If you’ve been following our blog for a while, you know that we strive to post photos and videos of the chimps’ daily lives – everyday. We made a decision even before the Cle Elum Seven chimpanzees arrived that we wanted people to get to know who they were and what Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest is all about. We share every area of the sanctuary, even if there’s paint peeling in the shot (it’s so hard to get paint to stick when you clean as often as we do!). We want to let people in, and we want them to fall in love with Missy, Jamie, Negra, Burrito, Jody, Annie and Foxie as we have.
Working in a sanctuary and doing all of this sharing leads to some interesting questions about what “natural behavior” is for chimpanzees. It’s not the easiest question. Captivity itself is not “natural” for chimpanzees. We firmly believe that chimpanzees don’t belong in captivity. We’d love to see the day when sanctuaries like ours are obsolete because there are no more chimpanzees in laboratories, entertainment or in private homes – no more chimpanzees that need rescuing. In the meantime, we care for seven chimpanzees who have come from very unnatural and impoverished lives. They all have unique personalities shaped by their genetic makeup combined with their unusual and tragic past experiences.
The daily lives of the Cle Elum Seven are pretty different than what they would experience in their native habitat in Africa. All of the staff members have studied primatology, and we understand this. We use our knowledge of chimpanzee behavior to provide the chimps with what they need: a social group, room to roam, nesting material, enrichment to keep their minds occupied, choices, vertical space, the opportunity to exercise, a diet full of variety but focused on fresh fruits and vegetables, food forages to mimic what chimpanzees spend most of their time in the wild doing – looking for food, a routine so they know what to expect, and celebrations plus anything else we can think of to make each day unique.
I do worry sometimes that people might come across a photo like the one below that I took earlier today and not understand all of what I wrote above. I worry that, taken out of context, what we share might give people the wrong idea about chimpanzees and what Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest is all about. I’d love your thoughts on this issue.
Below is a very unnatural chimpanzee scene, unless it’s from a chimpanzee sanctuary in the NW of the United States in February, in which case it’s pretty normal.
Jamie licking peanut butter off of a pair of clown glasses while Jody and Foxie enjoy snow from a kiddie pool:
You have covered just about everything a chimp could want, except the freedom and perils of the Wild. Considering that studies have shown that each troupe in the wild has basically their own Culture- you might look at it like , this troupe is reacting with their true chimp nature to all the stimulus at hand.
They are also relating to another “human” troupe, and they are adapting to their surroundings like they would in the Jungle.
If they could be put in a safe haven in the jungle, which today probably doesn’t exist, the females might learn to wander to other groups to mate, so these 6 females are missing this. The Alpha male might get to have fights with other males (and get hurt). But considering the horrible situation where they came from, they are experiencing what seems like joy in being together as a family group in every account that you post. It also gives your larger human family online, a way to relate to these 7 lives on a regular basis, which also brings joy.
That photo is pretty much how I spend a Saturday too. It seems natural-enough to me. 🙂 The chimps had their chance at a natural life stolen from them long ago. You are giving them the very best next thing: safe sanctuary. I never doubt your intentions. They come through loud and clear in every photo and every post.
Hey..
I love too look at your website and to read your comments at Facebook and I know that your 7 chimps never can live in the wild, they will end up dead, because they don’t have the skills too find food for them self, so I think your are doing a great job and from the pictures it look like the chimps love what you do for them natural or unnatural. 😉
(excuse my poor english writting I’m from Denmark)
Thank you for your thoughtful and informative post, Diana. I suppose it is a good idea to post that kind of information and concerns from time to time for “new” folks to the chimpanzee world and as a reminder to those of us who have been around for a while to keep our understanding clear. . I love CSNW for the care and life it gives our Cle Elum Seven. But I love CSNW too for the consistent education it gives about chimpanzees and other non-human apes, also. Through connecting with CSNW and particularly reading the blog every day, I have learned so much about wild chimpanzees and what humans have done to them in the US that has made them not what their evolution has meant them to be. They should not be here, that is clear. But since humans have destroyed their natural lives humans owe it to give them a safe environment with opportunities to behave as close to normal for chimpanzees as is possible. Given that, it is still not very close to normal and natural chimpanzee behavior. I have learned that from my connection with CSNW and I will always be grateful for it. Not only has tha knowledge and understanding allowed me to care for and about the Cle Elum Seven it has also allowed me to speak and act for Great Apes in the larger world and contribute to the movement to end human exploitation of Great Apes. Thank you for all you do…..and keep doing it.
We believe in our hearts that you are the best thing the Seven have considering what they have experienced. (My daugther who is 4 would like me write, “I would like to live with Foxie, if Foxie wasn’t so wild.”) The Sanctuary is a godsend for Negra, Foxie, Annie, Jamie, Jody, Missy, and Mr. B. Your intentions and hard word are never misunderstood (by my family – who have only been following the blog for a little over a year). The Seven are not in the wild. That most natural life has been stolen from them. The Santuary and the real people that offer them peace, warmth, human love and a chimp family they can count on (regardless of the ‘un’ natural situation) allows them to live and experience life in a way that was never possible before. Thank you all for your work, your heart and soul, your blood and sweat and your thoughtful and tireless efforts to do the right thing.
