A journey begins

Our hearts our exploding as we share that the chimps are finally here! I’m so humbled to share a snippet of our story:

Late afternoon on Wednesday, Buttercup, Charisse, Genesis, Gertrude, Gracie, Emma, Samira, Jennifer and Latricia were loaded up into our custom built trailer (thanks Wildside Trailers!) and made the 600+ mile journey home. Our hero team included Jess, Mike, Casey, Gwendy, Jen and Max. This was the first stop.

Emotions ran high for the transport team as they shepherded the chimps through the night and into the the next day. Once it was light, the chimps could watch the Alabama pines roll by from their own windows. Here’s Jennifer taking in the view:

Right around lunchtime, the “home team” (Lindsay, Laura, Gabe, Derek, Matt and me) prepared to welcome the trailer onto the property, with last minute preparations including streamers, goodies and about 300 double checks on each lock. Emotions were even higher as the trailer pulled up the driveway.

I choked back tears and raced to hug all the humans getting off the truck… thinking about what went into this day, and what an amazing team we have here at Project Chimps. No words would do justice to this part.

It took several hours to roll each cage off of the trailer and into the building. Moving chimps from a transport cage to a building is no small feat, and quite nerve-wracking, but the Project Chimps staff worked like a well-oiled machine to safely transfer each chimp into the building.

Most hopped from their cage to the indoor rooms right away, but sweet Genesis took her time. She had a handful of blankets in one hand, and some enrichment in the other hand, and it took her a moment to decide which she wanted to carry in. After they moved from cage to building, they were welcomed outside into the “party porch.”

I was inside for this process, and had the job of opening the door between the cage and the building for each of our new friends. What an honor and privilege. We will get more of the story together in the coming days and weeks. For now, that’s all the brainpower I’ve got. So, I’ll leave you with some chimps (hey! we have chimps!).

Genesis, as comfy as can be:

And sweet Emma, fast asleep in a hammock:

We’ve been overwhelmed today with amazing coverage of our story, with not one but TWO live broadcasts on CBS national news (boy that was tiring, and amazing!), coverage all over the world like this great Guardian article, and lots more in the works. Please help spread the word – the more eyeballs on these beautiful new friends of ours the better. And the more spare change in their pockets the better too, so please join our team and help us bring even more chimps home.