Meet Esake
Gender:
Female
Origin:
Lodja, Sankuru Province
Arrival Date:
April 2019
Age at Arrival:
2.5 Years
Surrogate Mama:
Yvonne
Fun Facts:
Esake is gentle and loves sugar cane.
Esake’s Rescue
Little Esake was orphaned in early 2019 when a hunter killed her mother for bushmeat. After spending nearly two months in captivity, Esake was on her way to an illegal wildlife market in Lodja when local authorities apprehended her captor and confiscated the scared and malnourished baby bonobo.
After getting a call from the authorities, one of our partners in the field swooped in to save the day. He was able to care for Esake until she could be transported to Lola ya Bonobo in April, where we were waiting to welcome her with open arms.
Road to Recovery
When she first arrived at the sanctuary, we weren’t sure Esake would survive the trauma she had been through. She was severely underweight, and suffering from an intense fever. Her small body was riddled with parasites, and she was very shy and skittish.
In an attempt to save this sweet little bonobo, we paired her with our oldest and most experienced surrogate mother, Mama Yvonne, and the two quickly became inseparable. With the love and devotion of her newly adopted mother, Esake grew accustomed to sanctuary life and slowly came out of her shell.
In July 2019, Esake was introduced to all of her new friends in the nursery. Since then, she can always be counted on to include the other bonobos in her games. She has adapted well to life at Lola.
Esake is one of the gentlest, calmest baby bonobos we’ve seen at Lola. We hope someday she will make a wonderful role model for all of our bonobos in the adult enclosure as well, and become a great candidate for reintroduction to the wild.
At Lola ya Bonobo in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), we have a team of caregivers for rescued bonobos.
To join our mission to save more lives and Rain forest please Donate here.
Find out more about Esake on our social media!
Kendra is a creative problem-solver who excels in leading end-to-end project delivery with a focus on clear goals and timely execution. She provides support to FOB’s development and communications teams and serves as assistant to the Executive Director. Originally from Panamá, Kendra is an avid traveler. She is proud to support bonobo conservation not only for the well-being of bonobos but also because it helps protect our planet.
Njango has worked in climate action and environment conservation for four years. She supports FOB through donor communications, data analysis, research, and outreach. Njango has been a fan of wildlife conservation since her visit to Ol Pejeta Conservancy as a young girl, where she saw the beauty of elephants, and how their home was threatened because of human interference. She strongly believes that the only way to achieve true utopia is to live in harmony with animals.
Amanda makes connections with FOB’s major donors. She has worked in the nonprofit sector for her entire career and found her passion for animal rights and conservation as a volunteer fundraiser for a local dog rescue. She finds that FOB coalesces multiple causes – environmental, animal rights, and community engagement. While protecting bonobos first drew her to FOB, she’s learned how we, as humans, are connected to the environment and to the bonobos that we strive to protect.
Kathleen Cook brings more than eight years of experience working across Africa, with a focus on the Democratic Republic of Congo, where she has traveled over twenty times to support projects spanning conservation, clean energy, and community development. Her career has centered around using storytelling, strategic marketing, and relationship-building to create meaningful impact.
