I’m not going to lie — the cost of keeping a chimp in sanctuary can seem pretty high. Its annual sum is comparable to sending your child to a typical private college with room and board. Thankfully, these chimps don’t require expensive textbooks or habitually max out credit cards. The cost of sanctuary is really pretty simple, and similar to our human needs of food, shelter and medical care.
Medical care is essential in sanctuary. Remember, these chimps were used in biomedical research and testing. Many come in with serious illnesses as a result of their use in labs, like hepatitis and HIV. Some of them have endured so much trauma that they have to be reintroduced with psychological care and some can never be in groups at all. Those that have been infected with contagious diseases must be kept together in areas away from non-infected chimps. That means separate but equally engaging and stimulating outdoor areas. So, all-in-all, it takes around $15,000 – $20,000 per year to care for one chimp in sanctuary.
Just remember, that price tag is nothing compared to what taxpayers have forked over to breed and use chimps in federal research facilities for generations.
Our goal is to raise $4 million to help move hundreds of chimps from labs to sanctuary. When you factor in the enormous strength of chimps, their medical histories and their complex social structures, each move requires extensive planning and extreme care.
Now, I’m going to take a step aside here and also factor in a different cost – the cost of doing the right thing. I know that for some people out there animals aren’t seen as individuals. I suppose they don’t understand my viewpoint just like I’ll likely never understand theirs. But the truth is, no matter how you view animals, there is a cost to our humanity for allowing this type of cruelty to go on unchecked for so long. Don’t believe me? Try this:
Donna was a 36-year-old chimpanzee held in The Coulston Foundation’s Alamogordo facility. Her death came after a delayed surgery to remove the dead fetus she’d been carrying in her uterus for almost two months. Veterinarians removed a liter of pus from her abdomen and observed the dead fetus’ skull poking through her torn uterus. Donna awakened from surgery that day, but didn’t make it to the next.
So, yes, housing chimps in sanctuary is costly, but isn’t it worth it to make sure this gruesome scene never happens again? To ensure that chimps who are still caged up can finally breathe the fresh air Donna never did? Isn’t that a price we can all agree is worth paying?
Learn more about how you can help support a chimp’s stay in sanctuary! Every gift adds up, which means even small gifts can make a big impact.