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. [1] Project Chimps is accredited by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries.
In addition to their use as pets and entertainers, captive chimpanzees have served as subjects for scientific research. Anticipating that medical research on chimpanzees would be key to understanding diseases, such as hepatitis, the United States government and private laboratories embarked on chimpanzee breeding programs in the 1980s. [2] [3] A decade later, the experimental use of chimpanzees declined, resulting in a surplus population of captive chimpanzees. [3]
The significant cost of caring for the approximately 700 privately owned chimpanzees housed in U.S. research facilities required the development of alternatives to standard laboratory housing for chimpanzees no longer active in research. [3] Concurrent with the plight of research chimpanzees, hundreds of privately owned chimpanzees who proved unmanageable to keep as pets or performers were also in need of a professionally run facility—a sanctuary.
Project Chimps was founded in 2014 following the end of National Institutes of Health funding for biomedical research on chimpanzees. [4] The sanctuary occupies land originally occupied by a gorilla sanctuary funded by software mogul C. E. Steuart Dewar and Jane, his wife at the time. Project Chimps bought the land for about $1.6 million; the Dewar Wildlife Trust donated the facilities. [5] The sanctuary is intended to house more than 200 animals including the retired research chimpanzees at the New Iberia Research Center in New Iberia, Louisiana. [6] [7] The facility includes office buildings, a veterinary clinic, and several buildings that house 10 to 15 chimpanzees each. [8]
The mission of Project Chimps is: "to provide lifelong exemplary care to chimpanzees retired from research". [9]
To fulfill its mission of assisting these endangered nonhuman primates, Project Chimps has established several public education programs including: Discovery Days and Chimpcation, [10] The sanctuary also hosts veterinary, behavioral, animal care and organizational development interns throughout the year. [11]
Ali Crumpacker was hired as the executive director in 2017. [12]
In 2019, Project Chimps published a 5-year Strategic Plan to expand the facility and accommodate the remaining chimpanzees still living at the New Iberia Research Center. [13]
The chimpanzees receive 6-7 pounds of fresh produce every day along with daily enrichment activities and sometimes larger celebrations, such as "Chimpsgiving" feasts. [14] In 2020, Project Chimps established Project Harvest, a multi-acre farm area on the property to begin growing their own food for the chimpanzees.
In 2021, Project Chimps opened several hiking trails [15] on its property on the perimeter, outside of the chimpanzee area. Hikers can explore the trails from dawn to dusk every day of the year and may hear the chimps as they hike.
Over the years, Project Chimps' transport team has been called upon by the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance (NAPSA) as well as the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to assist in relocating chimpanzees from defunct facilities to other sanctuaries. In early 2021, the transport team relocated 6 chimps from the bankrupted Wildlife Waystation in California to the Chimp Sanctuary Northwest in Washington. [16] They then made a second trip for 8 more chimps from the Waystation for a 2,600 mile journey to the Center for Great Apes in Florida. [17]
Later in 2021, Project Chimps assisted with the relocation of 6 chimps from the Missouri Primate Foundation under the operation of Tonia Haddix and delivered the chimps to the Center for Great Apes in Florida. [18] The upcoming documentary on HBO titled "Chimp Crazy" will feature this rescue. [19] Notably missing from the Festus-based facility at the of the rescue was a chimp named Tonka, presumed deceased, but who was later to be found hidden by Haddix. [20] Project Chimps leadership commented on the deplorable living conditions of Tonka to Rolling Stone in 2022. [21]
As of August 2024, Project Chimps is home to 95 chimpanzees. [22]
Dame Jane Morris Goodall, formerly Baroness Jane van Lawick-Goodall, is an English zoologist, primatologist and anthropologist. She is considered the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees, after 60 years' studying the social and family interactions of wild chimpanzees. Goodall first went to Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania to observe its chimpanzees in 1960.
Oliver was a former "performing" chimpanzee once promoted as a missing link or "humanzee" due to his somewhat human-like appearance and a tendency to walk upright. Despite his somewhat unusual appearance and behavior, scientists found that Oliver was not a human-chimpanzee hybrid.
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The Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute (CHCI) was located on the campus of Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington. CHCI included a sanctuary for chimpanzees who have learned to communicate with humans and each other using American Sign Language. CHCI's director was Mary Lee Jensvold. It was founded by former co-directors Roger Fouts and Deborah Fouts. The institute was closed in 2013 when the remaining chimpanzees were transferred to facilities in Quebec, Canada and the building the facility was housed in, was demolished in 2018. Portions of the specialized structures used to house the chimps were dismantled and moved to the Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest in Cle Elum, for future use.
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.
The Wildlife WayStation was a 160-acre animal sanctuary (65 ha) in Sylmar, California in northern Los Angeles County dedicated to rescuing and rehabilitating wild and exotic animals. A charitable corporation located within the boundaries of Angeles National Forest, the facility was founded in 1976 by animal activist Martine Colette, who resigned in May 2019 as president and chief operating officer.
The International Primate Protection League (IPPL) is a not-for-profit animal welfare organization founded in 1973 in Thailand by Shirley McGreal.
Primarily Primates (PPI) is a non-profit organization in Bexar County, Texas, that operates an animal sanctuary, housing 347 non-human primates and a variety of other birds and animals released from use in entertainment, research, or as rescues from the exotic pet trade. The organization was founded by Wallace (Wally) Swett in 1978, who ran the facility until 2006, when the Texas attorney general took control of it after allegations that were dismissed that the facility was an unfit place for animals. It has since been passed to new management, and operates in 2018, with a $1.1 million dollar budget. Primarily Primates employs 16 people for management and care staff, and a full-time veterinarian to assure high standards, excellent animal care and rescue, enrichment, and nutrition.
The Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) is a global non-profit wildlife and environment conservation organization headquartered in Washington, DC. It was founded in 1977 by English primatologist Jane Goodall and Genevieve di San Faustino (1919-2011). The institute's mission is to improve the treatment and understanding of primates through public education and legal representation, to protect their habitats in partnership with local communities, and to recruit and train young people for these missions.
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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. The sanctuary sits on 100 acres of land in rural Florida, southwest of Orlando.
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