Can you imagine going through life for almost thirty years without ever having the chance to see the sun? Well, that was Vanilla’s reality. Vanilla is a former research chimpanzee who had been confined to cages for her entire 28 years of existence. However, a recent turn of events changed everything for her when she was transferred to a primates sanctuary in Florida and was finally allowed to experience the great outdoors. Save the Chimps has shared a video showing Vanilla’s awe-inspiring first encounter with the open sky. Initially hesitant, Vanilla eventually took the plunge with the encouragement of Dwight, the alpha male of her group, who gave her a hug before she stepped out.
There’s a sense of wonder in Vanilla’s eyes, almost as if she’s exclaiming “Whoa!” The camera follows her as she explores the 12-island Fort Pierce property, occasionally gazing up at the sky to take it all in. According to Vanilla’s bio on the Save the Chimps website, her first time outside left her in awe because she had never before witnessed the openness of the sky without cage tops. Now, she enjoys the freedom to explore, relax, and groom alongside her family. Vanilla, who will be turning 29 next month, spent her early years in a biomedical research lab in New York before being transferred to an animal sanctuary in Los Angeles, as reported by the Miami Herald.
When the Los Angeles sanctuary closed down in 2019, Vanilla and her sister, Shake, had to find a new home. They arrived at the Save the Chimps sanctuary last July and, following a quarantine period, they were placed on one of the islands—a spacious 3-acre piece of land—in April, according to the New York Post. It was shortly after this relocation that Vanilla had her first adventure outside, and the video capturing her reaction quickly went viral. “She seems ecstatic to have her own world, the closest thing to a natural habitat,” says Dan Mathews from Save the Chimps, while criticizing both the California sanctuary and Vanilla’s previous life in a lab that was condemned by Jane Goodall as a “hellhole.” To read more about this, click here. (Discover more stories about chimpanzees.)
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