This innocent, wide-eyed baby chimpanzee has melted thousands of hearts around the world while eating papaya.
The four-month-old ape is seen in the video munching alone on sweet and juicy papaya.
The heartwarming video shortly made rounds across the internet after it was shared by a Facebook user, Tara Hoda, on September 10.
Hoda took the advantage of the video in sharing the ordeal which the baby chimpanzee has gone through at such a very young age.
Apparently, behind those round eyes and gullible facial expression is a victim among thousands of baby chimpanzees ripped away from their families in the wild and is lucky enough to be rescued from a lucrative and brutal smuggling operation.
On the other hand, the primates who are not as lucky to be saved usually have their lives ended at the hands of illegal poachers or die during wildlife trafficking.
Reportedly, these little chimps are flogged to become pets for the super rich or perform in commercial zoos while massacring up to ten adults in the process to prevent them from protecting their young.
These barbaric trades are taking a terrible toll on most chimpanzee populations in the past twenty years leading the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to place chimpanzees on the list of critically endangered species.
To give new hope and conserve their population, a sanctuary was built in Ivory Coast, known anonymously as Côte d’Ivoire, to shelter the confiscated, orphaned chimpanzees that are victims of the illegal wildlife trafficking trade.
Tara Hoda aspires for the video of the baby chimpanzee to touch many hearts and likewise raise awareness regarding the welfare of this endangered species.
