Center for Great Apes

Last updated
Center for Great Apes
Center for Great Apes
Date opened1993
Location Wauchula, Florida
No. of animals71
No. of species27 Orangutans
44 Chimpanzees
Website www.centerforgreatapes.org
Center for Orangutan and Chimpanzee Conservation, Inc.
65-0444725 [1]
Revenue (2015)
$1,956,713

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 formally 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.

Contents

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

Notable residents

Sunshine with her daughter Cahaya and friend Keagan Cahaya and family at Center for Great Apes.png
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. Marco the chimpanzee at the Center for Great Apes.jpg
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. Mari the orangutan at Center for Great Apes.jpg
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.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great ape personhood</span> Extending personhood to nonhuman great apes

Great ape personhood is a movement to extend personhood and some legal protections to the non-human members of the great ape family: bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cheeta</span> Fictional character

Cheeta is a chimpanzee character that appeared in numerous Hollywood Tarzan films of the 1930s–1960s, as well as the 1966–1968 television series, as the ape sidekick of the title character, Tarzan. Cheeta has usually been characterized as male, but sometimes as female, and has been portrayed by chimpanzees of both sexes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twycross Zoo</span> English animal park specialising in primates

Twycross Zoo is a medium to large zoo near Norton Juxta Twycross, Leicestershire. The zoo has the largest collection of monkeys and apes in the Western World, and in 2006 re-launched itself as "Twycross Zoo – The World Primate Centre".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Ape Project</span> International organization

The Great Ape Project (GAP), founded in 1993, is an international organization of primatologists, anthropologists, ethicists, and others who advocate a United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Great Apes that would confer basic legal rights on non-human great apes: bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great ape language</span> Efforts to teach nonhuman primates to communicate with humans

Great ape language research historically involved attempts to teach chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans to communicate using imitative human speech, sign language, physical tokens and computerized lexigrams. These studies were controversial, with debate focused on the definition of language, the welfare of test subjects, and the anthropocentric nature of this line of inquiry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monkey World</span> Zoo in Dorset, England

The Monkey World Ape Rescue Centre is a 65-acre (26.3 ha) ape and monkey sanctuary, rescue centre and primatarium near Wool, Dorset, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Cronin (zookeeper)</span> American zookeeper

James Michael Cronin MBE was the American co-founder in 1987 of Monkey World in Dorset, England, a sanctuary for abused and neglected primates. He was widely acknowledged as an international expert in the rescue and rehabilitation of abused primates, and in the enforcement of international treaties aimed at protecting them from illegal trade and experimentation.

This is a list of countries banning non-human ape experimentation. The term non-human ape here refers to all members of the superfamily Hominoidea, excluding Homo sapiens. Banning in this case refers to the enactment of formal decrees prohibiting experimentation on non-human apes, though often with exceptions for extreme scenarios.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bubbles (chimpanzee)</span> Pet once owned by Michael Jackson

Bubbles is a chimpanzee once kept as a pet by the American singer Michael Jackson, who bought him from a Texas research facility in the 1980s. Bubbles frequently traveled with Jackson, drawing attention in the media. In 1987, during the Bad world tour, Bubbles and Jackson drank tea with the mayor of Osaka, Japan.

The International Primate Protection League (IPPL) is a not-for-profit animal welfare organization founded in 1973 in Thailand by Shirley McGreal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Animal testing on non-human primates</span> Experimentation using other primate animals

Experiments involving non-human primates (NHPs) include toxicity testing for medical and non-medical substances; studies of infectious disease, such as HIV and hepatitis; neurological studies; behavior and cognition; reproduction; genetics; and xenotransplantation. Around 65,000 NHPs are used every year in the United States, and around 7,000 across the European Union. Most are purpose-bred, while some are caught in the wild.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chimp Haven</span> United States chimpanzee sanctuary

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hominidae</span> Family of primates

The Hominidae, whose members are known as the great apes or hominids, are a taxonomic family of primates that includes eight extant species in four genera: Pongo ; Gorilla ; Pan ; and Homo, of which only modern humans remain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chimpanzees' tea party</span> Obsolete form of public entertainment

The Chimpanzee tea party was a form of public entertainment in which chimpanzees were dressed in human clothes and provided with a table of food and drink.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arcus Foundation</span> American foundation

The Arcus Foundation is an international charitable foundation focused on issues related to LGBT rights, social justice, ape conservation, and environmental preservation. The foundation's stated mission is "to ensure that LGBT people and our fellow apes thrive in a world where social and environmental justice are a reality."

Sandra is an orangutan, currently living in the Center for Great Apes in Florida after being moved from the Buenos Aires Zoo in 2019. Sandra is a zoo-born, hybrid orangutan of the two separate species of Borneo and Sumatra orangutans. In Germany, Sandra, then called Marisa, was transferred to a second zoo in Germany (Ruhr-Zoo), then transferred to Argentina on September 17, 1994. At the Buenos Aires Zoo, the name of the orangutan was changed to Sandra.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Project Chimps</span> Animal sanctuary in Morganton, Georgia, United States

Project Chimps is a privately funded 501(c)(3) nonprofit animal sanctuary for chimpanzees formerly used in research. It will eventually house 200 chimpanzees on an over 230 acre property in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Morganton, Georgia. Project Chimps is accredited by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries.

Chimp Crazy is an American documentary series directed and produced by Eric Goode. It follows Tonia Haddix, whose love for a chimpanzee spins into a wild game with authorities and the animal rights group PETA.

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