Join us as at 11 AM CDT on Wednesday, Sept. 16 on Primarily Primates’ Facebook page. We are going to livestream Herbie, Jackson, CJ, and Emma exploring their new, state-of-the-art enclosure for the first time

In spring of 2025, Primarily Primates, a 78-acre, nonprofit animal sanctuary accredited by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries and located in San Antonio, welcomed four chimpanzees from an Oregon sanctuary, Freedom for Great Apes, that decided to close its doors. 

The sanctuary just finished construction of a new indoor and outdoor living space tailored to Herbie, Emma, Jackson and CJ’s specific needs, and we are going to livestream them exploring it for the first time at 11 AM CDT on Wednesday, Sept. 16 on Primarily Primates’ Facebook page. 

“Thanks to our generous donors, we are able to give these chimps a wonderful new home that they will get to enjoy for the rest of their days,” said Krystal Mathis, executive director of Primarily Primates. “We have planned every tiny detail to provide Herbie, Jackson, CJ, and Emma with a tailor-made home just for their needs. I'm so excited to see if they’ll like all our hard work. I'm even more excited to invite everyone to watch them play, climb, explore, or just cause chimp chaos.” 

PPI staff always goes to great lengths to ensure that their intelligent and powerful chimpanzee residents have everything they need to play, exercise and problem-solve, resulting in happy, healthy chimps. That’s why the new habitat will encourage natural group interactions, incorporate species-specific structural enrichment and feature elevated tunnels that provide aerial vantage points for exploration and observation.

This carefully designed environment will support their well-being because it allows the chimps to explore behaviors they'd use in nature such as climbing, foraging and social bonding. Speaking of socializing, PPI’s newest residents are no wallflowers—they are outgoing and thrive on interaction with each other. You can learn more about their personalities, as well our other residents, by visiting primarilyprimates.org.