AAVS News

Valentine’s Day is special to all of us at AAVS, but not for the reason you might expect. It’s the anniversary of our commitment to provide lifetime care to seven very special young chimpanzees. Born in a research laboratory in Louisiana, they were expected to spend their entire lives there being subjected to biomedical experiments. Instead, 13 years ago—when they were still babies—they were released from the lab and transferred to the Chimp Haven sanctuary.

Chimps can live for more than 60 years, and the annual cost for the care of a chimp in a high-quality sanctuary like Chimp Haven averages more than $25,000. This includes nutritious food, veterinary care, behavioral support, enriched environments, and loving attention from their caregivers. To ensure these babies will always receive excellent care regardless of the costs, AAVS immediately pledged to ensure that the costs of their care will be covered for the rest of their lives.

AAVS could only make this huge commitment because of you and our other compassionate partners. I can’t say enough about how grateful we are for your support.

It’s heartwarming to know that Arden, Diane, Jimmy, Mason, Onyx, Quilla, and Riley are spending their days climbing trees, enjoying sunshine, and playing with their adopted chimp families instead of living in isolation in cages. As a member of the AAVS family, you’re making it possible.

This and every Valentine’s Day, I hope you’ll join us in celebrating our gift to these chimpanzees of total lifetime care. The chimps may not know tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that together, we’ve secured their futures. 

You can read more about these seven chimps and see their baby pictures on our website.

If you’d like to make a Valentine’s gift in support of their lifelong care, please click below.