Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Archives for August 2012

Business as usual?

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Today, for the first time in a week, has been pretty calm around here. No fires, no firefighters, no smoke, clear skies, and cooler weather. It’s far from over in our minds and flare ups can happen any time, but so far so good. We’ll take it!

As tough as the Taylor Bridge Fire has been for us humans to process, the chimps have been champions. They have been eerily quiet at times over the last week and have occasionally been caught just staring out the window watching helicopters and firefighters– especially Annie, Jody, and Foxie. I have had several moments similar to the one Sarah described last week between her and Jody, where as soon as the chimps get the “okay” from us, they go right back to business as usual– which is usually play! Late last week, I watched Missy go around to every single person in the greenhouse engaging them in play, including Jody, who is not usually all that playful. Missy is always playful, but I have been thinking of her behavior this week as her own personal coping mechanism- keep everyone happy so you don’t have to think about the craziness going on outside.

I’ve been watching her employ this “tactic” since the day after the fire. As Sarah mentioned, the fire incinerated the water lines to our well, so because of possible chemical contamination, we have turned off the water to the chimp areas and have been giving the chimps lots of water bottles and Gatorade instead. They have been loving it! We’ve given the chimps water bottles before, but because it’s not the most sustainable practice, we haven’t done it all that often and certainly not in this quantity. But they have been so enriched by it! And thanks to so many of you out there- we have plenty to keep them happy and hydrated for a long time. Here’s a video of Missy being goofy with her water bottle the day after the fire broke out (August 14th). If you listen closely you can hear helicopters flying overhead as Missy just keeps on playing– it’s a good coping mechanism!

So, as things settle down outside, things get more relaxed, but also rowdier and goofier, inside! Jamie has been crazy playful all day. This morning, she and Foxie got into a thunderous game of chase and were tickling each other and laughing so loud it was hard for us humans to hear each other speak. Burrito was spotted walking in between the Front Rooms with a box on his head and Annie has been lounging in the greenhouse clapping her feet- a sure sign she’s relaxed. Jody and Negra have been kicked back in their nests sipping on water bottles all day. And every time I make eye contact with Missy, she springs off in a full speed run, engaging me in a game of chase. It’s business as usual around here. Chimps are such an inspiration.

Why we stayed

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Since the fire on Monday, many people have asked why we didn’t evacuate the chimpanzees. It’s a good question, and instead of answering everyone individually I thought I’d share an answer that I gave in the comments section of a previous blog post.

To preface, I should say that we certainly took this fire seriously. As the fire approached the sanctuary, firefighters parked their engines around our property and prepared to protect our buildings and those of our neighbors. At that time we were encouraged to evacuate. Diana and I packed up our dog and two cats and Diana drove them to safety. But evacuating chimpanzees is much different than evacuating dogs and cats, or even livestock. Hopefully this post will shed a little light on our decision to ride out the fire as best we could:

Let me start by saying that we are fortunate, as a relatively small sanctuary, to even be able to consider evacuating the chimps. For some of the larger sanctuaries, rapid evacuation would be out of the question for all but a handful of the residents.

Still, evacuating chimpanzees safely is something that takes time, no matter what your situation is. The chimps must first be moved to an area of the building that would allow you to connect a transfer cage or, alternatively, an area that would provide a safe environment for anesthesia. At CSNW, this area is a series of four smaller interconnected rooms that we call the Front Rooms. After the chimps are shifted, transfer cages must be moved from our storage area behind the barn to the chimp facility. The chimps that are cooperative may be loaded into transfer cages one at a time without anesthesia. Those who are not cooperative (most if not all of them) must be manually injected or darted with an anesthetic. Chemical anesthetics take up to ten minutes to take effect and the chimps must be isolated and darted individually so that one chimpanzee is not waking up while you are going in to remove another. After all the chimps are loaded into transfer cages, the cages must be loaded into a trailer and secured (if the chimps are anesthetized the cages can be loaded and secured beforehand). Typically, the transport truck would not leave until all the chimpanzees on board have recovered from anesthesia, so that a medical emergency (like respiratory depression) does not occur on the road, but in the face of a dire emergency this protocol could be ignored.

While doing all of this you would need to weigh the risk of transporting them against the risks of staying. If the fire overtook the sanctuary while the trailer was still in the driveway, the chimps would be at even greater risk. Considering that we had less than an hour’s notice before the fire overtook the property, there is no way that I would have attempted to move them.

Some emergencies cannot be avoided. In these cases, proper planning, construction, and maintenance are the only things that will help. Sanctuaries in the southeast must be prepared for hurricanes, those in the plains states must be prepared for tornadoes, and those on the west coast must be built to withstand earthquakes. For CSNW, wildfires were part of the planning process when Keith and the original Board of Directors were designing the facility. In addition, the county requires a plan for “defensible space”, which is the area around the building that slows or impedes the fire and provides a safe space for firefighters to work in.

