According to a census conducted by the Primate Rescue Center, it's estimated that there are 235 privately owned chimpanzees in the U.S. The same study, compiled by April Truitt, who runs the Kentucky-based center, found that the owners of about 70 chimps said they would give them up to a good home if they could.
The only option for these animals -- too wild to remain in a home and too domesticated to reside in the wild or even a zoo -- is a chimp sanctuary, also known as a chimp retirement home. Finding a home for a chimp isn't easy (the nation's sanctuaries are nearly full with more than 600 chimpanzees, Truitt recently told the Associated Press). Many sanctuaries have reported an influx of calls following extensive media coverage of Travis, a pet chimp that suddenly attacked Stamford, Conn., resident Charla Nash in mid-February.
But despite the struggles such centers face (most sanctuaries offer opportunities to donate or volunteer -- click here to make a donation to the Primate Rescue Center), chimp retirement homes continue to be safe spaces where domesticated chimps can live out safe and happy existences. We decided to peek inside a few.
Chimp Retirement Homes
Center for Great Apes
The Florida non-profit Center for Great Apes opened in 1990 when founder Patti Ragan learned that there was no place in the U.S. for a baby orangutan she'd been caring for -- who because of his background could not be cared for at a zoo or returned to the wild -- to live. The park's tropical forest setting resembles apes' natural habitats (with the addition of a super-fun-looking elevated tunnel and chute system for climbing and playing -- very Ewok village) and there's even a special needs area for handicapped and elderly residents.
Center for Great Apes
Chimp Haven
Located about 20 miles outside of Shreveport, Louisiana, the federally-funded Chimp Haven provides care for hundreds of chimpanzees who have retired from medical research, the entertainment industry or are no longer wanted as pets. This amazing facility is a product of the Chimpanzee Health Improvement, Maintenance and Protection (or Chimp) Act, passed in the final days of the Clinton administration. Its residents have it pretty good -- indoor bedrooms, expansive play yards, forested habitats, TVs and DVD players, banana smoothies...hey, can we retire here, too?
Chimp Haven
Save the Chimps
Save the Chimps was founded as a safe haven for 21 chimps, survivors and descendants of those captured in Africa in the 1950's and used by the Air Force in the original NASA "chimpanaut" program. (They were originally going to be sent to a biomedical laboratory in New Mexico.) In addition to rescuing these chimpanauts, Save the Chimps soon afterwards was able to take over the New Mexico laboratory and rescue the primates housed there as well. Now the chimps luxuriate in a natural environment in Florida, without threat of ever being sent to a lab (or outer space, for that matter).
Save the Chimps
Beekse Bergen
Funded in part by the Dutch government, Beekse Bergen, a safari park that houses over 1500 animals of different species, has in the last few years welcomed chimps rescued from research labs as well. Most of these chimps were captured as babies and confined to small concrete pens while they underwent medical testing. Their new keepers report that it takes them some time to feel comfortable exploring and playing like normal primates.
--Amy Shearn
Maartje Blijdenstein, AFP / Getty Images
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Wow!! Good info.
Didn't realize there were that many chimps out there in the US.
I think it is great that you guys are doing this with out you people would be dumping them all over the place or getting hert. I can tell from the pictures that they are happy too. I wish you all great luck in your future. Give the monkeys a treat for me and tell them that there is a great world out there that supports them.