Heartwarming footage shows moment chimp gazes in awe at open sky

By Charlie Herbert

She had spent her entire life in a cage.

A viral video shows the moment a chimpanzee, who had spent her entire life caged, witnessed the open sky for the first time. Vanilla's early years saw her raised as part of an animal testing programme at the now closed Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery in Primates (LEMSIP) in New York, where chimps were commonly kept in small cages. This was before she was moved to the Wildlife Waystation in California in 1995 into a much larger enclosure. However, Dr. Andrew Halloran - a primatologist with Save the Chimps, a chimpanzee sanctuary - told The New York Post that even at the Wildlife Waystation, Vanilla was still housed in a “chain-link fence cage with no grass and very little enrichment.” 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.”

In 2019 though, the Wildlife Waystation went out of business, meaning that Vanilla had to be relocated again, along with 42 other chimps. She ended up being among the final seven to be rehomed. However, thanks to the FedEx Cares program she was flown across the US to the Save the Chimps sanctuary in Fort Pierce, Florida. Her profile explains:

“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.”

Footage of Vanilla meeting seeing her new surroundings has since been shared, showing the 29-year-old chimp gazing up in awe at the sky as she explores her new surroundings. Meanwhile, Halloran told the New York Post that Vanilla’s been settling in well and is getting along well with the 18 other chimps she shares an island with. In particular, she has developed a "particularly playful relationship with the alpha male Dwight — from whom she steals food.” The Save the Chimps sanctuary is home to 226 chimps saved from the exotic pet trade, roadside zoos, laboratories and the entertainment industry. Some of the chimps who come into the care of the organisation have never previously interacted with fellow chimps before. Each chimp that arrives at the sanctuary is assessed by Halloran to decide which of the 12 chimp island communities they are best suited to join. Related articles:

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