Ever since Steve Ross came out with his study, which found that pictures of chimpanzees in human settings give people the wrong ideas about chimps in the wild, I’ve worried about pictures. Those concerns grow when I see the google terms that people have used to get to my blog: “chimp in dress,” “funny chimp,” stuff like that. People actually search for those images!
But I’ve come to the conclusion (unscientific though it may be), that we have to use pictures to tell the truth. Photos of chimpanzees with sunglasses, or playing with dolls, or (in my case) in historical context of the old zoo chimp shows, are conveying truths — and if people can’t be bothered to read what the photos represent… Well, we can’t help that. The people who care enough to learn are the people who are going to move the world. We can always hope that the dope searching for “chimp in dress” stumbles on the blogs that will tell him why chimps should not be in dresses.
I love your blog, and your photos. You are doing exactly the right thing!
So well put Diana. When I see chimps in a sanctuary doing what might be thought of as unnatural chimp things I wonder what natural behaviors might be similar to what they are doing. Is licking peanut butter off sunglasses similar to licking honey from a hive or licking termites off a stick just plunged into a termite mound? Of course chimps in equatorial Africa don’t have snow in their natural environment but reaching over into kiddie pool seems kind of similar to taking a drink from a fresh cool stream.
It seems a tribute to their intelligence and ingenuity that they can adapt behaviors to what their enviroment presents.
Someday lets hope this won’t be necessary – it is really important to remind people that they are making the “best” of their situation. It’s the wonderful work of all involved that they have so much love, care and stuff to have the time and space to let all their natural behaviors be exercised in some less than natural surroundings!
Diana, thank you for your thoughtful comments above. What you all have been able to do for these 7 wonderful chimps since their arrival is amazing. They have become a family w/their kind and humans, they have blossomed into unique, inquisitive personalities. Their life now is the best ever they could have given their backgrounds. I support a number of great ape sanctuaries and I know there are some people who find fault with sanctuary care. They need to be educated on the dire circumstances of apes in the wild as well as mistreatment in labs, entertainment and pet trade. My great appreciation and admiration to all of you at CSNW for your care and love of the CE7.
The many comments from others today are well said.
Hey, I usually comment on your videos on youtube, I’m BlueLotus084. I’ve been keeping up with your blogs as well.
Please don’t doubt your intentions too much, because you are truly doing the best you can. Compared to what they’ve endured in the past decades, you guys are giving them a safe, peaceful sanctuary. I know that it’s not natural for them to be where they are, and how their lives might’ve been different had they remained in their family groups.
I can’t imagine how attached you and the rest of the staff must be to these seven special individuals.
I know it’s easy for me to say that they look very happy and grateful to be where they are, but none of us can ever know what’s going on inside their unique minds. I’m sure there are days when they are tormented by bad memories, and also days they are overjoyed to have great food, sunlight, toys, and to be able to run outside. Please know that you are giving them what is quite possibly the best home they’ve ever known.
There are many people who are waking up about things, and we absolutely support you.
All great comments, leaves me with little to add. As someone who supports the NWCS, I know you are all doing the best you can for the chimpanzees and that to the CE7 their life there may not be “natural”, but it is normal and that is great. You can’t take back their past, all you can do is provide them with the best future possible and I believe deeply that you are doing that.
Also, Dorith Jensen, you did beautifully!
What’s really sad, is that there is no answer to your question. What is natural? Are a poachers snares natural? Is watching your mother die so you can be ripped from her arms and stuffed in a sack to be sold to someone as a pet natural? Is being raised as a pampered human child natural, only to be declared too big and stuffed in a cage and used for medical experiments and otherwise forgotten for decades natural? Is having a desire to scrub and clean and draw pictures with paper and pencil when you don’t really understand where that desire comes from natural? Licking peanut butter off sunglasses and playing with a tub of snow may well be the most natural thing in these precious lives. Thank you so much for letting them have such a wonderful, natural experience.
Diana,
It is good to worry so that we can really think about what we are doing and if it is for the right reasons but then I think we need to put our worrying into actions, the way you all have done at CSNW. With your explanations, photos, videos, and educating us on chimps in entertainment, in labs, and homes you are doing more to open eyes all over the world. This in turn is helping the lives of not only the CE7 but the other Great Apes who need our help. Maybe there are some who wondered on the CSNW site because of the “cute” photos. But hopefully they have stayed and learned a lot because you all care so much for the CE7 and all the other chimps in captivity. So keep helping the chimps, taking photos, and caring deeply.
Diana — It’s the people who DON’T question themselves that we need to worry about. You can never give the 7 their natural lives back; what you HAVE given them is as much freedom of choice as you can, dignity and great respect and love for them as individuals. If only all chimps in captivity were so lucky.
