Chimpanzee Care Program
Husbandry is everything involved in the daily care of animals. Care staff tend to the chimpanzees’ basic needs, like water, food, and shelter. The teams also take care of the chimpanzees’ social needs and their physical environment. Chimpanzees are very smart animals, which makes husbandry an exciting and challenging field!
Chimpanzees need care 365 days of the year, members of the care team are here every day, no matter the weather or the holiday. Two of the most important things that the care staff do are serving the chimps their meals as well as clean their living areas. Care staff give the chimps their meals 3-4 times per day - that’s a lot of meals to serve! The staff could not do this without the support of the volunteers who assist in the kitchen to ensure all meals are prepped in advance.
Along with making sure the chimpanzees have clean habitats and are well fed, care staff provide fresh nesting materials to the chimpanzees each day. The chimps receive blankets, hay or wood wool in their bedrooms to help them make nests, if they want to - some of our chimps prefer to relax on the bare floor!
New team members learn to identify each of the chimpanzees in their care by sight. Some care staff can even recognize the chimpanzees from behind, walking away, or at a distance! Care staff make notes on each chimpanzee during checks. How do they look? Do they have any injuries? Are they acting like themselves? If anything is not as it should be the staff alert the appropriate members of management whether it be the Vet team, the Supervisor, or the Behavior team.
Safety is extremely important when working with chimpanzees so care staff go through comprehensive training. All care staff participate in routine drills and mock inspections to ensure everyone is taking proper precautions to keep themselves and the chimps safe and healthy.
Learn more here:
Watch the Day in the Life of Caregiver video
To directly support the husbandry program, consider sending a gift of supplies from our Wishlist!
Holly Lickteig
Manager of Husbandry
Holly joined Project Chimps in 2017 with several years’ experience with chimpanzees. After her first internship at the Oakland Zoo working with apes, she knew she wanted to dedicate her life to working with chimpanzees. Holly has a Master's of Science in Primate Behavior, along with a Nonprofit Management Certificate, from Central Washington University, and a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from Holy Names University. While getting her Master's she interned at multiple NAPSA chimpanzee sanctuaries. Originally hired as a Caregiver Aide, she worked her way up to supervisor in 2018 and leads a team of dedicated care staff, in addition to serving as the head of the Intern Committee. Holly supports the mission of Project Chimps by managing a team of Chimpanzee Care Supervisors and Behavior Coordinators in the provision of high-quality care to the chimpanzees in a safe and secure manner. She is primarily responsible for overseeing the effective functioning of the chimpanzee care department, ensuring that the dietary, and husbandry needs for the resident chimpanzees are adequately met.
Kris Pritchard
Behavior Coordinator
Kris began working as a caregiver at Project Chimps in September 2021. Prior to coming to Project Chimps, she started her zoo career in 1999 as a zookeeper at Lowery Park Zoo then moving on to an ape keeper at Busch Gardens-Tampa in 2001. Kris brings over 19 years of great ape behavior training experience. She was promoted to Project Chimps Behavior Coordinator July 2022. She began to have a great passion for animal behavior and using positive reinforcement training with the horses she owned. When she began her career working with primates, she further strengthened her desire to take part in a formal behavior training program. After learning heart disease was prevalent in wild and captive great apes, she began training chimpanzee and gorillas to cooperate for awake echocardiograms. Having a strong behavior training program assists us with providing exceptional care, especially helping with voluntary body presentation.
Tawnya Williams
Chimps Ahoy and Dorothy Jo & Tilly Villas Supervisor
Tawnya has been a caregiver at Project Chimps since 2017 and was promoted to Supervisor in 2020. She has been working directly with chimpanzees for over 12 years in both zoo and sanctuary settings. Before joining Project Chimps, she was a Keeper 3 and Primary Chimp Keeper as well as the training coordinator at Chattanooga Zoo for 5 years and has over 11 years experience managing private zoos and working not only with chimps, but with many other species of animals as well. Tawnya brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the PC staff. As of 2025 as teams shifted, Tawnya now oversees the chimpanzees and careteams in the Chimps Ahoy and DJ&T Villas. Read more about Tawnya on our Chimp Chatter Blog.
Alyssa Wren
Laurie & Carlee McGrath Chateau Supervisor
Alyssa started at Project Chimps as a volunteer. In the summer of 2019, she was hired as a caregiver aide. Alyssa was then promoted to a full-time chimpanzee caregiver in July 2020. In 2023 she became South Yard Supervisor. Alyssa enjoys outdoor activities such as hiking, mountain biking and kayaking with her husband, Rodney, and their dogs, Dipper and Odin. As of 2025 as teams shifted, Alyssa now oversees the chimpanzees and careteams in Laurie & Carlee McGrath Chateau sides A & B.
Jesse Ellsworth
Cedar Tree and Harmony Villas Supervisor
Jesse Ellsworth joined Project Chimps in June as a Veterinary Assistant. Jesse recently spent more than a year working as a veterinary assistant in Texas. At the end of 2022 she switched to chimp caregving.
She enjoys learning more about the chimps' personalities as she gets to know them better every day. She also marvels at how good chimps are at healing and caring for each other's needs.
In her spare time, Jesse enjoys bird watching and plant identification. Georgia has given her a whole new field of plants and birds to work with and always provides "a good excuse to get outside."
As of 2025 as teams shifted, Jesse oversees the chimpanzees and careteams in Cedar Tree and Harmony villas.
Chimps Ahoy & DJT Villas
- Kalli Kohnen - Caregiver, joined 2019
- Miranda Ramirez - Caregiver, joined 2023
- Eva Bryant Vega - Caregiver, joined 2024
- Neve Rodriguez - Caregiver Aide, joined 2025
Laurie & Carlee McGrath Chateau
- Sam Jones - Caregiver, joined 2018
- India Sloan - Caregiver, joined 2021
- Jessika Suttles - Caregiver, joined 2022
- Sidney Westfall - Caregiver, joined 2024
- Dell Weathersby - Caregiver Aide, joined 2024
- Phoebe Napier - Caregiver Aide, joined 2025
Cedar Tree and Harmony
- Jill Mullen - Caregiver, joined 2017
- Lauren Jenkins - Caregiver, joined 2023
- Lundan Lane - Caregiver Aide, joined 2024
- Ashley Kaufman - Caregiver Aide, joined 2024
- Hannah Noel - Caregiver Aide, joined 2025
Chimp Care Volunteers
A dedicated team of volunteers assist with the day to day care of the chimpanzees. Over 5,000 hours of volunteer service are logged in the husbandry programs each year.
Entry level volunteers (red level) assist in the kitchen and enrichment areas prepping all the daily supplies needed for each chimp, every day.
Advanced volunteers (yellow level) can promote to working inside the villas side by side with the caregivers.
Interested in contributing to this team? Contact us today.
Won't You Help?
This project would not be possible without our many generous individual supporters and volunteers. We rely on donations to fulfill our mission, including caring for our existing residents and expanding the sanctuary to accommodate those chimpanzees still waiting in the lab.
Won’t you help us bring the remaining chimps to sanctuary by supporting Project Chimps today? Please donate today because...