Center for Great Apes

Center for Great Apes
Date opened	1993
Location	Wauchula, Florida
No. of animals	71
No. of species	27 Orangutans 44 Chimpanzees
Website	www.centerforgreatapes.org

Center for Orangutan and Chimpanzee Conservation, Inc.

Tax ID no.	65-0444725 [1]
Revenue	$1,956,713 (2015)

The Center for Great Apes is an animal sanctuary for great apes located east of Wauchula, Florida. Founded as a nonprofit organization in 1993, the sanctuary has about 70 orangutans and chimpanzees who were formerly used in entertainment, scientific research, or the exotic pet trade. ^[2] The sanctuary sits on 100 acres of land in rural Florida, southwest of Orlando.

The sanctuary is a founding member of North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance (NAPSA) ^[3] and is accredited by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries. As such, it is not open to the general public as an attraction or zoo.

The backstory of six of the chimpanzees at the Center for Great Apes was featured in the TV documentary series Chimp Crazy . As a result of a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals lawsuit, they were removed from a facility in Missouri and sent to the sanctuary in 2021. ^[4]

The Center for Great Apes is the only accredited orangutan sanctuary in the United States. ^[5]

The Center for Great Apes includes about 2 miles (3.2 km) of aerial trailways, allowing chimpanzees and orangutans to explore the sanctuary.

Notable residents

• Bubbles was the former companion of Michael Jackson. ^{[6] [7]}
• Bella ^[8] was the star of the CareerBuilder 2004 Super Bowl XL campaign. ^{[9] [10]}
• Sam "Sammy" ^[11] starred in the 1996 film Dunston Checks In . ^[12]
• Sandra was declared a "non-human person" in Argentina after spending 20 years at Buenos Aires Zoo. ^[13]
• Sunshine ^[14] was born in the United Kingdom where her mother was owned by singer Tom Jones' manager.
• Bo ^[15] and Joe ^[16] (formerly at CW Exotics facility) featured in the Netflix series Tiger King.
• Marco ^[17] is the oldest and smallest chimpanzee at the Center for Great Apes.
• Jonah ^[18] and Jacob ^[19] are twins. Jonah starred with Mark Wahlberg in the 2001 film Planet of the Apes , and with his twin brother, appeared in the original "Trunk Monkey" commercials.
• Mari ^[20] the orangutan, is one of several apes taken care of by the Center for Great Apes who have special needs. Mari lost both arms as an infant before arriving at the sanctuary.
• Knuckles, ^[21] a chimpanzee, had cerebral palsy.
• Allie ^[22] has Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy (CIDP), a condition that, in Allie's case, prevents the use of her legs or feet.

  

  Jonah, a chimpanzee, plays in a tub.

Sunshine with her daughter Cahaya and friend Keagan

Marco, the chimpanzee at the Center for Great Apes, was wild-caught in Africa and sold to a circus in America and then sold to a family. He arrived at the Center for Great Apes in 2005.

Mari, a Sumatran orangutan, arrived at the Center for Great Apes from a language and cognition study in Georgia. She has no arms due to an accident prior to her arrival at the Center for Great Apes.

