Hope
$120.00 – $600.00
Hope was born on Jan. 5, 1997 in the gloomy confines of the Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery in Primates, a New York University research laboratory that was shuttering its doors. The chimpanzees at the laboratory faced being transferred to the Coulston Foundation, where they could have been subjected to invasive or toxic research, unless PPI could raise the funds necessary to build them a retirement home. PPI secured the funds and came to the rescue, building them a large, open-air habitat with climbing structures. Hope, just 10 months old, and nine other chimpanzees arrived at the sanctuary on November 1997. Thanks to PPI, Hope was free of research protocols and living with a compatible group of younger apes, including Thomas, who had not yet had a vasectomy, resulting in Hope’s unexpected pregnancy. Seventeen years later Hope enjoys spending time by herself, sitting at the top of a hammock and looking out over the trees at all the wildlife that wanders onto the grounds of Primarily Primates. Her favorite foods are romaine lettuce, apples, bananas, grapes and watermelon.