Photo via CBS News

Imagine seeing the sky for the first time. There are no words that could ever what Vanilla the Chimp must have been feeling when she left her enclosure and gazed up at the bright blue sky for the first time in her entire life. Vanilla is a 28-year-old survivor of New York’s infamous Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery in Primates (LEMSIP) whose new home is the Save the Chimps sanctuary in Fort Pierce, Florida.

The LEMSIP was a New York University research facility founded in 1965 by Edward Goldsmith and Jan Moor-Jankowski, which was forcibly closed down in 1996, forcing all the chimpanzees and monkeys housed there to be relocated. Vanilla was among those primates who then transferred to a larger enclosure in California – a refuge that went out of business in 2019 and was threatened by wildfires.

Until moving into the Florida sanctuary, Vanilla had never set outside a five-foot-square cage or a garage-sized enclosure. In a heartwarming video — filmed by Save the Chimps’ primatologist Dr. Andrew Halloran — that’s sweeping the internet, Vanilla can be seen emerging from her enclosure into the sunlight, gazing up at Florida’s beautiful sky, visibly in awe. She seemed apprehensive at first, but the alpha male Dwight soon encouraged her to leave the safety of the indoors. After reacquainting herself with her fellow chimps, Vanilla set out to explore her newfound freedom.

“Vanilla is settling in very well,” Halloran told The New York Post, “When she’s not exploring the island with her friends, she can usually be found perched atop a three-story climbing platform surveying her new world.”

Before transferring to the Sunshine State, Vanilla had only ever lived with a handful of chimps inside a chain-link-fence cage, barely seeing sunlight or nature.

The Californian refuge is home to 226 chimpanzees discarded from laboratories, the entertainment industry, the exotic pet trade, and roadside zoos. Many have previously endured solitary confinement, so this would be their first time ever interacting with other chimps. It seems that Vanilla is settling in well, so all we can do from here on out is wish her well.

About the author

Chynna Wilkinson

For over 7 years, Chynna has been a noteworthy presence within creative media. As a self- proclaimed geek and driven by a passion for horror, comic books, video games, and modern cinema, she takes pride in providing only the best publications. She likes to label herself as an innovative writer doing what she loves, especially when it concerns her favorite interests. Aside from personal written projects, she can be credited as an award-winning screenwriter, published poet, and accomplished academic writer. She has taken the media industry by storm, producing short stories, screenplays, articles, features, and poetry that thoroughly engage, excite and thrill those fortunate enough to read them. She enjoys watching anime, horror movies, and animated shows; her life revolves around cinema, video games, and tasteful literature.

Screengrabs via TikTok

There’s always some kind of viral food challenge taking over TikTok, whether it’s NyQuil chicken (“sleepy chicken”), toaster grilled cheese, nacho tables, or lemon coffee, there’ll always be someone on Earth willing to endanger themselves for the sake of views and clout. And nothing could be more dangerous than McDonald’s mascot Grimace — whom TikTokers and social media personalities alike are calling a “Griminal” — for the “Grimes” he’s committed against those who try his new berry-flavored shake, included in the limited-time Grimace Birthday Meal.

What seems like an innocent marketing opportunity for McDonald’s has resulted in several casualties and possessions across TikTok (we kid, of course) as Grimace rolls out his Birthday Meal shake to reduce the population with poison-infused goodness. As you’ll see from the assortment of videos below, anyone brave enough to drink the milkshake has suffered disastrous consequences. Let it be known that this is all in good fun, so the Grimace shake is perfectly safe for consumption.

Anyone taste-testing the product reportedly didn’t “feel good” after consuming it. Moments later, viewers get a glimpse of the so-called “grime scene” as Grimace strikes down the individual in some brutal-yet-hilarious manner. TikTokers imitate Grimace taking their soul, drowning them, assaulting them, and all sorts of weird and frankly over-the-top ideas. Again, while it might sound a tad graphic, none of this is real and it isn’t quite as disturbing as it sounds.

It’s definitely the captions that make these videos pure satire. “I love grimmy” and “Grimace did not like me forgetting his bday” are among some of the outrageous quotes used to make light of their impending doom. We’ll warn you before you go down that rabbit hole: some of these videos can be extreme, so while we haven’t come across any sensitive ones, we’d advise against watching too many if you’re easily upset or squeamish.

One of the most common forms of the trend involve trying the Grimace shake, leaving a bad review, then getting “poisoned” by Grimace himself. There are several variations to this outline, namely those that replaced “poisoned” with some other horrific torture.

About the author

Chynna Wilkinson

For over 7 years, Chynna has been a noteworthy presence within creative media. As a self- proclaimed geek and driven by a passion for horror, comic books, video games, and modern cinema, she takes pride in providing only the best publications. She likes to label herself as an innovative writer doing what she loves, especially when it concerns her favorite interests. Aside from personal written projects, she can be credited as an award-winning screenwriter, published poet, and accomplished academic writer. She has taken the media industry by storm, producing short stories, screenplays, articles, features, and poetry that thoroughly engage, excite and thrill those fortunate enough to read them. She enjoys watching anime, horror movies, and animated shows; her life revolves around cinema, video games, and tasteful literature.