This is the heartwarming moment when a chimpanzee survivor of a grisly laboratory experiment programme saw the sky in her new home for the first time. Vanilla the chimp looked delighted as she arrived at the sanctuary in Fort Pierce, Florida.
As reported by the Mirror, the 29-year-old chimp was once a victim of the Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery in Primates (LEMSIP) in New York. Before it closed down in 1996, LEMSIP once housed around 300 chips and another 300 monkeys.
According to advocates for the animal Project R&R, chimps like Vanilla were denied outdoor access and kept in small cages. Vanilla lived there until she was two before she was taken to a much larger enclosure, the Wildlife Waystation in California.
Her Save the Chimps profile reads: "I spent my early years in a biomedical research laboratory in New York where chimpanzees were commonly housed in 5’x5’x7’ cages suspended from the ground like bird cages. I was among thirty chimpanzees to be sent to the Wildlife Waystation in 1995 where I joined a small family group."
She was kept there until 2019 when the refuge went out of business and was threatened by wildfires.
The profile explained: "In 2019, the Wildlife Waystation closed, causing nearly 480 animals to need to be re-homed, including 42 chimpanzees. I was among the final seven to be re-homed, and my family and I made the cross-country trip to Florida in a FedEx airplane, thanks to the FedEx Cares program.
"From Orlando, Pero Family Farms generously drove us to the sanctuary in a climate-controlled semi-truck. It took a lot of devoted people to make our move to Florida possible and now I look forward to calling this my forever home."
Vanilla was greeted by a big hug from alpha male Dwight as she took in her new surroundings, a three-acre island. Dwight and Vanilla have a "playful" relationship - and she even steals food from him.
Dr Andrew Halloran, who is a Save the Chimps’ primatologist, told the New York Post that her new enclosure was a big improvement on what Vanilla had experienced before she moved to Florida.
He said: “In California, Vanilla lived with a handful of chimps inside a chain-link fence cage with no grass and very little enrichment. Vanilla is settling in very well. When she’s not exploring the island with her friends, she can usually be found perched atop a three-story climbing platform surveying her new world."
The Save the Chimps sanctuary is home to 226 chimps saved from the exotic pet reader, roadside zoos, laboratories and the entertainment industry.
Some of the chimps who come into the care of the organisation have never previously interacted with other chimps before. Vanilla' island is home to 18 other chimps that she "gets along with."
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.
