Ad 2 Orlando’s Public Service committee took a trip recently to visit our 2009-2010 beneficiary, the Center for Great Apes, a permanent sanctuary that provides a safe environment for orangutans and chimanzees in Wauchula, Florida. The trip was, for lack of better words… amazing. We met with the director, Patti Ragan, who is incredibly passionate about this initiative. The sanctuary is not open to the public (we were told that a group tour of the sanctuary was worth a couple thousand dollars) however, we got a private tour, all feeling incredibly honored to be there.
Patti took us around the sanctuary to see all of the 40+ apes. We were amazed by the huge environments they are housed in (see photo below). As we went by each habitat, Patti told each of their heart-wrenching stories. We found out that most of these primates had been through so much pain and torture before being saved by Patti and her team. A couple of them MAY even make a cameo in some of our creative work… hint, hint
Overall, it was an experience our team will never forget. We left the sanctuary (6 hours later) feeling nothing short of inspired. We can’t wait to share our campaign with everyone as soon as it is ready. Stay tuned!
Tip of the day: Don’t call them monkeys! Monkeys have tails and apes do not.
– Susan Watts, Media Planner/Buyer, Push.