Negra and possibly Annie are the only ones who had a shot of being a normal chimp. The others never had the chance, being raised by humans for any wild animal is not normal. Their horrid past can not be changed but their future is our responsibility (not only for the CE7 but all captive primates). I know first hand there is much thought put into the care of these chimps, from the vitamins they take to the entricment they are given, to the paint on the walls. Is it natural for a chimp to have a troll doll…. no, but if it makes Foxie happy, why not? Is it natural for Jamie to love cowboy boots…. no, but if it makes her happy, why not. Is it natural for chimps to LOVE snow… no, but they do and it is given to them whenever possible. I think the key here to make sure the CE7 are happy not only physically but emotionally too.
As for the paint chipping I think J.B. has figured out the remedy for that…….
Any picture, writing, or feeling put out for the world to see can be misunderstood, and propagate the very thing that is trying to be stopped. However the effort put forth in this blog to educate folks produces more good than harm. If these efforts were to stop, or to have never happened the ignorance and harm would have been greater.
Think of it this way, the percent of people who would have remained ignorant without your hard work would be large. With this blog and your focus on education, many (including myself) have learned the truth about chimpanzees in captivity and what it means for them to be in sanctuary. A small percentage that were already ignorant, may look no farther than the pictures and continue to be ignorant. Yet on the whole the impact is positive and is helping to reshape how human primates view their closest kin.
Thank you.
When I read this posting it struck me how coincidental the Chimpanzee situation is with my own daughter, and I want so much to encourage the wonderful care the CE7 receive 24/7. You who are the hands-on care givers do a service to these chimps that none of us can do, and you do it with such love, devotion, courage and boldness. My daughter was born in Bolivia and was found abandoned on the street at age 3 (ripped from her mothers arms, like the chimps?). Her next 4 years were spent in orphanages where the care was sometimes nightmarish (research facilities?). When we adopted her, she was permanently traumatized (not unlike the CE7?). Raising her was the hardest job we have ever undertaken (sounding familiar?). And yet, today, she is in her 30’s and definitely not able to live a life we would have wanted for her, but she is happy, living on her own, able to make her own choices….and doing VERY well! The job is difficult at best. The rewards are few. But look into the eyes of those chimps today, as compared to the day they arrived. You have saved their lives and they know it. They are giving you their reward in the best way they know how. They are FREE!
Bless you for ALL that you do!
All very thoughtful, insightful and very true comments but it was Connie’s comments that brought tears to my eyes, talking about her daughter because yes, it was very coincidental to the previous lives of the CE 7….but her last couple of sentences are worth repeating….Look into their eyes today, as compared to the day they arrived…You have saved their lives and they know it…we all know it and we can’t thank-you enough…
If you’re worried that your photos might be taken out of context, perhaps make this information more clearly visible on your home page? It would be very helpful to all if you put a link at the very top called “Mission” that makes it very easy to you to your organization’s mission statement and where you can clearly post a statement like this one about the work you do. Perhaps replace/reorganize the “About Us” link to make this information more clearly recognizable? That way anyone visiting the site for the first time has easy access to this critical information. You could then provide a link to that page in the text of a blog post whenever you feel it’s appropriate to explain what’s happening in the enrichment pictures.
I’m responding before I’ve ready anyone else’s post.
I have followed these chimps since they moved in, and I love them all. You are all so fantastic at answering our questions and describing their behaviors, including questions of what is natural. All of us who know you, and these chimps, realize that what the chimps do at home is they live freely, have fun, love their food, and do whatever is interesting to them, whether it’s licking peanut butter off glasses or eating snow from a kiddie pool! You have educated all of us; certainly no one who follows this organization would take the photo out of context.
The important thing is that you are communicating about what you post. You are letting people know with each photo what is enrichment, how the chimps react to the world around them, which is so much more of a world than they’ve ever had in their entire life. Your posts educate the readers about the specials bonds between Missy, Annie and Jody. Writing how Negra doesn’t often play but then showing a video of her laughing and being silly connects every viewer both educationally and emotionally. I think you quite clearly communicated what was going on in the photo in your second to last paragraph: “Below is a very unnatural chimpanzee scene, unless it’s from a chimpanzee sanctuary in the NW of the United States in February, in which case it’s pretty normal.”
Each explanation or comment with each photo continues to educate us non-primatologists about the lives chimpanzees and your dedicated outreach and sharing these stories are steps towards fewer people misunderstanding a photo like the one above.
The unnatural part of their lives was living in concrete cells and being abused in scientific experiments.
Even if it were possible to return them to Africa that habitat is being destroyed and African Chimpanzees are endangered species.
It is obvious that they are healthy and happy at your sanctuary. You do great work.
Thank you all so much for your thoughts and replies. It’s helps a great deal to hear from you all out there who have come to learn about the sanctuary and the chimpanzees. I really like the suggestion of putting our mission more prominently. Another thing I’ve been wanting to do for a few years is create a FAQ page that could be linked to when a certain post my provoke a frequently asked question. I’ll start working on this soon and thinking about a way to make our mission more prominent – perhaps just adding a sentence to the “welcome” statement on our homepage and the blog. Again, thank you everyone who took a moment to comment, and please never hesitate to ask us questions either through the blog or privately through email. We learn from you too! Thank you for being so supportive of the sanctuary and the lives of the Cle Elum Seven.