Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Archives for February 2012

Last chance for sharin’ the love

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I KNOW you have a secret crush on someone, and you want to confess to them via an inscription on a fence post at the sanctuary. Or maybe you reject traditional gender roles and think that boys like Burrito should have jewelry on Valentine’s Day too. Or perhaps you just really love the chimps and want to share your enthusiasm? We can help you with all these things. Place your order by tomorrow at 6pm so we can mail your sweetie a special chimp photo and Valentine’s Day card.

In all sincerity, your love for the chimps can go a long way. Check out the video below, of Negra on her first day in the playroom in June 2008. If you’ve known her for a while, I think you’ll be touched. If you’re just getting to know her, watch the video and then check out her new self here. I think you’ll fall in love too.

 

Boot love

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Jamie has an intense love for boots, especially new ones. She’s been carrying around the boots Candy sent since the minute she got them (a week ago today). I think she enjoys having lots of boots, but to her, there is nothing quite like a new pair of boots. Her other boots, even her favorites, get pushed aside when a new pair comes along. I guess that’s probably true for me too.


In the following photo, Jamie’s actually just yawning, but I love how it looks like she’s wearing a huge playface!

Flowers, Strawberries and Piñatas, Oh My

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Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, so you must be thinking about flowers, strawberries and… piñatas, right?

If these aren’t the things that come to your mind, you’d better check out our special Valentine’s Gift Store. You can give your human loved ones the unique gift of having these gifts given to the chimps in their honor (plus personalized fence posts, beads for Burrito or a Chimpanzee Pal subscription). It’s the gift that gives twice! Just do it soon so we have time to give your Valentine a handwritten card about the donation in their honor.

As inspiration, here’s some photos of the chimps with flowers, strawberries and piñatas.

Jackie giving flowers to Jody

Missy with lilac flowers

Jody with rose

 

Burrito eating strawberries

jody with pinata and strawberry

Annie with guitar pinata

Negra with boot pinata

 

 

Something to Lighten Your Day

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This post is for Tamela and Julie, supporters who are separately going through very similar tough times right now. We want them to know that everyone at the sanctuary is thinking about them. I decided to put this video together in the hopes that it will lighten and brighten their day today, even if just a bit.

A little background on the video and the doll you’ll see: Sometime around 2003, J.B. received a package in the mail from Sarah that contained a custom-made doll. The doll’s face was an image taken from a photo of J.B. himself. The “J” in J.B. stands for John, so the doll became known as Baby John. Personally, I thought the doll was funny, but also more than a little creepy.

This past summer I decided it was time to get Baby John out of our house. I thought a sure-fire way to have him permanently destroyed was to give the doll to the chimps (I’m not sure what I would have done if I had a different job!)

Jackie and Debbie were the first caregivers to present Baby John. Below is the video that was taken that first day.

 

Change the Channel for Chimps

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As most of you probably know by now, the company CareerBuilder will be airing a commercial during the Super Bowl that uses live chimpanzees. It’s nothing new, really – CareerBuilder started using chimpanzees for commercials several years ago. Unlike more progressively-minded companies (like Dodge and Pfizer), CareerBuilder has never responded to members of the public, celebrities and experts who have sent them information about why non-human great apes should not be used in entertainment.

The protests over the use of chimpanzees in the CareerBuilder commercial have garnered more attention this year than ever before. Steve Ross of the Lincoln Park Zoo has been quoted and interviewed numerous times in print and on television and the Jane Goodall Institute released a petition yesterday.

There is also a petition on care.org started by Dawn Forsythe who runs the blog Chimp Trainer’s Daughter and the Facebook page Year of the Chimpanzee.

We at the sanctuary are concentrating on also supporting the suggestion started by fellow sanctuary director Jen Feuerstein at Save the Chimps. She is asking people to Change the Channel for Chimps and began a Facebook event for people to do just that – change the channel when the CareerBuilder ad comes on during the Super Bowl. CareerBuilder spent $3.5 million on that 30 second commercial, and perhaps the best thing we can do is refuse to watch it.

So, be sure to share the message to Change the Channel for Chimps through Facebook, Twitter (you can RT our tweets), and your email lists.

Let’s do what we can to make this the last commercial with chimpanzees that CareerBuilder makes.

Jamie, Burrito and probably Jody were all used in entertainment before being sold into research. Sarah, CSNW’s ED, went undercover at a chimp training compound several years ago. It’s both a personal issue for us at the sanctuary and an important part of our mission to educate others about the abuse that happens to chimpanzees. We as humans who care have to speak up for them.

If you haven’t already, please also join our advocacy branch Primate Patrol.

 

Primate Patrol logo