The chimp facility is built mostly of concrete, with cementitious siding and a metal roof above the chimps. The exterior is designed to withstand brush fires and stray sparks. Inside the chimp areas there is very little in the way of combustible material. Still, nothing is 100% fire proof, so our fire plan includes a scenario where the interior of the building would be overtaken by smoke or flames. In this case, we couldn’t let the chimps run free because it would endanger the lives of the men and women working to protect the sanctuary. However, we would let them back out into the greenhouse, which would allow them some movement away from an interior fire and some chance to avoid the smoke that would accumulate inside the closed building.

This was the day that we hoped would never happen, but given where we are located, we knew it could. The chimp facility survived due to the firefighters’ efforts, smart planning, good building codes, and a little bit of good fortune. Relocating the chimps to a safe location would have been great, but it would not have been possible in such a short amount of time.

In the coming weeks we will be analyzing our response and determining what went well and what we could have done better. We will undoubtedly be exploring new protocols and equipment based on what we experienced in our real life trial by fire that could help us be even better prepared for future emergencies.

 

King5 Coverage and Firefighters Meet the Chimps

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King5 broadcast a story on the sanctuary last night that you can watch here: http://bit.ly/OC11Wc

To fill in a bit of information: in addition to the incredible work of the firefighters, the chimp house was safe because it was designed to withstand fire and because there was a defensible perimeter around the building, allowing the firefighters to do their job easily. There was no time to evacuate seven chimpanzees and we knew this situation might arise, which is why we made the decisions we did about the building construction and the perimeter around the building. (UPDATE: read a full explanation of why we didn’t evacuate the chimpanzees in the Why We Stayed blog post written by J.B., Director of Operations.)

We were also lucky because helicopters were nearby due to another fire, which allowed them to respond very quickly – this is probably what saved the caregiver house and the other older structures on the property that were not designed from the beginning with fire-resistant materials. The sanctuary property is very close to the river on the other side of Highway 10. The easy access to water meant the helicopters could quickly refill their buckets. And because we were very close to the beginning of the fire, it hadn’t gained the momentum that it had later on. So, it was a combination of having a safe building for the chimps, being prepared with a plan, having a quick response from the local Kittittas County Fire Department (we love you!), and a bit of luck that left not only the chimps safe, but also all of the structures standing on the property, even though the caregiver house did catch fire on the roof and one side (see photo below):

bedroom side of caregiver house burned by fire

Speaking of luck and a great response, below are a couple of photos of the mop-up crew from Snohomish County. These three guys have been looking for and taking care of hot-spots and flare-ups on and around the property for the last few days. They took their lunch break yesterday at the chimp house, where Jamie “baptized” them with some cooling water (see the water droplets in the second photo).

The sanctuary sends big thanks to all of the firefighters for their continued and tireless work on the Taylor Bridge fire. We hope the fire gets under control soon with no further loss of property.

snohomish firefighters in front of chimps

jamie spitting water on snohomish fire fighters

 

Looking towards the charred earth on Young’s Hill:

firefighters looking towards young's hill

 

The view on Young’s Hill the day after the fire (luckily the structures survived!):

black earth under tire structure young's hill

 

Snohomish firefighters watching volunteer Connie serve Negra and Jody lunch:

snohomish firefighters watching Connie serve Negra lunch

 

You can help the sanctuary by making a monetary donation that will allow us to continue to clean up the property and take care of the chimps. You can also send us gift cards for Safeway, Costco, Lowes and Home Depot. Just mail them to: CSNW, PO Box 952, Cle Elum, WA 98922

The Cle Elum Seven Chimpanzees have been through a lot in their lives – some were captured in Africa as infants, most were used as breeders and had their children taken away, and all were used for biomedical testing. Our mission is provide them with the best care within our power – thank you so much for contributing to their continued well-being!

 

Aerial View of Fire that Burned Sanctuary Property

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John Himmel of WSDOT took the original photo from below that shows the burned areas all around the sanctuary property. We added the labels. All of the black is where the fire hit. You can see that the fire circled around below the chimp house towards the driveway.

Even all of us who have been on the property since Monday find this image sobering.

labeled aeriel photo

The story of the fire part 3 – from Sarah

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See the Story of the Fire Part 1 here

After JB’s initial call letting me know there was fire in the area, I was thinking that it would be like the fire we had a few years ago, which was started by a car accident near the same bridge. It went up the hill about half a mile away, but they quickly had it under control. It was scary but not SCARY. I was talking on the phone to Dr. Mel, the chimps’ vet, about something unrelated when JB called me back with an update. I put the land line phone down to pick up my cell (and JB’s call) and he calmly told me that Diana was packing up their animal friends from the house and the staff on site (Jackie and Elizabeth) were going to “stick with me a few more minutes and then get out of here.” I remember listening carefully and then saying “Is there anything I can do from here?” Of course there wasn’t. I felt so helpless. But in retrospect I am glad I was working from home that afternoon because I was the one with solid internet service and could keep folks updated.

I sent an email to our Board letting them know what was happening, and then I waited for updates from Elizabeth, JB, and Diana via texts and calls. Here’s one from Diana: “They are asking us to evacuate soon. We are spraying the building. They can’t make us leave.” And another: “They have big hoses. Building will be okay.” Then Diana, Elizabeth and Jackie left and parked down the road to watch the scene. They took radios and stayed in contact with JB in the chimp house. Here’s one text from Diana as she sat in her car and watched: “There’s a chance the house didn’t burn down yet. Three helicopters dropping water around the property.”

