Project Chimps is the newest chimpanzee sanctuary in the United States and was founded to provide lifetime exemplary care to more than 200 former research chimpanzees at its sanctuary on 236 acres of forested land in the Blue Ridge Mountains of north Georgia. Project Chimps is a non-profit supported by The Humane Society of the United States, and is accredited by the Better Business Bureau and the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS). The sanctuary has achieved Guidestar Platinum status and is a member of the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance (NAPSA).

A sanctuary is a facility that houses animals in need of refuge after they have been rescued from neglectful or abusive situations. Chimpanzee sanctuaries, specifically, house chimps who have been retired from research, the entertainment industry, and the pet trade. The most notable differences between zoos and sanctuaries is that sanctuaries do not breed animals, and they are not typically open to the public. 

Project Chimps maintains a license in good standing with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) as well as an accreditation with the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS).  USDA’s recent inspection report show compliance with all regulations. While USDA standards are considered the floor, in contrast, the GFAS Standards of Excellence are much more difficult to meet and Project Chimps is proud to be among the 190+ animal sanctuaries who have received this accreditation.

While human-reared primates may have been taught to paint, it is not a natural skill for chimps or other species. We may occasionally provide canvas and paints to the chimps as an enrichment activity but it is not with the intent to create sellable artwork. In fact, “art” made by animals has come under scrutiny in recent years as unaccredited facilities have learned that tourists are eager to pay for such products.  In some cases, animals are forced to produce an endless stream of art through acts of cruelty, thus exploiting the animals.  We are also aware that some of our fellow sanctuaries or zoos do sell artwork produced by their animals following humane ethical standards, but it is not a practice we are going to participate in. If our chimps decide to produce art, it is for them and them alone, to enjoy. And usually, when they do produce art, they promptly also destroy it; the shredding of items is equally enriching and not allowing them to do so can cause frustration.

Project Chimps employs specialized caregivers who are devoted to caring for the chimpanzees. Six of our current caregivers hold a Master’s degree in Primate Behavior & Ecology, with many others holding various degrees in animal studies. Combined, Project Chimps caregivers have 96 years of primate experience in the field! In addition, we have a small administrative staff and a large team of volunteers who take care of the chimpanzees indirectly, by ensuring the sanctuary runs smoothly and that the chimpanzees get everything they need.

There is no certification or academic program specialty to become a primate specialist veterinarian. During undergraduate studies, while doing the prerequisites for veterinary school, students should try to get as much experience with primates as possible. They may take ethology, primatology or physical anthropology courses, and volunteer at a zoo or primate facility. Some veterinary schools offer courses or clinics in exotic animal medicine, but few offer training in primate medicine. This experience must be obtained by doing extra projects and/or summer jobs with a primate center or zoo, attending conferences, and through externships at primate facilities. An existing veterinarian should intern or shadow another vet already working with primates at a variety of facilities until they feel comfortable with the nuances of the species.

At Project Chimps, we want chimpanzees to live like chimps. Chimpanzees are wild animals and, as such, were not meant to have physical contact with humans. Our caregivers avoid human contact for the safety of both humans and chimps, unless it’s deemed medically necessary by our veterinarian and managers of chimpanzee care. Chimpanzees are stronger than humans and have large canine teeth, so our caregivers are never in the same enclosure with the chimpanzees.

While some of the chimps may know a few common gestures, they were not trained to communicate in this manner. We prefer to encourage the chimps to communicate in more natural ways for their species and they do understand many spoken words from their human caregivers.

Harley (left) and Loretta (right) foraging together in the Peachtree Habitat.

At Project Chimps we strive to give the chimpanzees as much freedom as is possible in a captive environment, so they spend their days as they would like to. That may mean socializing, grooming, or playing with their friends; exploring the outdoor habitat; or engaging in an enrichment activity prepared by a caregiver. However, we do follow a schedule that allows the staff as well as the chimpanzees some predictability they can count on. Breakfast is served at 8 a.m., lunch at noon, and dinner at 4 p.m. There are also set times for shifting chimpanzees in and out of different sections of the indoors habitats, so staff can clean them.

