Carol Noon, an athropologist with a PhD from the University of Florida, has managed to do what no one else has done for chimpanzees. She bought over 200 acres of land to build what will be the largest chimpanzee refuge in the world. When it’s complete in 2008, 291 chimps will roam virtually free on 12 islands, dotted with jungle gyms, hammocks, tire swings – and no cages! 266 chimps of the chimps were adopted when Noon won several legal battles against the United States Air Force and then rescued biomedical research company that is now bankrupt.
Noon specializes in resocialization of isolated chimpanzees and carefully chooses which chimps will go together to form “families” on the islands. It was her training in 1989 at the Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage in Zambia, where the animals were kept in 14-acre enclosures, that she was influences to build a large open cageless habitat for the chimps. I couldn’t agree more with her vision, and appreciate she is applying her specialization in resocialization without bars and enclosures. Here’s an image of the facilities and some of the chimps enjoying the open air:
An estimated 200,000 chimps still live in Africa, a rapid decrease from a few million just 50 years ago. The U.S. is home to 2,400 captive chimps, a few hundred of them live in zoos and work in Hollywood. About 1,700 are used in biomedical testing. Most of the chimps on the island are in their 40s and maybe have another decade left to live. Because Noon doesn’t believe in captive breeding, the males have had vasectomies.
Jane Goodall, also a board member of Noon’s Center for Captive Chimpanzee Care remarks,
“It took someone like Carole Noon to rescue the chimpanzees at Coulston. I was absolutely thrilled to see them on the island at the Florida sanctuary. The individual stories of their rehabilitation are truly moving.”
Noon’s Save the Chimps organization, the one that preceeds over the Center for Captive Chimpanzee Care, receives no government money, relying solely on donations to fund the $2.5 million a year operation. For $120 a year donors can click on Save The Chimps and adopt an animal.
Source, the Associated Press’ Big chimp refuge offers life with no cages.
7 Comments
November 8, 2006 at 8:36 pm
I just watched “Chimpanzees: An Unnatural History” on PBS and I literally cried the whole hour. Gloria Grow, Patti Ragan and Carol Noon, what amazing women. I’m tempted to drop everything and go back to Canada, where I’m from, and volunteer at the Fauna Sanctuary, which is actually 15 minutes away from where I grew up! This is a deeply touching (and sometimes disturbing) documentary.
November 11, 2006 at 4:10 pm
Just saw Chimpanzees: An Unnatural History” on PBS and my heart aches. I ask “God way?” but i get no answer. If there is one things that brings me some respite, it’s that there are people out there who really care about what is happening to the chimpanzees. In their tears and their battles i see humanity isn’t completely lost
February 28, 2007 at 4:41 pm
Animal Legal Defense Fund fights for & frees two Hollywood Chimps
Normally, I am a bit weary about animal activist groups, because once at my university there was a fire that was rumored to be set by the Animal Liberation Front in protest of primate research. Their little bit of activism ended up killing several chim…
March 18, 2007 at 1:48 pm
[...] new home at the Save the Chimps facility in Florida Jump to Comments To update Kambiz’s previous mention of Carol Noon’s chimp refuge, nine more chimpanzees arrived at the Save The Chimps 200 acre [...]
June 15, 2007 at 11:14 am
Can I buy a DVD or VCR of “Chimpanzees: An Unnatural History?”
June 23, 2007 at 1:07 pm
Hi Renee,
The Chimpanzees: An Unnatural History DVD is available online.
http://www.shopthirteen.org/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=48754&storeId=10552&catalogId=10101&langId=-1
August 18, 2008 at 11:07 am
You are truly one of the best people on earth. My heart breaks when I hear of any abuse at any level of all animals. I am a graphic designer and an artist,
and am offering you my services, for free, if you
ever want to have me do anything for you that would
help you raise money. You can see my art work on
espectro.com
I would love to come and visit the sanctuary someday.
sincerely, Christina Knapp