SAVE THE CHIMPS SANCTUARY

Tanya was close to 50 years old, but we will never know her true age. Torture centers where she lived did not like to give information about their prisoners. She spent two thirds of her life in two centers of medical experiments: the Primate Research Center in New Iberia and Coulston Foundation, in the State of New Mexico.

Only in Coulston, Tanya gave birth to five children and only two have survived: her daughter Shellie, who also lives in the Sanctuary of Florida, and her daughter Mary, who still lives in another torture center in Alamogordo Primate Center, at the Holloman Air Force Base.

In 2002, when Tanya was rescued after the breaking of Coulston Foundation, which was then purchased by the Sanctuary, she realized she had a new life for her future.

Tanya became famous in New Mexico during the trip of transference to Florida because she predicted forecast storms that happened in that desert area. When the rain approached, she used to ask the keepers to close the doors and windows, as she hated getting wet. She also got nervous when any drop of water splashed on her body at the time of cleaning.

When she arrived in Florida, where storms were more frequent, it was expected she would never fit to the new condition and would hide in her enclosure. However, Tanya again bounced back and realized that the sanctuary was a different place, and even stood in the rain, and also stepped on the grass and saw the sky and the clouds above her head.

Tanya was very respected by her fellow group members. Her closest friends – Little Rock, Rebel, Daisy and Andrea – had a special and different fondness for her.

Weeks ago she suffered a stroke that left her paralyzed as a sequel and this was making her walk difficult. But she would not give up and made sure to get out and walk in her island, lie with eyes on the immensity, like trying to forget the atrocities they did to her body and soul, practiced by humans who do not deserve to be considered humans.

On 20 April, her body did not resist and dreaming she never came back to life. Rest in peace, Tanya, everyone in the Sanctuary will remember and admire your strength of mind, which neither the torturers could break.