Project Chimps’ first phase includes a forested, six-acre outdoor habitat which is divided into two yards where the chimpanzees can roam, forage and climb trees with an open sky overhead. We call it the Peachtree Habitat. Our planned second phase will include an additional eight-acre habitat.

These chimps are not big nest builders. Although provided with blankets, wood wool, hay, paper, cardboard, and other nesting materials, some still try to make nests out of their hard-plastic toys and others forgo making a nest at all. Despite decked sleeping platforms, and hammocks, several prefer to curl up and sleep on the bare concrete. That is the beauty of the Project Chimps sanctuary – they can choose what they want to do each day and night with activities like nesting or not. Learn more about nesting behaviors here.

All of the chimpanzees currently living at Project Chimps were transferred from the University of Louisiana’s New Iberia Research Center, where they were retired from medical research in 2015.

To date none of our chimpanzee residents have attempted to breech the boundaries of their habitats at Project Chimps. Chimpanzees are naturally curious individuals and typically they’re very interested in their surroundings. They also have different personalities and some are more adventurous than others. On occasion some chimpanzees will test the boundaries of their enclosures, but we can’t be sure of their intentions when they do so. Chimpanzee escapes from sanctuaries are rare, and typically the result of human error. At Project Chimps, we follow a strict safety protocol that exceed GFAS and USDA standards.

Chimpanzees are extremely social animals, and like humans they have their own specific personalities, preferences, and tendencies. Some chimpanzees are very outgoing, others may be more shy or aggressive. Also, like humans, how they behave is usually context dependent. In one social group, a chimpanzee may be more laid back and peaceful, but in another group, with different individuals, she may seem more alert and assertive. Just like humans have close friends, acquaintances, and individuals they may not like, chimpanzees have similar preferences for relationships. Ensuring the chimpanzees have opportunities to migrate from one group to another will allow them to express all the characteristics of their personality.

Physical confrontations may occur, for a number of reasons, but the chimpanzees are adept at reconciliation. Like humans, they are able to navigate the complexities of social living quite well. Most often, after a conflict results in a minor injury, we immediately observe the aggressor hugging and grooming the victim in a peace offering. The care team makes note of all injuries but only intervenes when they require medications or treatments, and most do not. Letting the chimps work things out among themselves first, as they would in the wild, is what is best for their ongoing formation of robust family groups.

At the research facility, the males and females were kept separated as a form of birth control to prevent unwanted pregnancies. However, this is an entirely unnatural setup for the chimpanzee species and comes with its own pitfalls to not have a mixed-sex group. Here at Project Chimps, we use different forms of birth control and work on introducing males and females through a complex introduction process overseen by our experienced care team. This process is called fission-fusion.

Chimpanzees are extremely social animals, and like humans they have their own specific personalities, preferences, and tendencies. Some chimpanzees are very outgoing, others may be more shy or aggressive. Also, like humans, how they behave is usually context dependent. In one social group, a chimpanzee may be more laid back and peaceful, but in another group, with different individuals, she may seem more alert and assertive. Just like humans have close friends, acquaintances, and individuals they may not like, chimpanzees have similar preferences for relationships. Ensuring the chimpanzees have opportunities to migrate from one group to another will allow them to express all the characteristics of their personality and make choices on who they spend time with at the sanctuary.

Other sanctuaries have fission-fusion set up with some of their chimpanzees and it is our goal to have that setup for our entire population. This will take many years of working with the individuals and the smaller groups, slowly building them into larger family groups and identifying the right location to house each populace that maximizes their ability to decide how they want to spend each day and with whom. 

The first step is to allow them rotational access to the habitat where they can visit other groups of chimps who might be enjoying their outdoor porches at that time. As the groups take their turns in the habitat, we can observe who is interested in meeting whom and build up their interest and trust from a safe distance before shifting the chimps to reside in the same villa together to start physical introductions.

There are currently no infant chimpanzees at Project Chimps. Project Chimps does not engage in propagating chimpanzees because we don’t want to perpetuate chimpanzees living in captivity. To prevent births, the females are on birth control and the males have had vasectomies.

