We had a blast celebrating Valentine’s Day (and World Bonobo Day) yesterday! The chimps had love-themed parties, complete with sparkling juice, cherries, strawberries, cherry tomatoes, purple potatoes, and heart shaped cookies (thanks to our awesome volunteer, Nancy :))! I hope you enjoy the video from yesterday’s festivities, put together by Kelsi!
Valentine’s Day might be behind us, but we’ll take any chance we can to give some individual love to our residents. Today, I want to highlight our sweet, playful, and curious: Annie.
We celebrate Annie’s birthday on September 10th. She was born in 1974, possibly in the wild. She spent over half of her life in biomedical research at the Buckshire Corporation in Pennsylvania before arriving at CSNW on June 13, 2008. When Annie first arrived at CSNW from the lab, she was a very anxious individual. Like Caregiver Elizabeth wrote in this blog from 2015, “Annie was not brimming with confidence when she arrived at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. (This is an understatement.) She had a couple of things working against her: her position at the very bottom of the social hierarchy, and decades of history in research labs during which she lived in fear and frequent pain. She had every reason to believe that the world was not kind.“
Annie, in June of 2008, after arriving at CSNW:
While in biomedical research, Annie was used for hepatitis vaccine studies. She also had several babies during that time- all of whom were taken from her, at just a few days old, and put into research themselves. From the research and records we have, Annie might have had seven children: Mariah and Virgil who live at Save the Chimps (STC) sanctuary in Florida, Damian who lived at STC until his death in 2011; Tobias who was at Chimp Haven sanctuary in Louisiana until his death in 2014; Petra whose last known location was the New Iberia Research Center, but we believe is now deceased; Abby who appears to have died in a biomedical laboratory; and Brooke who we have no records of her whereabouts.
Annie never had the chance to raise her children, but I know that she would have been an attentive, kind, and loving mom if she had had the chance.
Annie with her best friend, Missy:
Annie loves spending time with her BFF, Missy, and is less likely to engage with the humans as much as some of her other group mates (like Jamie and Burrito, for example). She is low ranking in her group and is often pretty focused on being vigilant to avoid any issues in her group.
Annie is known for making her sweet bird-noises, by getting her face wet and putting her hand over her nose and blowing. As an intern, I often thought a bird had found its way into the chimp house, but it was Annie chirping away. One of my favorite things about this is that when she uses water from the lixit to get her face wet, she will often give her face a little wash. The result leaves the hair on top of her head all wet and spiky and sticking straight up, which is just the best.
Annie, mid face-wash-bird-noise:
Annie is also known for her bipedal walk on Young’s Hill when the grass is wet, or tall, or there’s snow on the ground, or it’s muddy… Looking out to see her bipedally walking, with her long arms swinging and her hands kind of angled in, is guaranteed to bring a smile to your face.
Bipedal Annie:
I adore Annie so much for all these reasons and so many more. I’m sure that I’m sure I’m forgetting a lot about her as I write this today. She still exhibits anxiety and is low ranking in her group, but she has grown so much since arriving at CSNW. She has experienced so much here that has caused her to go outside of her comfort zone (Young’s Hill, the expansion, etc.) and she has taken it all in stride.
She is happy to let others lead the way, but she is a sincere friend and sweet soul. She is more content to hang out with Missy and her chimp family than the humans, and I love her for that. She puts a lot of intentional work into those important relationships and I think that’s something we can all learn from.
When I began staff training, it took a while for me to start having interactions with Annie outside of serving. I remember that being normal, since she’s more of a chimps-chimp. I remember the first time that she came over and gave me a kiss through the caging on the back of my hand, and the first time she asked to groom my boots, and the first time she let me groom her back.
Moments with Annie are intentional and special, and I’m grateful for all of them.
We’re so lucky to know her and we love sharing her story and moments with all of you. Thank you so much to Vicki, Monica, Donna, Sharlene, Sylvia, Susan, Myra, Nancy, Chris & Lee Ann, Judy, and Karla for being Annie’s Chimpanzee Pal’s!
If you love Annie as much as I do, or have a family member that does, consider sponsoring her and become Annie’s Chimpanzee Pal!
So glad Annie’s felt the love and grown since being at CSNW. I think she’s one of the more attractive chimps.
I’ve been interested in their vision for awhile, noting how closely the hold things like books to their face. So when Jamie saw the orange from so faw away it added to my intrigue.
And today’s video underscored my thought that it’s not so hard to distinguish the genders from a distance (except Burrito, who’s in a class of his own). Cy’s Group guys are certainly larger, and hulking, hair longer and puffy, larger bodies and limbs.
Me thinking I’m finally learning a few things that others have recognized for so long…
Except little Gordito, with his broad shoulders and small trim waist
What a great Valentine’s Video, Thank you for sharing, you all work so hard to make such pretty display’s for every party, it’s a good thing you document it, before they all come running in, grabbing plates, drinking and throwing their cups down, Ive been to some wild party’s before but…..It’s so fun and funny to watch !
I love that picture of Bipedal Annie, she looks like her arms/fingers are extralong.
I’m always fascinated by how long her hands/fingers are!
As today’s blog states, Annie “is a sincere friend and a sweet soul”. While she is decidedly ophidophobic (such sentiment comes with the territory, alas), Annie is a good friend to have. See the videos from 12.9.2016, 1.13.2017, and 5.21.2017 for further details…or, if time is short, just look at that beautiful photograph on the blog of Annie planting a kiss on her bestie.
What a lovely World Bonobo’s Valentine’s party. The music was good, too…at any moment, I expected to hear Nashville Skyline-era Dylan croon…
I’ve always had a soft spot for Annie because she has made such great progress…I know they all have, in their own ways, but who could blame her for being anxious and afraid with her awful years of cruelty. She has such a sweet face too, in spite of that unique ear…..she’s certainly one of the prettiest girls. Love the party….Jamie’s lovely ‘get ready’ noises, and the fantastic choice of goodies. Well done, as always to you hard working caregivers!
IMO, “Annie-pretty” is the standard to which we hold all of the chimps (Lucky is “Annie-pretty”) . A high standard, indeed.
Precious beautiful gorgeous Annie. Reading the early blogs, I think she’s come the furthest in terms of confidence. She’s still cautious, but seeing her overcome her fears is such a beautiful thing. Annie has just the sweetest personality. It amazes me how lovely and sweet she is, even though the world has not always treated her the same.
I think what struck me most was reading about her lab records in the previous blogs. She was recorded as being a caring and attentive mother, yet the longest she got was one week with her baby. It’s unimaginable. I know Annie would have been a wonderful mother if she hadn’t been violently and viciously ripped from her mother and her wild home. It pains me that so many of her children never made it out of the lab.
What a testament to CSNW that our dear, sweet Annie has survived most of her children, sad though that may be.
Thank you for the blog, Grace, and to Nancy for those cookies! Did anyone go from plate to plate, grabbing up all of the new item? It’s cookie season!
Grace, funny that you and Katelyn (in the blog you linked) both mentioned how you prize that moment when Annie decided you were worth spending some time with! I also noted that in Katelyn’s case, that took 4 years! So, Annie has indeed come a long way.
Thanks for a fun Valentine’s video. Everyone, bare your feet, naked toes up in a salute to Annie!
Thankyou for the most fantastic video of my pal Annie. That lady has my heart anf it fills me with gladness to know that she has gone from strength to strength from the dsrk days/ nay years at the laboratory. Annie might be a little more shy but it’s beautiful to see the interaction between her and Missy. I also loved the snow photos with Annie snd her courageous outings up onto Young’s Hill. Yep, Annie is one beautiful lady.
Annie. She is one of the most beautiful chimpanzees. I love her friendship with Missy, even more so now. What a gift to still be BFF’s years later. Annie has come so far thanks to sanctuary life, time for healing, and your exceptional caregiving.
Seeing Annie walking bipedal (sometimes sneering!) through the prickly fall grass or ice covered snow brings a smile to my face because her body language speaks louder than words ever could. But nothing makes me feel better than seeing Annie sitting all by herself, peacefully, while she takes in the glorious views around Young’s Hill. Annie has come so far. I am inspired and very proud of her.
I forgot to say Thank You for the Valentine’s Party video. Jamie’s cooing to announce food is being served was so sweet. Everyone got their favorites. Jamie snatched the whole orange and Burrito got to clap and play and run about with a special caregiver (Chad perhaps?!) And Honey B ate her orange so quickly I was wondering if she tatsed it.
Be mine. I love you all. I think you need to keep this theme rolling all month long! :heart_eyes:
Oh!
and did anyone click on the link at Virgil nd see his pic? Reminds me of Mave
Ot makes me so sad of the past these chimps have had and even sadder to learn of the ones who were born into the lab and died in the lab. Im so glad that dear sweet Annie now has a wonderful BFF and gets to spendnthe teat of her days at CSNW…