Given the economic crisis and the shortage of jobs in this country, this sentence is going to sound pretty crazy:
I hope that I will be out of a job someday.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I LOVE my job. Why wouldn’t I? I get to spend my day enriching and taking care of an amazing group of chimpanzees, and I get to advocate and help educate people about the plight of chimpanzees everywhere. Plus I work with an amazing group of people—staff and volunteers alike. But we all hope for the day that we are no longer needed, because that would mean there were no more chimpanzees in captivity.
I don’t see this happening in our lifetimes, but it would be amazing to see that day. Chimpanzees do not belong in captivity. Sanctuaries only exist because of the terrible situations that our closest relatives have had to endure. After the biomedical industry is done with them, or they become too large and violent to be used in entertainment or held as a pet, they need somewhere to go. They can never be returned to the wild—they don’t have the skills needed to survive. So for the remainder of their lives, sanctuaries are dedicated to providing quality care to these beings that don’t deserve to be where they are. It’s also why we are against intentional breeding, because it simply isn’t fair to bring a baby chimpanzee into a human world.
I always have this in the back of my mind when I walk around the hill with Jamie or play chase with Missy, Burrito, and Foxie, or groom with Annie, Jody, and Negra. As humans we take our freedoms for granted. At the end of the day we can hop on a plane and go to Hawaii if we want, or go visit our families, or just take a road trip across the country to see the sights. Chimpanzees in sanctuaries are there for life. So, you can imagine we feel that it is our duty to make sure they have the best lives possible. Offering them a clean home, lots of enrichment and blankets, and good food and friendship are so important. CSNW is amazing sanctuary and I am so proud of the work we do, but it’s still captivity. Sanctuaries are the lesser of two evils.
It’s not an entirely selfless job. Like I said, I get to hang out with an amazing group of chimpanzees and humans, and it feels pretty great to see the chimps smiling during a wild game of chase or tug-o-war. I never tire of seeing them out on the hill, foraging like they would if they were in the wild, protecting their home from deer or horses or elk because that’s what chimps do, or just taking a stroll (or run!) because they can. It’s a good feeling. So, caregivers do get a huge reward from their work. And I wouldn’t trade this job for anything, even if it’s true that one day I hope I’m not needed anymore.
Beautifully written, Debbie.
Thanks Amy!
Such an injustice has been done to all captive chimpanzees, anywhere in the world. Unfortunately Debbie, and all the others who care for chimpanzees in captivity, you will have a long career.
Sanctuary is the lesser of the evil that these and other chimpanzees have experienced in their lives. Now, that is not to say that sanctuary is the best living conditions but that option was taken from them many years ago. The skills needed to live free is a long process of learning from one’s family. Having been taken away from that family and being cross fostered with humans or other animals for the sake of taking a “cute” picture doesn’t give you a chance of learning the skills needed.
I hate the idea that the “7” should have lived a much different life other than the one they had but that is water under the bridge at this point. They and we can’t go back all we can do is go forward and provide the best living conditions possible. It is not an easy profession to care for captive chimpanzees and it takes dedication, love, understanding, compassion and the will to just do something to help.
I am grateful for Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest and the other NAPSA Sanctuary’s for all their tireless work to try to give captive chimpanzees some semblance of what life should have been if not for the greed of humans.
I might add the picture of Negra just sitting with her eyes closed soaking up the sun, something she was denied for over 30 years (think about that, 30 + years without seeing the sun), speaks volumes of the simple pleasures she and the 7 enjoy now.
So true! 🙂
Thanks, Denice. It’s important to recognize that we can’t go back, and we can’t make up for what they should have had. But we can give them good lives now. And I think we do a pretty good job at it!
I agree with you Debbie. I’m grateful for being allowed the chance to get to know the chimps in these sanctuaries, and that they have much better lives now compared to the past.
I’ve been watching a lot of documentaries on wild chimpanzee groups, and they really are very different from captives. I believe they fit the definition of primitive tribes, just like early humans once were. Even they face difficulties posed by humans, and there are so many orphans resulting from the bush meat trade. I wish I could go to one of those places that help raise them, and hopefully prepare them to roam wild again one day. Maybe one day I’ll get the chance.
I wish there was a way to teach the free living groups to defend themselves with some type of combat skills, but that would be an undertaking in and of itself. A sort of Planet of the Apes scenario.
In the meantime, thank you for all you do, and for giving others a chance to see the truth.