mpeg
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