I was relaying updates to our Board, preparing to update our supporters on Facebook, and somehow not freaking out. I felt eerily calm, but helpless at the same time. I think I wasn’t allowing myself to consider many of the “what ifs.” I didn’t want to affect signals or more emergent communications, so I just waited for updates from our amazing team. Elizabeth reported: “Teary. But ok.” Diana called me at one point and I could hear JB talking on the radio in Diana’s car. Then Diana came back on and I could hear the shakiness in her voice as she said “It’s pretty bad, Sarah.” There were no appropriate words in that moment. What do you say?

I’ve known JB since 1997 – fifteen years now. We were fellow grad students at Central Washington University, where we spent our Thursday evenings racing back from our seminar classes to my apartment where JB, our friend Charles and I would make huge falafel dinners with vegan cake for dessert. We would excitedly watch Beverly Hills 90210 and laugh about how we were avoiding working on our thesis write-ups.  After hearing Diana’s voice tell me matter-of-factly that it was really bad, the reality of the situation and what one of my best human friends and my beloved chimp friends faced hit me like a wall of fire.

The Story of the Fire, Part 4

The story of the fire – part 2

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see the story of the fire part one here: https://chimpsnw.org/2012/08/the-story-of-the-fire-part-1/

As we were keeping an eye on the fire on the ridge above, a truck pulled up in the driveway. It was Brad Rorem and his two sons, who were staying in the family cabin on the ridge (Brad was quoted in this article). Brad’s parents are supporters of the sanctuary and we knew which cabin belonged to them. We stood watching the spot where the cabin sat. There was so much smoke and flames from trees igniting, all of us thought the cabin was gone (we saw the next day that it was still standing, but houses around it had burned down).

Soon, fire trucks pulled up in our driveway. Kay from the Kittitas County Fire Department was in charge and immediately assessed our situation and began to plan to defend the property. At one point, she looked at the chimp house building and said it looked good – there was a defensible space around the building that would allow the trucks to get around and do their job.

Time really became distorted at this point.

More fire trucks arrived, the smoke started to get thicker, we continued to water the grounds around the chimp house, and soon Kay told us we’d need to evacuate. I said we wanted to leave one person with the chimps in the chimp building. There was never a question that person would be J.B.

fire on Tom's property

photo above: looking towards our neighbor’s property to the east, the smoke and flames are getting closer. With the sight of flames that close, it was clear we were going to be forced to test of our fire policy plan.

I put our cats and dog in the car. Elizabeth, Jackie and I looked at each other. None of us wanted to leave. We are all caregivers and leaving our seven chimpanzee friends who we’ve vowed to care for was not easy. But, it was part of our policy and it was the smart thing to do. J.B. could stay with the chimps and make sure they were doing okay and the firefighters would not have to worry about extra humans to protect.

A lot of people have asked why we didn’t evacuate the chimps, and we can explain that in more detail later, but the short answer is that, even under the best of circumstances, evacuating seven chimpanzees would have taken hours, and we had nowhere near that amount of time. (UPDATE: read a full explanation of why we didn’t evacuate the chimpanzees in the Why We Stayed blog post written by J.B., Director of Operations.)


Elizabeth, Jackie and I took radios, got in our respective cars, and drove down the driveway, turning left and pulling over in different spots on Highway 10 a few miles down the road.

I found a spot where I could still see the building pretty clearly. Our cats in the back of the car were meowing and our dog was trying to find a small space within the car to hide. I was constantly on the radio with J.B., my husband who I had just left in the path of a fire.

There were things I could see that he couldn’t and vice versa. He was keeping me, Elizabeth and Jackie updated on what was happening as best he could on the radio while also texting and talking to Sarah on the phone and talking to the chimpanzees, who were possibly as quiet as they’ve ever been in their lives.

There were moments when I was really scared, but I could see the helicopters dropping water on the sanctuary property as well as our neighbor’s property. I could see the fire trucks around the chimp house, and I could hear J.B.’s voice on the radio telling us he and the chimps were okay. I barely gave a thought to our personal possessions in the house where we had lived for three years.

fire on hil above chimp house from highway

photo above: flames and smoke get closer to the sanctuary property. Photo taken from Highway 10 below the sanctuary property.

 

helicopter dropping water near building

photo above: one of the helicopters dropping water near the greenhouse structure of the chimp building. Firefighters in the foreground. Photo taken from Highway 10 below below the sanctuary property. The chimps and J.B. were inside the chimp house.

Part 3, from Sarah’s perspective, coming soon…

UPDATE: Read Part 3

Thank you

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We’ve received several Sponsor a Day donations this week for the day of or the days following the fire. We want to thank the following people for their thoughtful gifts:

Lisa Kane
Anthony Blasioli
Karen Bugni
Heidi Shaw
Stephen Lipsius
Lori Gruen

The chimps are all doing great, as evidenced by these photos taken yesterday.

Missy, with a Dora the Explorer doll in her mouth, chasing Foxie:

Jody and Missy play wrestling:

Negra being Negra: