The Kendall Project

Now that our website has been published, we have many exciting programs in the planning stages that will benefit great apes in the entertainment industry!  With the generous guidance of staff from both the North Carolina Zoo and the North Carolina Zoo Society, we hope to implement these programs within the next year. Keep your eyes out for projects we are working on to raise awareness and help our great ape friends!

The Kendall Project team has been working the North Carolina Zoo Society to create several articles about Kendall and his continuing integration into the North Carolina Zoo's chimpanzee troop for the Field Trip Earth website. These articles focus on the challenges and breakthroughs Kendall has faced during his introduction to other chimpanzees, because of his lack of proper socialization as a young chimp.

Field Trip Earth is a website dedicated to educating K-12 students about animal conservation efforts taking place across the globe.  Supported by the North Carolina Zoo Society, Field Trip Earth highlights conservation projects from the North Carolina Zoo and from many other wildlife institutions, including elephant tracking and wild red wolf research.

Check out the Field Trip Earth site at www.fieldtripearth.org.

One of our most exciting ideas is to develop an Ape Scholarship Program.  Typically, apes used for the entertainment industry are retired at a relatively young age, usually between 5 and 7 years old.  Because these apes can live to be 60 years of age and are extremely expensive and challenging to care for, it is often difficult for reputable institutions to make the commitment to house them once they are retired from the entertainment industry. 

We hope to give those institutions (such as reputable sanctuaries or AZA accredited zoos) that commit to provide a retired entertainment ape a life long home a one-time donation to assist with the animal's care.  We hope to raise enough money to support an animal for at least one year.  Hopefully this will encourage reputable institutions to take on these apes so that they are not forced into less desirable housing (i.e. biomedical research laboratories).  This program will also offer the receiving institution a long term support system, comprised of great ape management professionals, who can offer advice to assist with the integration of the animal into a socially appropriate setting.  In addition, we hope to work with private owners to encourage them to stop purchasing apes for use in the entertainment industry. 

We will provide more information on The Kendall Project's programs for great apes as it is available!