Chimpanzee–human conflict 215in observing them when he started his project, and they have remained elusive and hard
to habituate.
Despite the difficulties, the constitution of the Kasokwa community was documented
and each individual had been recognized and named by the end of 2000:
1 adult male: Kigere, alpha male, leader of the group
5 adult females: Kakono, Ruhara, Kemoso, Amooti, Kanyege
4 subadult males: Abooki, Sukari, Komuntu, Muzungu
2 juvenile males: Katoko (son of Kakono), Rukidi (son of Ruhara)
1 juvenile female: Amata (daughter of Amooti)
(An infant was born to Ruhara in August 2002).
Because of the hostility of local people to the chimpanzees, in 1999 Kyamanywa set
up a conservation group called NACOPRA (Nature Conservation and Promotion
Association), based on his home village of Karujubu. This organization has been
successful in raising awareness of the need to conserve the chimpanzees and protect
their habitat, but has encountered some intractable difficulties.
As a result of the continuing chimpanzee – human conflict in this area, a meeting was
held in Masindi in April 2000 to discuss the survival of these chimpanzees. The major
wildlife protection agencies attended: UWA, FD, JGI and local officials. Also among
those attending was Dr Janette Wallis who subsequently secured further funding from the
American Society of Primatologists for an assistant, George Otai, to help Kyamanywa
with his work and took an increasing interest in this community and its problems
(Wallis 2002b; Reynolds et al. 2003). The involvement of JGI led to the funding in June
2000 of two Wildlife Guards attached to the District Wildlife Management Unit to patrol
the forest, remove snares and deter encroachers.
Kyamanywa also discovered other small clusters of chimpanzees in some of the forest
fragments to the south and southwest of the Kasokwa Forest, including the Kasongoire
Forest community. These remain unstudied at the present time. R. Kyamanywa (pers.
comm.) estimates that the Kasongoire community may consist of 35 individuals. Whether
there are interactions between the Kasokwa and Kasongoire communities is not known.
Chimpanzee–human conflict
In 1999, Kyamanywa had told us that many of the local people in the Kasokwa area were
hostile to chimpanzees and would like to get rid of them. This was largely because of their
crop-raiding activities, but also because in 1998 in Kibwona village neighbouring Kasokwa
Forest a chimpanzee had attacked and injured a boy aged 6 years, injuring his genitals.
Soon afterwards there was further conflict. In June 2000 Kigere, the alpha male of the
Kasokwa community, was found dead after his right hand was caught in a large leg-hold