Chimpanzee girl Vanilla’s life has not exactly been characterised by joy and freedom.
She spends her childhood in a laboratory. She is then allowed to move to a nature reserve, but when this closes, she is once again confronted with uncertainty.
Today, the curious Vanilla is 29 years old. A video capturing her reaction when she sees blue skies for the first time in a long time goes viral.
Leap into freedom
The moment couldn’t be more beautiful. The happiness is literally written all over ex-lab monkey Vanilla’s face.
With an open mouth and a look of disbelief, Vanilla takes the leap into the open, encouraged by the alpha male of the chimpanzee family.
The emotional event thrills millions of viewers on every continent.
The organisation „Save the Chimps“, which is responsible for the happiness of Vanilla and her family, receives messages from countless people.
They want to find out more about Vanilla and her fate and support her new life in freedom.
It is incredibly touching to see the enthusiasm and compassion with which the journey to her new home is being followed.
Dark past
In her past as a test monkey in a biomedical laboratory in New York, the then still young monkey girl probably never gets to see heaven.
There she spends dark days in a tiny cage suspended just above the floor.
in 1995, she was finally brought to the „Wildlife Waystation“ together with 30 other monkeys, but even there her dwelling had a ceiling that prevented her from seeing the vastness and freedom.
in 2019, however, the station has to close and the future of the 42 chimpanzees is once again uncertain.
On a FedEx plane, Vanilla is finally among the last apes to find a wonderful home on the extensive grounds of „Save the Chimps“ in Florida.
Home forever
Here, the view of a bright blue sky is finally no longer a rarity. Vanilla considers herself lucky to be able to call the more than twelve square kilometres of land her „forever home“.
The animals‘ open enthusiasm as they are released into the wild is a gentle reminder to be grateful for the small yet big things in life that we take for granted.
Source: The Dodo, Save the Chimps
