From The Center for Great Apes (CGA)

In spite of a pandemic, our mission and work to help great apes goes on.

Just a few weeks ago, the Center for Great Apes accepted five more orangutans who needed an immediate sanctuary home. Since the Center is the only accredited sanctuary for orangutans in the Americas, we welcomed Sinbad, Connie, Hanna, Pumpkin, and Peanut from the Miami tourist attraction Jungle Island.

Sinbad

Connie

Hanna

Pumpkin

Peanut

Even though our space is very limited right now (and we are still working to raise funds to build a new habitat for a group of 7 chimpanzees at a closed facility in California), the need for a home for these five orangutans became urgent. So we made room in our quarantine station at the health clinic as well as another area in order to move them here in September.

Like many Florida tourist attractions, Miami’s Jungle Island has been closed this year due to the pandemic. But they are also  transitioning to become an adventure/entertainment destination and determined that relocating the five orangutans to a peaceful and appropriate home would be in the best interest and welfare of these apes.

The history of our five new residents is that they once lived or were born at the Miami compound where many of our current orangutan residents were born before going into entertainment or the pet trade. So they are related to many of the orangutans living at the sanctuary. Connie (age 42) is Christopher and Tango’s mother.  The 16-year-old female fraternal twins Pumpkin and Peanut are the younger sisters of our Jethro, Harry, and BamBam. And Hanna (age 23) is Sunshine’s first offspring, and therefore baby Cahaya’s sister!

However, there is a serious challenge to deal with now. Peanut, who had cancer eight years ago, has had additional critical health issues recently in Miami. Our goal is to give Peanut the best veterinary health management and compassionate care we can… and to make her life as peaceful and painless as possible while she’s with us.

Even though our space is tight right now, and funding has been affected by the pandemic and economic crisis, we are happy we could offer a home to these cherished orangutans.

Donate in honor of our newest arrivals on our Giving Day for Apes page