Chimpanzees injure Canadian, kill African driver in Sierra Leone
Last Updated: Sunday, April 23, 2006 | 5:08 PM ET
CBC News
Police did not identify the Canadian. Reuters said the man as well as the two Americans are believed to be employees of a construction company in Sierra Leone.
"The driver was killed on the spot while the three surviving victims, the Americans and the Canadian, sustained serious wounds," said Sgt. John Kamara of the Regent Police Post near the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary.
The sanctuary is on the outskirts of Freetown, the capital of the West African nation.
The driver was employed by the reserve.
Police said the chimpanzees suddenly turned on the visitors to the sanctuary, biting and tearing at their clothes. Police did not know what precipitated the attack.
Paramilitary police and forest rangers searched the surrounding jungle to see whether they could capture the chimpanzees before they attacked local villagers or motorists.
The sanctuary was set up in 1995 to shelter abandoned chimpanzees. It houses nearly 70 apes living in a semi-wild environment.
They have access to fenced enclosures of rainforest as well as large cages where they spend the night.
Share Tools
Top News Headlines
- Ottawa wins appeal to block RCMP union
- The Ontario Court of Appeal has rejected a 2009 lower court ruling that RCMP officers' Charter rights are violated by regulations forbidding a union. more »
- 2,000 jobs cut as GM to close Oshawa plant
- The Canadian Auto Workers union says General Motors is going ahead with plans to close its consolidated plant in Oshawa, Ont. more »
- Diamond Jubilee: Your photos of royal encounters
- The CBC Community team asked you to submit your best photos of the Queen's visits to Canada, or visits by any member of the Royal Family. The result was tremendous! more »
- New duty-free limits will challenge Canadian retailers
- Cross-border shoppers may welcome increased duty-free limits that kick in Friday, but those changes will magnify problems Canadian retailers are having with the noticeable price gaps between Canada and the U.S. more »
Latest World News Headlines
- Gaza border clash kills Palestinian militant, Israeli soldier
- A Palestinian militant infiltrated into Israel and set off a shootout that left the infiltrator and one Israeli soldier dead, the military says. more »
- Mistrial declared in John Edwards case
- The campaign fraud trial of disgraced former U.S. senator John Edwards ended on Thursday with an acquittal on one of six counts and a mistrial declared on the remaining charges. more »
- Diamond Jubilee: Your photos of royal encounters
- The CBC Community team asked you to submit your best photos of the Queen's visits to Canada, or visits by any member of the Royal Family. The result was tremendous! more »
- How manhunts work
- A nation-wide manhunt, like the one being undertaken to find suspected killer Luka Rocco Magnotta, is a highly co-ordinated exercise that isn't quite as gritty or dramatic as it may seem in TV police shows. more »
Dispatches »
- Child "bomberitos" on Peru's most dangerous highway May. 31, 2012 3:34 PM The bomberito children of the Andes hitch homemade carts to passing transport trucks -- to aid motorists and victims of disasters in mountains that were once the domain of Peru's Shining Path rebels. They risk their lives for tips that help feed their families.
Connect Newsroom Blog
The Hunt for Magnotta and #bullyPROOF May. 31, 2012 7:32 PM Tonight we'll take you deep inside the dark recesses of the internet for a closer look what's being posted and who watching it.
- Body-parts victim ID'd as Chinese student in Montreal
- Edmonton teacher suspended for giving 0s
- Owner defends 'gore' site connected to Luka Magnotta
- New duty-free limits will challenge Canadian retailers
- Quebec student talks collapse and more protests loom
- Tree faller plunges to death as bucket breaks
- Bear pulls corpse from car near Kamloops
- 5 movie trailers that raise the bar
- Man shot to death in Clayton Park
