Basic Organization Information
Center for Orangutan and Chimpanzee Conservation, Inc.
- Also Known As:
-
Center for Great Apes
- Physical Address:
-
Wauchula, FL
33873
- EIN:
-
65-0444725
- Web URL:
-
www.CenterForGreatAp...
- Blog URL:
-
CenterforGreatApes.W...
- NTEE Category:
-
D Animal related
-
D20 Animal Protection and Welfare (includes Humane Societies and SPCAs)
-
D Animal related
-
D31 Protection of Endangered Species
-
D Animal related
-
D34 Wildlife Sanctuary/Refuge
- Year Founded:
-
1993
- Ruling Year:
-
1994
Sign in or create an account to see this organization's full address, contact information, and more!
Mission Statement
The Center for Great Apes' mission is to provide a permanent sanctuary for orangutans and chimpanzees who have been rescued or retired from the entertainment industry, from research, or who are no longer wanted as pets. The Center provides care with dignity in a safe, healthy, and enriching environment for great apes in need of lifetime care.
Impact Summary from the Nonprofit
The Center for Great Apes accepted two pet chimpanzees this year from upstate NY. Though kept in the same home, neither had been able to touch each other or venture outdoors for over a decade. They are now living in spacious habitats, able to touch and groom each other and go outdoors,at will. The center for Great Apes has the largest collection of adult orangutans in North America and has begun construction on a new orangutan nighthouse and habitat for adult males. The Center for Great Apes also advocates for a ban on the use of great apes in entertainment such as movies, television, advertising and circuses. Our campaign to end the use of great apes in entertainment forever included a PR campaign this year against the use of chimpanzees for Superbowl ads (CareerBuilder.) As a result most of the largest ad agencies in the nation have signed a pledge to never advocate for the use of live apes in advertising.
Leadership
Ms. Patricia Ragan
Profile:
Patti Ragan, founder and director of the Center, started her career as a teacher on the Miccosukee Indian Reservation in the Florida Everglades. Later as the successful owner of a Miami business, she volunteered as a docent for 18 years at MetroZoo in Miami. Patti also worked for several months with Dr. Birute Galdikas caring for orangutans at a rehabilitation center in Borneo, Indonesia. In 1990 she was asked to assist with the care of an ill infant orangutan that was to be sold to an animal trainer by a tourist attraction. She immediately became pro-active in finding a more suitable home for the little ape. As there were no U.S. sanctuaries at that time specifically for great apes, she set out to establish a long-term care program that would provide a home for great apes. The ill baby orangutan, the catalyst of this effort, is now a beautiful and healthy 10-year-old living at the sanctuary.
Leadership Statement:
The Center for Great Apes enjoys a unique place in the world of North American primate sanctuaries as the only sanctuary for orangutans. We are also a founding member of NAPSA, the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance. Our unique "treetop trailway" system, which is comprised of nearly a mile of elevated, enclosed chutes connecting 13 nighthouse/habitats and our ape care clinic, has been studied and copied world-wide. We are dedicated to ensuring as safe, healthy and enriching an environment and daily life experience as possible for these unique orangutans and chimpanzees who have given up so much for humankind ... some for no better reason than to make us smile.
Highest Paid Employees & Their Compensation
Highest Paid Employee Data for 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007 are included in the GuideStar Premium Report.
Upgrade Now
Report Added To Cart
Program:
Education and Outreach Program
- Budget:
-
$75,000
- Category:
-
Animal-Related
- Population Served:
-
Adults
Program Description:
In addition to maintaining an enriched environment for our primate residents, we provide non-invasive behavioral study opportunities for interested students of primatology, zoology, anthropology, and related subjects. We are also one of 22 facilities participating in ChimpanZoo, the international captive chimpanzee behavioral observation program, created by the Jane Goodall Institute. The Center participates in Project ChimpCare, a national program for captive chimpanzees that tracks their genealogy, location, quality of care and vital statistics. The Center for Great Apes Founder's decades of research were contributed to Project ChimpCare to begin the national database. Our Founder and senior ape care staff travel to national symposia to present papers on captive primates and their care. We also serve as a resource center for the local community, hosting small groups of interested visitors and elementary students.
Program Long-Term Success:
Successfully rescued 8 great apes- 4 chimpanzees and 4 orangutans.
Program Short-Term Success:
Program Success Monitored by:
Program Success Examples:
Program:
Great Ape Rescue Fund
- Budget:
-
$50,000
- Category:
-
Animal-Related
- Population Served:
-
General Public/Unspecified
Program Description:
<div>This fund provides the resources necessary to rescue great apes in dire need of lifetime sanctuary including licenses, veterinary fees, transport costs, quarrantine costs, dental care, nutritional diet, housing costs and enrichment costs. The cost of the care for an ape for the first year in sanctuary is greater than that of annual average care, which is estimated at $17,000 - $19,000, depending on species and sixe of the ape.</div>
Program Long-Term Success:
<div>The Center for Great Apes has rescued 48 great apes since its inception in 1993. </div>
Program Short-Term Success:
<div>In October 2010, two chimpanzees were transported to the Center for Great Apes from an in-home pet situation in upstate New York. The Center for Great Apes receives calls regularly asking us to take in great apes in need of permanent lifetime sanctuary. When space and financial conditions are favorable we can accept new ape residents. Often plans for transport must be made quickly. The Great Ape Rescue Fund helps to make this possible.</div>
Program Success Monitored by:
Program Success Examples:
Program:
Great Ape Veterinary Fund
- Budget:
-
$100,000
- Category:
-
Animal-Related
- Population Served:
-
Other Named Groups
Program Description:
The average annual cost of veterinary care for our ape population is $75,000, not including maintenance medications and the unanticipated veterinary visits/procedures that arise in captive great ape populations. Weekly fecal examinations, semi-annual check-ups, and full physical examinations every 2 - 3 years are performed. Maintenance medications for special needs apes have become very costly and those costs reflect the double digit inflation in human healthcare services ... without the benefit of insurance coverage! Unanticipated veterinary services, such as a hysterectomy, removal of a fibroid tumor, suturing of an occasional wound, and even removal of foreign objects lodged in ears or noses are performed on-site in our veterinary clinic. The Center's special need apes include an orangutan without arms, an elderly wild caught chimpanzee with bullet fragments in her brain and the early stages of arthritis, and a chimpanzee with cerebral palsy. These individuals require maintenance medications which significantly increase their costs of care, but each is unique and capable of living with others of their species.
Program Long-Term Success:
Program Short-Term Success:
Program Success Monitored by:
Program Success Examples:
Expert Reviews and Comments
These expert reviews were generated through Philanthropedia's research methodology
to identify high-impact nonprofits. Learn more
Evidence of Impact
There are no summaries available for this organization.
Expert Comments
Organizational Strengths
There are no summaries available for this organization.
Expert Comments
There are no comments available for this organization.
Areas for Improvement
There are no summaries available for this organization.
Expert Comments
There are no comments available for this organization.