Meet Rebecca

At Save the Chimps, one of our greatest joys is sharing stories about our amazing chimpanzee residents with our supporters. Each chimpanzee in our care has their own wonderful personality and story.

Meet Rebecca, a treasured member of Tanya’s family. Rebecca is an elderly female who is quiet, nurturing, and dignified. Always quick to reassure and comfort her family members, Rebecca is known for her gentle demeanor and kindness.

Your gift helps us care for Rebecca and all our chimpanzee residents each day.

Rebecca hasn’t always had the choices and freedoms she has today. After being captured in the wild in Africa in the early 1970s, she was brought to America where she lived for nearly 30 years at the Coulston Foundation, a notorious laboratory with the most Animal Welfare Act violations in history. Used as a breeder, Rebecca sadly had seven miscarriages during her time at the lab. Rebecca was initially used as a control subject for a hepatitis study. She had blood drawn weekly for five months and underwent five liver biopsies during that time. She was later put in a gonorrhea study in which she was inoculated with a strain of gonorrhea; she then had weekly sedations for blood and cultures for seven months. After another toxicology study, she was reassigned to the breeding program where she was impregnated at least eleven times. Most of her pregnancies ended in miscarriage, though she has three surviving children, all of whom were taken from her at birth: Gunther, Libby, and T.J.

Thankfully, Save the Chimps rescued Rebecca in 2002, and she now enjoys the dignified retirement she has always deserved. Spending much of her time with her best friend Debbie – a fellow elderly female – she spends her days relaxing and grooming in the sunshine.

Although Rebecca’s records from the Coulston Foundation describe her as fearful of humans, Rebecca now sweetly greets her caregivers each morning. Her transformation is remarkable, and Save the Chimps is honored to provide her with a safe home and a family group in which she thrives.

And that’s why we are so appreciative of your support to our beloved residents. Your generous donation makes all of our work possible. Because of you, we continue to hear Rebecca’s happy food grunts when we provide her and all our residents with fresh fruits and vegetables daily.

The annual cost of care for one chimpanzee is $16,000. With over 250 residents we provide with lifetime care, your support profoundly impacts their well-being. Please make a gift today!