Chimpanzee Leilah 20 years ago on the left, and today on the right. She's lived at the sanctuary since 2001, where she was confiscated (probably rescued from becoming a pet) in the port city of Douala. She's 25 years old now, and given that many chimps in captivity live beyond 40, she's got many more years ahead of living the good life in her sanctuary setting.
Ideally we wouldn't need sanctuaries, but many of the chimps that live in them can never be released to the wild again. For the ones that can be released, it can take years, even decades in some cases, to get them back to being ready to go back to the jungle. This is due to both the mental wellbeing of the animals, and their physical safety. Releasing chimps back into the wild is fraught with multiple dangers. The bit two being poachers, and other chimps.
Due to this, every re-release has to be carefully coordinated. This means chimps that were raised as pets for years that have been socialized with humans will likely never see the wild again. If they ran into another troop, they would probably be murdered on sight for being a stranger who can't communicate with other chimps. Also, their survival skills will be impacted severely, since they aren't used to naturally foraging.
Simply put, every pet chimpanzee is another psychologically damaged great ape that will be sentenced to a life of constant care around the clock. And most people who have pet chimps give them up after a few years and won't help out whoever ends up caring for them. Leilah escaped a fate that would have led to her losing the very essence of who she is. I can only hope that she gets back to the forests before passing.
