BBC Baby Chimp Rescue

At Liberia’s only home for rescued chimpanzees Jim and Jenny Desmond have become surrogate parents to orphaned chimps who have overrun their home and even their bed.

Ch1. Miracles Can Happen
Orphans from the illegal pet trade receive round-the-clock care. Couple Jim and Jenny Desmond never planned to become surrogate parents to 21 chimpanzees, but now their home is bursting at the seams. Their dream is to build them all a new sanctuary in the forest. With help from friend and chimp specialist Ben Garrod, they teach the orphans the skills they would have learnt from their mothers in the wild. Just when they can’t cope with any more chimps, they go out and rescue a new orphan called Miracle from her life on a chain.

Ch2. Breaking Point
After more new arrivals Jimmy and Jenny Desmond and their team now have 28 chimps to look after, including an eight-week-old baby called Gaia. Plans come together for the new sanctuary in the forest, and the orphans learn to master tools so they can forage for food. But a deadly cold breaks out among the babies, with disastrous consequences. And the team rescues an adult male chimp called Jonny who brings a new set of challenges. The pressure is on to move the chimps to their new home, before things get out of hand.

Ch3. A New Beginning
New arrivals keep flooding in. Jimmy and Jenny Desmond and their team are now at breaking point, with 38 chimps to look after round the clock. After losing one of the chimps to illness, they are more determined than ever to build them all a new sanctuary in the forest where they can live like wild chimps. To prepare for the move, the orphans are learning to make their own nests, and they get their first taste of life in the wild. With chimpanzees on the point of extinction in West Africa, the team try to tackle the wider crisis.