Project Chimps Mourns Loss of Sopulu

Morganton, GA (May 16, 2018) – Everyone at Project Chimps is mourning the loss of Sopulu, a 15-year-old male chimpanzee who lived with his chimpanzee family and human caregivers at our sanctuary in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Georgia.

Photos by Crystal Alba

Caregivers found Sopulu laying unresponsive in his hammock on Tuesday morning with group mate Arthur by his side. A preliminary postmortem examination revealed that Sopulu died of acute cardiac arrest. Cardiac problems are common in great apes, according to the Great Ape Heart Project, based at Zoo Atlanta. According to the Lincoln Park Zoo, the median life expectancy of a male chimpanzee in captivity is 31.7 years old.

“Sopulu was beloved by caregivers and chimpanzees for his friendly and playful personality,” said Ali Crumpacker, executive director of Project Chimps, adding, “We are grateful to have been able to provide him with a year and half of love and care in our sanctuary.”

Sopulu was born on June 23, 2002, and came to Project Chimps on November 30, 2016, from the New Iberia Research Center (NIRC) in Southern Louisiana. He was one of seven male chimpanzees in a social group that includes Marlon, Arthur, Patrick, Josh, Quintin, and Taz.

The group was the second to come to Project Chimps through a cooperative agreement that will result in the transfer of more than 220 former research chimpanzees to Project Chimps’ forested, 236-acre sanctuary.

On January 16, 2018, Sopulu bravely went outdoors with his group mates on their first day in the sanctuary’s six-acre, open-air habitat. After that day, however, Sopulu seemed to prefer the indoors, spending most of his time inside with group mates Arthur and Quintin.

Caregivers will remember Sopulu as an intelligent “goofball” who loved to interact with caregivers and play with his chimpanzee friends. Skilled at tool use, he was known to hide snacks inside the tubes of the indoor climbing structures to protect them from other chimpanzees, returning later to cleverly extract them with a stick.

Sopulu’s remains will be cremated and planted with a native tree or fruit tree on Project Chimps’ sanctuary grounds. The memorial site will be marked with a plaque with Sopulu’s name.

Sopulu was one of 40 former research chimpanzees in retirement at the Project Chimps sanctuary. Donations made in memory of Sopulu are welcome.

Project Chimps is the newest chimpanzee sanctuary in the United States and was founded in 2014 to provide lifetime care to former research chimpanzees at its forested sanctuary on 236 acres of forested land in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Georgia. As a sanctuary, Project Chimps is not open to the public on a daily basis, although limited public events are held on site.

Project Chimps is an accredited charity by the Better Business Bureau and has achieved Guidestar Platinum status for financial transparency. Project Chimps adheres to the highest standards of safety and welfare for its chimpanzees, staff and neighbors. Project Chimps is accredited by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS) and is a member of the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance (NAPSA). The sanctuary is licensed and inspected by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), maintain a Wild Animal License with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GA DNR), and is permitted to operate in Fannin County, Georgia.