Health Starts Here: Our Biggest Fundraiser of the Year

Ape Action Africa Vet Team - (Left to Right - Zita, Dr Sharon, Dr Julieta, Dr Cynthia, Noel)

Every year, Giving Day for Apes brings sanctuaries from across the world together for one powerful day of giving. This year, we are raising for something our vets have needed for a long time. A dedicated laboratory of their own.

Why a laboratory?

When one of our primates falls ill, our vets usually know what to look for. What they don't have is time. Right now, when we need a sample tested, we get it to a laboratory in the city as quickly as we can, before it can spoil. Then the waiting begins. It can take days for results to come back to us, and while we wait, a sick primate is waiting too.

With more than 285 rescued gorillas, chimpanzees and monkeys in our care, this is not a rare event. It happens week after week.

A laboratory here at the sanctuary would change that. Our vets could screen for the problems we see most often right here in the forest, with results in hours instead of days. That means treatment can start sooner, when it matters most, and problems can be caught early, before they become serious.

At the moment our vets carry out this work in a single shared space, which brings a real risk of contamination between samples, tools and materials. A dedicated lab would give them clean, separated areas designed for the job.

A lab here will not replace everything. Some tests will always need the specialist equipment of a city laboratory, and those samples will still make the journey. But for the everyday, urgent checks that keep our primates healthy, having a lab on site would change what our vets can do, and how quickly they can do it.

The plans for our new laboratory. Two rooms, purpose built for our vets.

How you can help

Early giving is open now, ahead of the main event on 6 October 2026. By giving early, you help us start strong, and every early gift also puts us in the running for extra prize funding on top of what you give.

The funds raised will go toward the construction of the new building and the lab equipment inside it. Every gift, of any size, brings this laboratory one step closer to being real.

Be part of it

From all of us here, and from every primate in our care, thank you for standing with us. Together, we can bring the answers home, and give our primates the fast care they deserve.

Donate Here - https://www.givingdayforapes.org/organization/Ape-Action