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September 16, 2003

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Come to Chimfunshi and find out what it takes to raise over 100 chimpanzees. Chimpanzees require a lot of fruit, vegetables, and land. The Chimfunshi sanctuary holds the largest chimpanzee enclosures in the world, 500 hectares per enclosure, so the chimps have as much room to run around as if they lived in the wild. Most chimpanzees come here as orphans or circus refugees. The sanctuary accepts any chimpanzee.
Baby chimps make the cutest and most interactive pets, however, by 2 years old they are too strong and rambunctious to keep around the house. Chimpanzees share 99% of the same DNA with humans, however, they are four times as strong.
A baby chimp, Fred Sims, sits in Jill's lap. Fred is an orphan from the Congo because poachers killed Fred's mother for meat. A man named Fred Sims took this baby chimp from the poachers and delivered it to the sanctuary. All chimps at the sanctuary are named after their 'rescuers.'
At Chimfunshi, 'families' consist of unrelated chimps habituated to each other's presence.
Feeding time! The chimpanzees leave their open enclosures and voluntarily enter these cages to be fed.