Unfortunately, chimpanzees who were born and raised in captivity do not have the survival skills that would be necessary for them to live in the wild. In nature, young chimpanzees learn from their mothers how and where to forage for food, how to find water to drink, what dangers to avoid, and the social customs of their group. Additionally, wild chimpanzees in Africa are already endangered and threatened by both habitat loss and poaching.

We do not have specific information on the types of research the individuals chimpanzees may have been involved in, with a few exceptions such as Hercules and Leo, who were used in studies of locomotion. In those studies, Hercules and Leo were forced to walk upright with electrodes embedded into their muscles.

We know that many chimpanzees were used in a research breeding program while others may have been leased to private institutions for various invasive and non-invasive studies. According to the New England Anti-Vivisection Society (NEAVS), “Early chimpanzee experiments ran the gamut—from infecting them with virtually every infectious agent known, to using them in head crash and trauma studies, or as unwilling donors for organ transplants.”

All chimpanzees transferred to Project Chimp undergo a comprehensive physical exam by a primate veterinarian including laboratory analyses and serology for a variety of infections that could affect their or human health. None of the animals transferred have been exposed to HIV. While some have been used in vaccine studies against Hepatitis C virus, they were successfully protected from any health issues attributed to the virus.

Every chimpanzee receives a full exam and diagnostic workup just before their transfer from the research facility. Our veterinary protocol is to repeat that full exam, under anesthesia, every five years. In between those planned routine exams, we manage the health of the chimpanzees by training them to participate in frequent “awake” health checks where information can be gathered cage-side with procedures like ultrasound readings, urinalysis, temperatures, injections, etc.    

Frequent immobilizations are not worth the anesthetic risk when we can gather routine assessments while they are awake and participating. However, when there is a problem or issue where we need more information (X-ray or a laboratory test), or there is an injury or illness that requires direct treatment, or an emergency procedure is required, we will sedate the chimpanzee to perform the necessary hands-on work and gather additional diagnostic information for their overall health and welfare at the same time.

The mental and physical health and safety of our chimps is our primary concern at all times.

In order to consistently monitor and address behavior concerns, our caregivers maintain daily logs where they record behavioral, medical, and any other noteworthy observations throughout the day.  Each morning we hold a meeting where caregivers compare notes from the day before and share important information with the rest of the staff.  Our veterinarian and/or care team management staff also perform daily rounds where they address issues and create a treatment or modified care plan for chimps that caregivers had recorded a concern about. 

Once a treatment or behavior modification plan is set, the caregivers each continue to document their daily observations so we can continue to track the progression of the behavior and adjust the plan as needed.

While chimps can live into their 50s or 60s, the median life expectancy of a chimpanzee in captivity is 32.5 for males and 40.1 for females. These figures were provided to by Lincoln Park Zoo’s ChimpDATA as part of a unique program to help project future demographic trends in sanctuaries, and is based on 35 years of records from Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA) institutions.

We allow the chimps in the group to visit with the deceased member before removing the body to a viewing area for staff to also pay their respects. Every chimpanzee who passes away at the sanctuary, either on their own or assisted with a humane euthanasia, are transported to a pathology lab for a complete necropsy (the animal version of an autopsy). We then cremate the body and the ashes will be planted in a future Remembrance Garden with a native or fruit-bearing tree where a plaque can be posted in honor of the chimp. The first few days after a passing are reserved for those who were close to the chimp for quiet mourning. A public tribute will be posted on our website and on social media after the initial report is received from the pathologist.

The Project Chimps sanctuary is not open to the public on a day-to-day basis. However, we do host guests for special events and educational tours. Please check our website Visit page to find out when we’ll host our next event. We would love to have you!

There are a number of ways you can help the chimpanzees at Project Chimps. The sanctuary is a nonprofit organization and we rely on donations to provide for the chimps. Please consider sponsoring a chimpanzee, making a recurring monthly or one-time donation, or donating a much-needed item from our Amazon Wish List. All donations to Project Chimps are tax-deductible. You can also volunteer at Project Chimps!