#chimp haven

Transfer of Government-Owned Chimpanzees to Sanctuary In a significant development, nearly two dozen government-owned chimpanzees, who have been living in seclusion at a desert facility after their retirement from research, are set to be relocated to a sanctuary in Louisiana, as confirmed by officials from the National Institutes of Health (N.I.H.) during an interview on Thursday. For many years,…

Primarily Primates plans on using your donations towards their enrichment programs!

Center for Great Apes is the only accredited sanctuary that houses orangutans

Save the Chimps: Golden ticket time! A $5 donation can help win $400 towards the $60,000 fundraising goal. Will your donation be the lucky ticket?

In place of cash donations Chimp Haven is asking for donations of the following enrichment items: traffic cones, milk crates, and blue barrels! More information to donate here

IPPL has a proposal for you! You want gibbon content, and we want new content (enrichment!) for our gibbons. So, on Giving Day for Apes, they'll post a never-before-seen image or video for each $200 donated, and YOU get to decide on the playlist!

Thank you for helping caregivers across the country provide excellent care to the over 700 apes living in accredited sanctuary care today!

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Yep! Primates of all kinds can get tooth decay just like us, particularly if sweet food is common in their diets. eating tough, fibrous food like tree bark can help, but in captivity we can go even further in helping them to be in peak dental health. At Chimp Haven in Louisiana, the chimps are trained to be part of their own health checkups and part of this is opening their mouths for their caretakers to brush their teeth! This takes time and lots of positive reinforcement to solidify as something the chimps will regularly participate in, but it has yielded positive results. If you've watched Meet the Chimps you'll know that one of the caretakers showed a chimp who was hesitant to let her brush his teeth a video of her brushing her (human) son's teeth in the same way. After seeing a video demonstration, he was a lot more open and comfortable letting her run the brush around his chompers. They also will give the chimps toothbrushes to give them the chance to play and experiment with them to ease any anxiety over a new implement.

-mod J

Chimps at a sanctuary I've worked at actually really loved a dental spray we had they would request it often! This is similar to mouthwash it's not a substitute for brushing. We would include toothbrushes in many enrichment items like in water buckets, the chimps could choose to brush their teeth (we would do demonstrations too!) Or they may choose to use the brush to groom, or even scrub their enclosure!

Chimpanzee family groups are organized into hierarchies for both males and females. In most chimpanzee troops the leader of this hierarchy, or “alpha” of the group, is male. However, there are some cases when a female will rise through the ranks to become the alpha. Join us to learn about how group dynamic can change and hear stories of some of our most notable alphas.

Register here

On April 29th at 1pm EST click HERE to join the discussion!

There are still 10 chimpanzees stuck at a closed refuge urgently in need of a new home. We have secured them a space at accredited, NAPSA member sanctuary Chimp Haven, and they can move there by the end of this year.

We need your help to get them there!

The Wildlife Waystation, located outside of Los Angeles, unexpectedly closed in 2019 due to financial difficulties. At the time of closure, more than 40 chimpanzees, most of them formerly used in medical research, were living there, along with more than 430 other wild and domestic animals. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife took over operations and successfully rehomed most of the animals, except the chimpanzees. There are only a handful of accredited sanctuaries able to care for chimpanzees, who are extremely strong, smart, and socially complex, and require specialized care and housing. The North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance was brought in to help locate new homes and lead this campaign to save these chimpanzees in need.

Accredited Sanctuaries are at Capacity - We are Raising Funds to Build New Homes

Qualified sanctuaries are at capacity, without any space available for more groups of chimps. Accredited sanctuaries have worked to rescue these chimps, including Save the Chimps, Chimp Haven, Center for Great Apes, and Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest – and all of them needed funding to construct homes for the chimps and transport them, estimated at $4.7 million. Thankfully, our campaign is over 80% of the way there, and we have been able to successfully rehome 30 of the chimpanzees so far. Still, 10 chimpanzees remain and more funding is urgently needed.

Donate here

It is with very heavy hearts we share the sad news that Alyse, one of our 11 remaining chimpanzees at Wildlife Waystation, passed away at age 33. Alyse and her identical twin sister, Amber, were nearly inseparable throughout their lives together. Both Alyse and Amber were rescued from a biomedical research facility. Amber is doing fine and spending time with the twin's best friend, Mousse, to pass the time. The staff are monitoring this pair of friends closely during this sudden transition.

Alyse was always active and playful until the day she died. She was extremely lethargic the she awoke and was unable to climb. Onsite veterinarian Silvio Santinelli and our consulting veterinarian Dr. Stephen Klause placed the chimp under general anesthesia and the examination revealed a significantly large tumor on her uterus that intertwined itself throughout her small intestine. The invasive mass was causing Alyse to suffer. The veterinarians made the extremely difficult, but humane decision to euthanize her in order to prevent ongoing suffering.

Favorite primate and do you have any merch of em.

I personally plan to get plushies of all the wildcats and other wildlife i love. Good for hugging without causing any harm to the species.

This is a very tough question! Obviously I am partial to the proboscis monkey (the reason I started @bignosebaby) but I would say that my current favourite is gibbons. I find siamangs enchanting! I would love to own monkey merch, but frankly, I am picky. A stuffed gibbon would be a real treat, but it is hard to find stuffies that are accurate to the species while still retaining their charm. Unfortunately as I don't tend to care for super stylized depictions (personal preference) I have yet to find primate merch I really love. That being said, I keep an eye on @littleguymart for stuffed primates and I adore IKEA's orangutan djungelskog and I have considered getting one. I would also love to have primate merch in the form of clothing or decor, but again my particular tastes haven't been matched yet. I have thought of making my own though, and I actually am planning on 3D printing a little gorilla to live on my desk. I also hope more conservation organizations produce merch, as I think it's a great way to promote a species, especially to children.

-Mod J

Here's a list of facilities you can support by purchasing merch

Center for Great Apes (water bottles, t shirts, calendar, coffee)

Primarily Primates (monkey art, t shirts, banana party, and more!)

Born Free ( t shirts, books, bowties and more!)

**this shop supports the entire Born Free USA campaign and is not specifically meant for proceeds to go directly to the primate sanctuary

IPPL (t shirts, lanyard, tote bags)

Chimp Haven (coffee mugs, fanny packs, shirts, and much more)

Save the Chimps is opening a merch store soon!

Primate Rescue Center (mugs, hats, calendar, shirts)

Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest (shirts and hoodies)

Plus check out the gift shop of your local zoo or aquarium- just remember to look into the standard of care before supporting any animal facility.

The above list are all facilities I personally support.