"International Conservation Project"

Dr. J.J. Salaun, the French Director of the INRB, seen with a baby red forest hog, was an animal lover. He wrote a "certificate" that the resident Pan panicus, (bonobos) did not belong to the institute, and that they were being held for an international conservation project.

The document went on to say that the animals' maintenance and food was assured by Mademoiselle D. Messinger. Knowing that, at the time, there was no such "international conservation" project, it was foresighted, and courageous of Dr. Salaun to protect the bonobos with this creative document.

In fact, within a few months, the French were forced to abandon the institute. Fortunately, I was able to use Salaun's paper to show INRB's successors and government officials that the original plan for the bonobos was conservation. The culture's respect for signed and stamped paperwork stood me in good stead.