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Alpha Kareem Diagnosed with Probable Cancer 

Project Chimps is sharing the sad news that Kareem, a celebrated alpha male at the sanctuary, has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. Dr. Jim McClearan, DVM was on site yesterday to check in on Kareem and to inform the sanctuary staff of the distressing report. 

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Pee, Please – It’s Urine Month!

It’s actually pretty cool to work somewhere that celebrates urine. Believe it or not, pee is really an amazing thing! Every urine excretion you make is like a report card from your body, sending in a bunch of grades from most of its complicated systems via a few ounces of liquid.

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Topical Wound Therapy for Chimps

With antibiotic resistance on the rise, it is more important than ever to use drug therapy wisely. Chimpanzees have amazing powers to heal, out in the wild wounds would have to take care of themselves. But Collin is not in the wild, he is under our care at Project Chimps.

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Vaughn adds valuable experience to medical clinic

After 40 years in the medical field, Mike Vaughn decided to take some time off from the emergency room. In the meantime, he’s putting his skills to use with a new type of medical clinic. Following an Appalachian Trail hike with his son in April 2020, Mike spent the past year pouring himself into volunteer work…

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Meet Dr. Dufresne, DDS – A Chimp Dentist

Where might you find a chimp dentist? One is closer than you might think! Like a lot volunteers at Project Chimps, Dr. Joe Dufresne wears many hats. On an average day, you might find him painting or helping with some other type of maintenance work, and he has even served as the driver of the transport truck that brings new chimpanzees to the sanctuary.

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Aural Hematomas in Chimps

There is normally not a lot of space in this area of the ear so when it fills, it can be very tight and cause an uncomfortable amount of pressure. If due to trauma, there could be bacteria trapped inside and potentially lead to an abscess. As the body tries to fix itself, it sends a lot of its helper white blood cells and tries to remove the blood and repair the aural hematoma.

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Health Update: Latricia (Jan 2021)

latricia chimpanzee

In early November Trish’s swell became quite enlarged and as stated, that is not unusual; a very large swell can be natural depending on where the chimp is in her cycle. But Trish stopped eating some of her food, which was our first sign that she was not ok. Upon closer inspection, her swelling was not even, and we believed she had an abscess.

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Health Update: Gertrude (Jan 2021)

gertrude chimpanzee eating mashed potato

Gertrude has a history of abscesses (four have been observed since arriving at Project Chimps in 2016) and they have always resolved on their own without further intervention. But four in four years is too frequent to be coincidence and the pattern had to be investigated.

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Health Update: Precious (Nov 2020)

two chimpanzees walking

Precious arrived in sanctuary in 2018. During her exit exam from the New Iberia Research Center, her diagnostics showed that she was in the early stages of chronic kidney decline. We vowed then to offer Precious whatever she needed to be comfortable in sanctuary as her condition progressed.

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Health Update: Jamie (Nov 2020)

chimpanzee on a porch

Jamie is spry for her age. While she is active and agile, the team noticed that something was just a little off – she was drinking a lot of water. While subtle as that symptom might be, it indicated there could be something going on that needed to be investigated.

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