Chimps Inc. exists out of necessity. Once upon a time, an infant chimpanzee was taken from his mother and sold to a human as a pet. The chimp had no opportunity to learn how to be a chimp. Instead, it was brought up as a human: wearing clothes, eating at the table, taking baths, and introduced to other humans. As the chimpanzee reached adulthood, at the age of 7, 8 and, 9 his animalistic instincts were beginning to take over; he was a wild animal despite his “civilized” upbringing. He became much stronger than a human and unpredictable. They tried to give him to a zoo, but they wouldn’t accept him because he didn’t know how to behave like a chimp. The only way to control him was to pull out all of his teeth, adorn him with a shock collar, and discard him in the basement. And for the rest of his life, he was kept in isolation for people to gape at every once in a while. True story.
“Chimps are not suitable pets,” said Jane Goodall the first time I met her. Chimps in the pet trade and entertainment industry have no lives at all unless they are rescued.
Chimps Inc. was founded by Lesley Day in 1995. Since that day, she has rescued a total of eight chimpanzees from unspeakable fates. Every day, Lesley and her staff make a difference in the lives of all of the chimpanzees at her sanctuary.
In the words of Dr. Jane Goodall, “Chimpanzees are amazing. They do learn to adapt,” and after spending two days at the sanctuary I could see just what made them so captivating and worth protecting for what they are: amazingly powerful creatures that should always be allowed to remain wild.
Learn how you can help Chimps Inc. save adult chimpanzees here
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