The great blue yonder and the sailing clouds above can be so mundane that for most of us, they just provide a mere backdrop behind our lives.
But for those who have never seen the vast openness and the sheer magnitude and beauty it possesses, it can be the most profound miracle they’ll experience in their lives.
Vanilla, a 29-year-old chimpanzee, hasn’t seen the sky or a glimpse of it.
In a heartwarming video shared by Save the Chimps, Vanilla reluctantly stepped out of her cage. She has spent her early years in a biomedical research laboratory in New York.
Her fellow chimpanzees were encouraging her to step out and come with them. They wanted her to see what they were seeing.
Vanilla then steps out and hugs one of the chimpanzees identified as Dwight. And as sweet as the scene is, this isn’t the most astonishing thing.
For the first time in her life, Vanilla looked up at the sky and basked in its beauty.
Vanilla’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped. At one point, it seemed that the chimpanzee mouthed a “wow.”
Other chimps gathered around Vanilla and celebrated her first days of freedom. They were all eager to show the newly freed monkey the world and its wonders.
All the while, Vanilla kept on looking up. She can’t wrap her head around the concept of a sky.
Guided by Dwight, they discovered the space within the enclosure. They were even joined by Shake, Vanilla’s sister.
Before all of this, Vanilla lived a life of hardship.
She was born into captivity at a lab specializing in disease research for HIV and hepatitis. She doesn’t even know what parental care felt like as she was torn away from her mother shortly after birth.
Animal rights advocates said the conditions within the lab were deplorable. The only “reality” the chimps knew were things outside their cages and what they saw on TV.
Fortunately, the lab has since closed down.
Vanilla and Shake were then relocated to the Wildlife Waystation, a non-profit sanctuary for animals like them. Unfortunately, the conditions within the sanctuary were not so ideal. Eventually, she was relocated again.
Vanilla, Shake, and five other chimps were sent to Save the Chimps in Fort Piece, Florida. The chimpanzees went through a quarantine period to make sure it will be safe for them to mingle with other chimps.
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Coincidentally, when Vanilla saw the sky for the first time, it was the moment that she was included in a troop of chimps they called the Air Force Group. The group came from a line of primates that were trained and used by NASA and the U.S. Air Force.
U.S.-based laboratories were affected by a widespread change in 2015.
Since that year, laboratories are prohibited from using primates in any research that causes injury, pain, or distress.
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The European Union started the ban earlier in 2010 and also included great apes like orangutans and gorillas.
Watch how this chimpanzee reacted when she saw the sky for the first time after 29 years.
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