In My Family Tree

Siddle and her husband, David, never expected the farm they bought in Zambia would become the Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage, the largest primate sanctuary in the world. It all began the day a game ranger brought Pal, a wounded chimpanzee, to them. Siddle nursed Pal back to health, and as Zambian laws were passed making it illegal for chimpanzees to be privately owned, more chimpanzees followed. Siddle shares the stories of some of the individual chimps: Rita, who arrives with emotional scars but ends up as a mother figure to many of the other chimps; Sandy, whose antics are both irritating and frustrating; and Milla, a much older chimp who is barely familiar with her own kind. Siddle even adopts a baby hippopotamus, Billy, who believes her home is in the Siddles' house! Siddle and her husband face very real problems as well--overcrowding, many chimpanzee escape attempts, and chimp attacks, one of which is near-fatal. Always engrossing, Siddle's memoir gives the reader a real feeling for the complex chimps that populate Chimfunshi. Kristine Huntley
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