BCI with the DRC government announced the official establishment of the Kokolopori Bonobo Reserve, a community-managed protected area which harbors one of the largest known wild populations of the endangered bonobo! The Kokolopori Bonobo Reserve is the pilot and model site for the Bonobo Peace Forest, a proposed constellation of community-based nature reserves supported by sustainable development.
Larger than the state of Rhode Island, the 1,847 mi 2 (4,875 km 2) rainforest reserve delivers essential ecosystem services to the world, including biodiversity protection and carbon sequestration, and benefits the local people through training, employment and community development programs. These include sustainable agriculture, a health clinic, aid for local schools, a women’s microcredit program and the first institute of higher learning in the region, the Djolu Technical College for Rural Development and Conservation, established in tandem with the reserve.
The Kokolopori Bonobo Reserve is vital to research on and protection of bonobos, as it is one of the only sites where wild bonobos are habituated to human presence and can be viewed and studied on a daily basis. Albert Lotana Lokasola, president of the local NGO Vie Sauvage and the initiator of the project, says, “Since the time of our ancestors, our people, the Bongando, have traditionally protected and respected bonobos through taboos, legends and rituals celebrating bonobos as our closest relative and friend. The bonobo saved our ancestors from numerous dangers in the forest. We build on these traditions...We hope that many people will come and visit Kokolopori to enjoy and work with us to strengthen the reserve.”
Let the bonobos alone. They can and should be hunted. I witnessed a hunt, killing of a pregnant female. I saved the fetus by cutting it out off the mothers body. It was full term female. I have raised it already to two years of age. I treat it good and only chain it by its neck when it's bad or I'm gone. I always am alpha by physical pain to it. That way it will be submissive upon get older. I had its teeth filed down to prevent biting dangers. It's happy
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