References

1. "CENTER FOR ORANGUTAN AND CHIMPANZEE CONSERVATION INC Form 990 2015". ProPublica. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
2. "About". The Center for Great Apes. August 29, 2024. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
3. "FAQ - Primate Sanctuaries". Primate Sanctuaries. Retrieved 2023-06-16.
4. "Victory! After Years of Dedicated Effort, PETA Secures a New Life for Exploited Chimpanzees". People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. July 29, 2021. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
5. "Homepage". The Center for Great Apes. August 29, 2024. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
6. Furness, Dyllan (February 2, 2016). "Michael Jackson's Pet Chimp is Living Out His Twilight Years in Florida". New Times Broward-Palm Beach . Archived from the original on July 6, 2017. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
7. Mufson, Beckett (June 28, 2017). "Michael Jackson's Famous Chimp, Bubbles, Is Selling Paintings to Get By". Vice . Archived from the original on June 2, 2019. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
8. "Bella". Center for Great Apes. Retrieved 2023-06-16.
9. Ragan, Patti (February 7, 2011). "Super Bowl commercials: What happens to those CareerBuilder chimps?". The Christian Science Monitor (Opinion). Archived from the original on May 8, 2013. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
10. Royce, Brenda Scott (February 13, 2011). "For CareerBuilder Chimps, Sadly, the Joke Is On Them". The Huffington Post . Archived from the original on November 8, 2019. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
11. "Sammy". Center for Great Apes. Retrieved 2023-06-16.
12. Sokol, Zach (April 22, 2015). "All the Animals From Your Favorite Childhood Movies Are Dead". Vice . Archived from the original on July 29, 2019. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
13. "Orangutan Sandra granted personhood settles into new Florida home". The Guardian . November 7, 2019. Archived from the original on November 8, 2019. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
14. "Sunshine". Center for Great Apes. Retrieved 2023-06-16.
15. "Bo". Center for Great Apes. Retrieved 2023-06-16.
16. "Joe". Center for Great Apes. Retrieved 2023-06-16.
17. "Marco". Center for Great Apes. Retrieved 2023-06-16.
18. "Jonah". Center for Great Apes. Retrieved 2023-06-16.
19. "Jacob". Center for Great Apes. Retrieved 2023-06-16.
20. "Mari". Center for Great Apes. Retrieved 2023-06-16.
21. "Knuckles". Center for Great Apes. Retrieved 2023-06-16.
22. "Allie". Center for Great Apes. Retrieved 2023-06-16.

Further reading

• "Super Bowl commercials: What happens to those CareerBuilder chimps?" (February 7, 2011) by Patti Ragan Christian Science Monitor
• White, Gary (January 17, 2009). "Wauchula Center a Sanctuary for Chimpanzees, Orangutans". The Ledger . Archived from the original on November 8, 2019. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
• Snap Judgement (Dec 24, 2020) The LookBack Special with Glynn Washington
• Snap Judgment (Season 11 – Episode 6) Zoo Nebraska with Glynn Washington
• The Week (Jan 8, 2015) Charity of the week: Center for Great Apes
• Sierra Magazine (April 2020) Weekly Roundup
• New York Times (September 10, 2001) "Protecting Actors, Great and Small; As Hollywood Uses More Animals,Concerns Grow About Their Welfare." by Rick Lyman
• People Magazine (November 2021) "8 Rescue Chimps Take 2,600-Mile Trip to Reach the Safety of Their New Florida Sanctuary Home" by Kelli Bender
• Watauga Democrat (Aug 2021) "Work of Great Apes on display at Turchin Center" By Makaelah Walters
• Sarasota Magazine (Dec 2018) "Southwest Florida's Center for Great Apes Celebrates Its 25th Anniversary" by Dyllan Furness
• One Green Planet (2016) Why Car Dealership Ads Featuring Footage of Captive Orangutan Are Anything but Cute by Lauren Kearney
• Phys.org (2020) "Showbiz apes find peace through painting in Florida retirement" by Leila MacOr
• National Geographic (April 7, 2020) "This ‘hand-washing' orangutan went viral—but the story isn't true" by Natasha Daly
• CNN (Nov 9, 2019) "Sandra the orangutan, freed from a zoo after being granted ‘personhood,' settles into her new home" by Alaa Elassar
• Christian Science Monitor (April 13, 2017) "Rescued chimpanzees and orangutans: This woman's lifework is caring for them" by Gregory M. Lamb
• New York Times (June 15, 2015) "Changing Perspectives Propel Chimp Protections" by James Gorman
• The Lane Report (2013) "Big Ass Fans makes major donation to Center for Great Apes Animal Sanctuary"
• Christian Science Monitor (Feb 2011) "Super Bowl commercials: What happens to those CareerBuilder chimps?"
• Reuters (Nov 2010) Caged chimpanzees move to spacious new home in Florida
• Live Science (August 14, 2008) Curtain Call For Hollywood's Orangutans By Greg Soltis