Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
We sponsored today in honor of Jessica and Lisa, who are getting married today! Jessica has been a member of the CSNW Board of Directors since before the chimps arrived, and has been a friend to me, JB, and Diana since all of us were all students together many moons ago. We couldn’t be happier for Jessica and Lisa today, and wish them all the best in this next exciting phase of their life together.
Foxie is almost never without a troll or Dora the Explorer doll, even when she is climbing, swinging, and playing chase with her friends.
We’ve been talking a lot about Jamie recently. She provides us with a lot to talk about, both on this blog and amongst the staff and volunteers at the sanctuary. We’ve told you about her artistic side, her love of cowboy boots, the challenges she presents to her caregivers to keep her busy mind active, and we’ve reflected on her complicated personality. There’s one thing that I sometimes mention to people when talking about Jamie in person. It’s something that I was thinking about as I took the photos below, and I don’t think I’ve shared it on the blog yet. So here it is –
I think Jamie is acutely aware of her captivity. I don’t say this about all of the chimpanzees. I don’t think Foxie, for example, with her goofy, please-everyone personality, thinks about how unfair it is that she is on the other side of the fencing from the humans, that we make a lot of decisions for her, and that we go off somewhere else at the end of the day. It’s impossible to know for sure, but I believe Jamie is very aware of all of these things, and she knows it’s not fair. I agree with her. Chimpanzees don’t belong in captivity. We do the best we possibly can with the resources we have to provide a happy life for the Cle Elum Seven, but we could never provide them with everything, especially the true freedom that they deserve (If you’re wondering why we don’t offer the chimps more freedom, take a look at this blog post and the link in it about the true nature of chimpanzees).
But things are getting better. More and more people are accepting the simple truth that chimpanzees don’t belong in captivity. The release of the NIH Council of Councils working group report the other day could be a watershed moment for chimpanzees in biomedical research in the United States, and the growing awareness of who chimpanzees are and what they deserve has played a huge role in this moment. It’s the countdown to the end of chimpanzees in biomedical research, and, in fact, someone is counting down – Lori Gruen launched a new website today called the Last 1,000. It is a list of all of the chimpanzees still in research and a tracking of these individuals from lab to sanctuary by highlighting their name or number in green. Lori’s already been able to highlight some of the chimpanzees who went from New Iberia to Chimp Haven just this week.
Though chimpanzees do not belong in captivity, those who are deserve the best quality of life we can provide them. Thank you for being a part of providing for Jamie.
One of my favorite things about the Cle Elum Seven is how almost everyone is really good friends. We tend to focus on BFF’s Annie and Missy a lot because they are pretty much inseparable, but there are lots of other people that seem to be pretty close, based on the amount of time they play with one another, groom, or have other interactions. If I had to guess based on my observations, I would say (aside from the Annie/Missy duo), Missy is good friends with Negra, Foxie and Burrito; Burrito is good friends with Foxie, Negra, and Missy; Negra is good friends with Foxie, Missy, and Burrito; Jamie is good friends with Foxie; and Jody is good friends with Foxie and Negra (I’ve seen a lot of play between Negra and Jody lately!). Annie’s world still revolves around Missy, but she does occasionally play with Foxie and Negra, so I think she would probably call them good friends too. If you haven’t noticed, Ms. Foxie is a popular lady!
Today I caught Foxie being super goofy all by herself (which is really not all that uncommon) but it wasn’t long before someone had to join in.
Donna and Doreen Hughes are celebrating their birthday today, and they have sponsored the day for the Cle Elum Seven. Donna and Doreen have been consistently warm and enthusiastic supporters of the chimpanzees since the year they arrived at CSNW. In particular, they’re two of Foxie’s biggest fans!
Thanks, Donna and Doreen. Happy birthday from CSNW!
If you haven’t heard, Great Clips had a commercial a couple weeks ago that featured a chimpanzee. Just a day after our alert went out and folks wrote to them, the CEO made a statement saying they would pull the ad and never work with apes again! Victories like this keep the momentum going—your letter writing really does make a difference! On that note please send a quick message to Steak ‘n Shake, who currently has a commercial with a chimpanzee:
Click on this link to be taken to the action alert which contains contact information and a sample letter. Be sure to spread the word and forward the alert to your friends! And if you haven’t subscribed to our Take Action: Eyes on Apes Alerts mailing list already, sign up now.
Another way you can help apes right now is to sign this petition to Dr. Oz, who recommended his viewers try using palm oil as a healthy alternative oil. Please let him and his producers know that palm oil production is slowly driving orangutans into extinction! For more information about this issue, take a look at this past Take Action Tuesday post.
Thank you as always for speaking up for these apes. Keep up the great work!
There was an important meeting today in DC, reporting the recommendations of a working group that has been looking very carefully at the federal funding of chimpanzees in research (you can read more about the working group here). Although the recommendations will still be reviewed by the NIH and undergo a public comment period prior to becoming “official,” it’s an exciting change on the horizon for our chimpanzee friends, including Jody’s son Levi.
The recommendations reflect the writing on the wall – that the US is heading in the same direction that the rest of the world has already gone – toward phasing out the use of chimpanzees in research. While not an outright ban, the recommendations call for a significant number of the chimpanzees owned and supported by the government to be permanently retired. Any research that would be allowed under the recommendations released today would have to occur in vastly different environments than those in which chimpanzees are currently kept. Here are a few main points:
You can read the full report here. Again, it’s not an outright ban. But no one expected that. It is overall a very good set of recommendations that sets very high standards for taking care of chimpanzees, and it signals an impending end to their use and exploitation. I have to admit that my eyes welled up a little while listening to the meeting, thinking about the potential to help so many more chimpanzees. So much has changed, for the better, since I first started taking care of chimpanzees (over 15 years ago!). I see a day when we’re done with all this stuff, and I never dreamed of that 15 years ago.
It’ll probably be April before the NIH makes a final decision on these recommendations, and we’ll be sure to share links for public comment so that you can lend your voice on behalf of the Cle Elum Seven, their friends and relatives, and chimpanzees across the country.
