In 2015, The National Institutes of Health (NIH) officially ended federally-funded biomedical research on chimpanzees. As the National Chimpanzee Sanctuary, Chimp Haven was designated as the official location for hundreds of chimpanzees formerly used in biomedical research to retire.
Since 2005, Chimp Haven has welcomed more than 400 chimps to their sanctuary. Since the NIH’s 2015 decision, Chimp Haven has embarked on a determined effort to bring every former research chimpanzee eligible for a sanctuary retirement to Chimp Haven as quickly as possible.
Chimp Haven has commissioned me to create design work for various promotional materials, including their “Welcome Them Home” sanctuary expansion campaign. The resulting designs were mailed to donors along with informational pamphlets explaining the habitat expansions.
In addition, I was asked to create caricatures of three of the chimps to be applied to merchandise. Each of the designs was used on various items and sold on Chimp Haven’s website after the release of “Meet the Chimps” on Disney+.
