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.
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