One year ago, before the Cle Elum Seven arrived at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, I posted a blog entry with a link to a radio interview with Charles Siebert on This American Life.
Today, Siebert had an op-ed printed in the New York Times entitled Something Wild. Here is an excerpt:
There is something about chimpanzees — their tantalizing closeness to us in both appearance and genetic detail — that has always driven human beings to behavioral extremes, actions that reflect a deep discomfort with our own animality, and invariably turn out bad for both us and them.
Siebert uses specific examples of chimpanzee individuals to illustrate humans’ uncomfortable relationship with our closest evolutionary relatives, and our stubborn desire to make them fit into our concepts of of who they are, which manifest not from observing and appreciating chimpanzees as a distinct species, but from our attempts to make them our human-like playthings as “pets” and “entertainers” or human surrogates in biomedical research.
Siebert explains what I have observed of captive chimpanzees – they live in a world of lost identity. They did not have the opportunity to grow up within a chimpanzee culture, but they cannot fit into our human culture either, no matter how hard we try to force them to.
Sanctuaries like Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest try to make the best out of the inherently unjust situation of captivity. We allow the chimpanzees to be who they are, which is sometimes a strange mix of learned “human” behaviors and a renewed expression of their instinctual chimpanzee selves. Our deepest hope is that we can provide for those in our care while working to ensure that one day sanctuaries like ours will not be necessary because chimpanzees will no longer be used for human purposes.
WOW! Diana you sure have a way with words. I know that is what I feel but am unable to express it in a way that others understand. Well said and I intend to share your words as well as those of Charles Siebert. Thank you for all you all do at the sanctuary. We do see the differences you are making and I also hope one day to be able to have an empty building with no one to need it.
Exactly Jeani! I refer people to this blog and the articles all the time. I just finished reading Siebert’s article. I thought it was brilliant.
Amen!
As one who has had the incredible opportunity to relate to chimps for the last 6 or 7 years I can so understand what Siebert is writing about. It seems there is almost an instinctual temptation to “humanize” chimps, they are so like us. But then, with time and observation I came to not only appreciate the similarities but respect and relish the differences as well.
As often as I’ve wanted to claim I knew what someone was thinking just as often they showed I didn’t. A rowdy, physical, noisy display can turn calm almost instantly, and the other way around. Physical interactions that would break mulitple human bones leave barely a scratch on a chimp.
Certain body language we consider friendly is anything but in the chimp world.
Thru a lot of observation time I have begun, I hope, to see them more for who they are instead of who we want them to be. It is such an easy trap to fall into when the mirror between us and them is sometimes so vague.
Siebert’s piece is excellent and so necessary for the wider population to read and think about and hopefully act on.
I LOVE Charles Siebert! He also wrote the NY Times magazine cover story on the breakdown in elephant society several years ago.
So this brings up an interesting question that’s been simmering in the back of my brain:
It’s very clear to me that the Sanctuary is doing an outstanding job of providing for the CE7’s physical needs – space, food, stimulation – and that these healthy living conditions are an important part of what chimps need. But how do sanctuaries attend to a chimp’s emotional needs? It’s not like you can give them a hug, or talk through their depression with them.
Sometimes I wonder if Negra’s aloofness is about having a basically solitary nature, or if some part of her spirit is still in recovery from years of mistreatment. What, if anything, can be done to help a chimp that’s struggling to be happy? (Or, at least, reasonably happy.)
That’s a great question. I wonder how we know if a chimp is happy? We can’t judge it on human terms.. so maybe by providing for their physical needs and giving them as much varied mental stimulation all in a consistent trusting environment we give them the opportunity to heal.
They are still in captivity and are caught between two worlds as was so beautifully said. By taking them on their terms, giving them as much choice in their lives as is possible and leaving them alone to just be we are helping them to heal.
We can’t know if they’re getting happier but we can see Jamie’s hair regrowing from where she would sit and pluck it. The light was that was barely on in their eyes is so much brighter now and they don’t exhibit some of the negative behaviors of captivity like throwing feces. If you go back in the blog aways there are a series of then and now pictures that seem to indicate amazing positive change in the past 6-8 months.
