This is the heartwarming moment when 29-year-old chimpanzee Vanilla explodes with joy and amazement as she sees the sky for the first time after being caged her entire life.
On her moving-in day, Vanilla is seen in adorable footage as she is encouraged to go outside by alpha male Dwight and stares at the sky in awe. For the 29-year-old chimpanzee, it was the first time outside of a five-foot cage or enclosure.
After living in an experimental New York lab until she was two years old, Vanilla stayed in an enclosure where she couldn’t see the sky clearly through the fenced roof of a California rescue facility until she was transferred to the “Save the Chimps” sanctuary in Fort Pierce was moved. Florida.
Vanilla was immediately hugged by Dwight upon entering the shelter and welcoming her to her new home where she will live with 18 other primates. She seemed overjoyed when she was welcomed with open arms.
And as more and more of her new primate housemates came to greet her, she kept staring at the sky in disbelief.
To mark her move into the Save the Chimps Sanctuary in Fort Pierce, Florida, Vanilla was captured in an adorable video gazing in awe at the open sky
The chimpanzee was greeted with a hug by alpha male Dwight as soon as she entered the sanctuary and welcomed her to her new home where she will live with 225 other primates, 18 of whom live on her island. Vanilla was visibly excited about the new environment
The video also shows her happily walking around the 3-acre island and sitting with her new family, who are grooming each other.
The video was created by primatologist Dr. Andrew Halloran of Save the Chimps, who told the New York Post, “In California, Vanilla lived with a handful of chimpanzees in a chain-link fence cage with no grass and very little to do.”
Halloran said that when Vanilla, who is described by Save the Chimps as independent, curious and intelligent, isn’t exploring her new island with the other chimpanzees, she’s perched on a three-story climbing platform overlooking her new world.
Vanilla lives on one of twelve islands separated by small water beds, allowing the sanctuary to provide the chimps with their own outdoor playground.
She gets along well with the 18 chimpanzees on her island, Halloran added, saying Vanilla has a special bond with alpha male Dwight, from whom she sometimes steals food.
The island communities total 150 hectares and each chimpanzee is assigned to its island by a primatologist based on personality and behavior.
Other of her new roommates came up to her and greeted her as she stared at the camera and sky in disbelief
The adorable shots also showed her happily running around the 3-acre island
At the end of the video, she could be seen with her new family who were grooming each other
When Vanilla (pictured), described by Save the Chimps as independent, curious and intelligent, isn’t exploring her new island with the other chimpanzees, she’s perched on a three-story climbing platform overlooking her new world
Vanilla initially lived in the now-defunct New York Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery in Primates (LEMSIP), where she was housed until 1995 in five square meter cages suspended from the ceiling, similar to bird cages
Vanilla initially lived in the now-defunct New York Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery in Primates (LEMSIP), where she was housed until 1995 in five square meter cages suspended from the ceiling, similar to bird cages.
At the age of two, she was among 30 chimpanzees sent to the Wildlife Waystation in California and joined a small family group that lived in a larger enclosure.
But when the shelter closed in 2019, she was once again homeless, like 480 other animals — including 42 chimpanzees — who lived there.
Rescuers worked to rehouse all of the primates, with Vanilla being among the last seven to be relocated. The small family was given the name Sunrise Seven.
The chimpanzee and her family traveled across the country to Florida, where they had to be quarantined before being slowly introduced into the larger family groups.
Now Vanilla and her family finally have a 3-acre island to explore and roam as they please as part of the Save the Chimps sanctuary.
The 226 chimpanzees in the sanctuary came from laboratories, the entertainment industry, the exotic pet trade or roadside zoos, and most of them had never interacted with other chimpanzees before and endured solitary confinement.
What was the Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery in Primates and why was it closed?
The Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery in Primates (LEMSIP) was once home to about 300 chimpanzees and nearly 300 monkeys. Chimpanzees and other non-human primates have been the subject of extensive biomedical research in areas such as reproduction, blood transfusion, hepatitis B and HIV.
LEMSIP was founded in 1965 with the goal of becoming a federally funded primate research center for the New York area, but remained a private laboratory until its closure in 1997.
These facilities included the Fauna Foundation, the Wildlife Waystation – where Vanilla was taken – and the Primate Rescue Center
The lab is located in a wooded area north of New York City and was affiliated with the New York University (NYU) School of Medicine.
In 1995, NYU responded to LEMSIP with a sudden announcement that it would close LEMSIP and turn over all primates to the Coulston Foundation.
At that time, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) formally charged Coulston with negligent killing of chimpanzees and monkeys.
In 1997, the LEMSIP chimpanzees were sent to Coulston, but not before Jim Mahoney, LEMSIP’s veterinarian and deputy director after the previous director Jan Moor-Jankowski was fired, managed to house 109 chimpanzees and 100 monkeys in sanctuaries across North America.
These included the Fauna Foundation, the Wildlife Waystation – where Vanilla was taken – and the Primate Rescue Center.
Source: Releasechimps.org