Photo: Chimpanzees in Need/Center for Great Apes
After spending years in limbo, eight rescue chimps have a forever home.
According to a release from theNorth American Primate Sanctuary Alliance’s (NAPSA), Chimpanzees in Need campaign, before moving into Florida’s Center for Great Apes, the primates resided at a wildlife refuge in California called Wildlife Waystation. Unfortunately, the refuge closed unexpectedly over two years ago due to financial difficulties.
The eight chimps stayed at the shutdown refuge until, with help fromDr. Jane Goodall, Chimpanzees in Need’s fundraising effort received enough donations to cover the eight primates' 2,600-mile trip to the Center for Great Apes.
All of the chimpanzees — Billy, Ewok, Josh, Maude, Sabina, Mystery, Sha Sha, and Jeeter — arrived atthe Center for Great Apesright before Thanksgiving.
Chimpanzees in Need/Center for Great Apes
“We’re so happy to have them here, and they are settling in nicely to their new home,” Patti Ragan, the Florida sanctuary’s founder and president, said in a statement.
“At Center for Great Apes, which specializes in helping chimpanzees and orangutans who have been humanized as former pets or entertainers, the staff has been hard at work putting all of the pieces in place so that Jeeter will have a better opportunity to be integrated into a social group,” Fleury said. “Many of the chimpanzees already living at the accredited sanctuary are former ‘pets,’ just like him!” Erika Fleury, the program director for NAPSA, which is leading the fundraising effort to rehome the Wildlife Waystation chimpanzees, said.
Now that these eight chimpanzees have found a place to call home forever, NAPSA and their Chimpanzees in Need campaign are focused on finding permanent homes for the 18 chimpanzees remaining at the shuttered Wildlife Waystation.
To learn more about the Chimpanzees in Need campaign set up to save the chimps of Wildlife Waystation and support the effort,visit the campaign’s website.
source: people.com
