Posts Tagged ‘animal welfare’
Positive Reinforcement Training – PRT with an EKG
If you know anything about chimps, you know you can’t make a chimp do anything it doesn’t want to do! If you need to, for example, listen to Kareem’s heartbeat with a stethoscope, that is absolutely not happening unless Kareem wants you to. This is where Positive Reinforcement Training, or PRT, comes into play.
Read MoreCoronavirus Response Update
As the threat of the Coronavirus continues, Project Chimps’ executive director, Ali Crumpacker, outlines more of the measures we are taking to ensure the short-term and long-term health of the chimps and our Project Chimps family.
Here are some of the things we are doing now, with the caveat that the situation is extremely fluid and that some of these actions may be revised in the days and weeks to come, in keeping with government and industry recommendations.
Read MoreChimps Leo & Ray’s Excellent Adventure
The day started out routinely, with our team checking on the
chimps, feeding their breakfast and cleaning their enclosures. But then the radios start squawking as the chatter between caregivers becomes an excited cacophony.
The message finally became clear: “Leo is outside!”
Chimpanzee Caregiver Samantha Jones recounts the story of former research chimps Leo and Ray’s brave first steps into the forest at Project Chimps.
Read MoreFocus on Chimps
Project Chimps sanctuary now hosts a one-day wildlife photography workshop. In the first session, held in Oct. 2019, eight participants get to went behind the scenes to photograph chimpanzees in the scenic Blue Ridge Mountains.
Read MoreWorking fast and furious to help chimps
It was a warm spring morning and Christy Jellets was waste deep in muddy water. The dirty liquid roiled around her as she worked, hands well below the surface and out of sight, to repair a clogged culvert at Project Chimps.
While her team members were busy welding chimpanzee enclosures and clearing fallen brush, Christy noticed a job that needed immediate attention. So she jumped in…
Read MoreThe 2010s: Our Legacy for Research Chimps
As we swing our way into the second Roaring 20s, we look back at the accomplishments made for captive research chimpanzees in the 2010s.
In 2010, the European Union banned testing on great apes, a full five years before the United States would follow suit, making the U.S. the last country in the so-called “developed world” to end testing on chimpanzees.
Read MoreChimpanzee Maverick Braves the Danger Zone
Mid-ranking male chimpanzee Maverick went right into the “danger zone” this week as two new males joined his social group of eight. Introducing new males into an existing chimpanzee society can be risky business, all Tom Cruise puns aside, so the chimpanzee care team at Project Chimps created a tactical plan for bringing the males together.
Read MoreMoving Day: A New Chateau for Research Chimps
We recently finished the construction of The Chateau and invited the chimps to move in. We all held our breath to see what they would think of their new digs…
Read MoreProject Chimps Sanctuary Opens New “Chateau” for Retired Research Chimpanzees
Forty former research chimpanzees will have a new home in permanent sanctuary as Project Chimps announced the completion of its fifth and largest chimpanzee house, called “The Chateau.” Fourteen former research chimps moved into the new residence, led by 220-pound “gentle giant,” Kareem.
Read MoreChimps Living in Harmony
Project Chimps’ facilities team, care staff, and dedicated volunteers have been working tirelessly to make the south yard of the outdoor habitat a fun and enriching place for the former research chimpanzees in our care. Their hard work was worth it – the chimps are thriving outdoors. And they’re having a blast!
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