It’s kind of like absence of negative=positive. But then there’s the first time we all saw Negra with a play face or heard laughter. Do any of these ideas make sense?
They make perfect sense to me Cindy. These chimps may not be free to roam the woods but they have the choice to do whatever else they want. They are given good food, enrichment to keep them from being bored, interaction with the staff, and they are with their own kind. This is the best they can be under their circumstances. They have all grown healthier coats and gained weight. Not to mention becoming playful and interacting with other chimps and the staff. They are allowed to be chimps and they are given the respect and dignity they deserve. I also wish we didn’t need sanctuaries but the unfortunate fact is that we do. At least for the time being. If they can’t be back in the wild at least they are allowed to be the animals they are with their own nature and not what we expect them to be.
We can help encourage the changing of minds with education and use CSNW as a role model for how chimps should be treated and why sanctuaries are the best places for chimps that are not wild born and raised. Yes, it is still captivity but the chimps are free in every other way that matters to do as they wish.
Anna — From what I know about sanctuaries, I think recovery happens in a few big ways.
JB, Diana and Sarah are primatologists so they know how to create a secure environment that allows the chimp people to work through whatever psychological wounds they’ve brought with them. There may be some wounds that will be with them for the rest of their lives but it seems like, as JB wrote a while ago, are coming more and more into their own. And being with the chimps day in and day out, I’m sure JB, D & S know what’s “normal” behavior for them and what’s not, so they’re alert for any red flags.
Second, the Sanctuary gives its residents choice and the ability to control their own environment as much as possible, which is a huge factor in restoring (or creating for the first time in a long time) their sense of self.
And last, I think a lot of healing happens among the chimps themselves. Just being chimps with other chimps.
You might be interested in a paper called “Building an Inner Sanctuary: Complex PTSD in Chimpanzees, written by Gay Bradshaw, PhD, PhD, Lorin Lindner, PhD, MPH, Gloria Grow, founder and director of Fauna Foundation sanctuary and Theodora Capaldo, EdD, director of Project R&R. You can read about it here:
http://www.releasechimps.org/2008/04/24/chimpanzees-suffer-ptsd/
Anna – providing for everyone’s psychological well being is a very important part of taking care of chimpanzees within a sanctuary, and I’m glad you brought it up. Providing the chimps with an environment where they have choice, a social group, and mental stimulation are all key components to ensuring psychologically healthy individuals.
Just like their physical health, we closely monitor the chimps behavior. We would certainly be concerned if there was a drastic change in behavior or if any of the chimps did not exhibit enjoyment (this could indicate physical illness as well as “unhappiness”).
Negra grooms regularly with Burrito and occasionally with the other chimps. She regularly exhibits excitement over her favored foods (baked goods and nuts top the list), and, although not as frequently as some of the other chimps, she does play (usually slow games of chase with Missy). As most of the photos of her testify, she uses the blankets that we provide to make her personal environment to her liking. Negra generally greets her caregivers when she sees us, and she likes to watch us dance – nodding her head up and down as we do. She is alert and often chooses to watch meals being prepared in the kitchen. All of these things indicate to me that she is doing okay.
Just like humans, each of the chimps has their own personality, and I suspect that Negra is more solitary by nature. That said, we have known Negra for less than a year, and we only know her as who she has shown us to be. I expect to see new behaviors from all of the chimpanzees as more time passes.
Thanks for the link to the article, Amy. It was enlightening, even if heartbreaking. I know how debilitating PTS can be in humans, and now I have a better idea about what this looks like in chimps. In comparison, the CE7 are doing very well indeed!
And thanks, Diana, for telling us more about how the CSNW pays attention to the chimps’ mental and emotional health, and for giving us more insight into Negra in particular. For each and every one of us, human and simian alike, happiness has a very personal and individual definition.
Indeed … space, exercise, a social group, choice, mental stimulation, good nutrition, and natural light are the necessary building blocks to mental and emotional health – and all other things being equal, we gravitate towards wellness if we have the option. The CE7 will evolve at their own pace and according to their own needs – because they now have that option.
Thanks for the conversation!