Jamie may be the leader of the Cle Elum Seven, but Jody is the den mother. She always looks out for the other chimps – making sure they’re safe and accounted for – and sometimes this means “collecting” them if they venture too far outside.
This morning Negra seemed in the mood for a little outdoor adventure, but “mama” Jody wasn’t so sure.
Carla René says
Hi, Francoise,
Oh, I’m totes with you on what they deserve.
But am growing anxious to find out the official sanctuary stance on what will become realistic. Maybe I didn’t phrase my question the best for fear of offending long-time supporters. But what I really want to know is, will there come a time when we have to see them no longer catered to, and try and get them treated more as if they’re wild?
Catered to isn’t what they were born to be. Wild and human hands-off IS. I haven’t followed Fauna and the Chimps one in Florida closely enough to find out if they do this, but I do know with the one in Florida and over 300 chimps, there’s just no practical way for them to receive any sort of special attention, and *maybe that’s better.* It is THAT point I’m eager to find an answer to from Jeeb and Diana. Maybe all existing sanctuaries discuss this like zoos do already…I don’t know. What I do know is everyone who works at these organisations unequivocally agrees that what is better for ANY wild animal is that they had never been taken from the wild to begin with.
Which brings me back round to my question. Was it the original goal of this sanctuary to eventually get every single resident healthy enough mentally to then be treated as if they are wild, and remove their hands-on approach? Being in captivity complicates that goal, which is why I’m wondering how that’s now parsed out. Maybe if they never get another new chimp, it was still the goal of THIS place to eventually begin treating them as if they are wild. I know right now size plays probably the biggest role in keeping that from happening, since they can’t go sleep in the woods and just come in for feedings. But ChimpSanctuaryNW has more land coming that *does* include woods—just like when they were born in African jungles. So that’s one side of the argument.
But they (at least some) weren’t *born* in African jungles. So they’ll never know that life. That’s the other side of the argument.
However, they *all* possess wild instincts. Point for the original argument.
So do you see what I mean? Where do sanctuaries stand on treatment? Is the one in Florida right in their hands-off approach? Or is it this one with 7 instead of 300+? And is this one still in their healing phase? These guys house chimps that still have wild instincts that can be reverted back to if left to do so. So what will this sanctuary do? What is their intent?
You brought up an excellent point about how new chimps could stress the situation. But “changing the routine for the seven” can’t be the major line of focus when there just aren’t seven to consider any longer. Things are gonna change, and change BIG no matter what anyone does. No matter how well transitions and mixings are done, there’s going to be stress, period. It can’t be avoided. There’s *always* stress in the wild. Always. There’s going to be takeovers; other male chimps are probably going to fight Jamie for her alpha position, and win; there’s going to be shifts in alliances as subordinant chimps now back the new alpha, because their wild instincts will force them to support the one in power as a way for them to protect themselves and to survive, since backing the alphas spells protection. These social groups form as a SOLE side effect of being wild and needing to survive, and for no other reason. No matter how many blankets we give the old and new chimps, and wear boots and play tug-of-war, these guys still operate under the illusion that they’re wild, even though it’s a severely skewed and twisted version of that. And when faced with new chimps, I think it will pull even more wild instincts out of them.
I agree with you that every abused and traumatised chimp needs to have the same wonderful loving care that these chimps have received, and I don’t even think twice about whether Diana and Jeeb will hesitate to provide that in the best way possible.
What I think I *do* disagree with you on, however, is whether catering to each individual chimp is the best possible way to treat them for long-term, once they’re out of their traumatised state and living more healthy. For me, if they can revert back to wild instincts after a period of healing (for instance, right now in her PTSD raw state, I don’t think Negra will revert to living on her own in the woods), then *that* will be the best possible way to let them live.
Thanks for jumping in. I think blogs were invented for this very reason—so followers could have lively discussions on points raised in the blog, so I enjoy this and hope others will follow suit.
Jackie says
It’s wonderful to have a caring friend!
Connie Buckley says
Negra has such an odd gait, especially with her back end. I guess I’ve never noticed or paid attention to her walking before. Does she maybe have some weakness in her hind end? Could that account for her doing so much resting? She also seemed a bit confused while Jody was bringing her back, Do chimpanzees ever get dementia? Not meaning to be an alarmist, just wondering. The chimps are so blessed to be at this sanctuary. But as we all age, we all are subject to an increasing evidence of illnesses.
Thanks!
Elizabeth says
Hi Connie! It’s entirely possible that Negra has some muscle weakness or stiffness associated with aging. She’s had the same gait since she arrived here in 2008, so it doesn’t seem to be worsening, and it definitely doesn’t seem to keep her from doing anything she wants to do. She’s actually lost a little weight and become more active over the years! It’s hard to say whether she spends a lot of time in bed because she’s stiff, or whether she’s stiff because she spends a lot of time in bed. 🙂
Elizabeth says
Oops, I forgot to answer the other part of your question. There is recent research that shows that elderly chimpanzees can develop the same plaques and tangles that cause Alzheimer’s in humans, though it’s not clear whether they experience dementia. We haven’t noticed any particular signs of confusion or dementia in Negra – I think what you’re seeing in this video is a slightly distracted Negra who was pretty ambivalent about being outside in the first place trying to decide whether to follow Jody back in. 🙂
Anna says
Hi Carla,
I think Francoise answered your question pretty well. We have a lot of interns and volunteers and will continue to expand to meet all our needs. We have no plans of growing to the size of Save the Chimps in Florida. An interesting thing about that sanctuary, is that they have a special needs building that houses some chimps that require higher amounts of human attention.
Each chimpanzee is different, with a unique life story, and subsequently prefers a different amount of human interaction. Above all, we want the chimps to rely on each other for social stimulation. However, some of them do enjoy human interaction, and it wouldn’t be kind to start ignoring them, even if we become larger. Jamie was raised in a human household and often looks to her caregivers for things like walk companionship and grooming partner. She has had an extremely unnatural chimp life and our job is to make her sanctuary life a comfortable one full of choices on how she would like to spend her day. Even if it is done in a pretty odd way, going on territorial perimeter walks is a natural behavior for chimps and of course it’s great exercise! We love seeing Jamie groom and play with her chimpanzee family and never want to interrupt these interactions. Missy, unlike Jamie, asks for very little human interaction, and we are just fine with that! You can definitely see how being more of a “chimp’s chimp” can be better for their psychological well-being. Adding more chimpanzees will be stressful, yes, but it will also be incredibly enriching to have more eventual grooming partners and playmates. Hopefully some day we can be seen as just simple waitstaff.
Anna says
She is definitely the most interested, but I’ve seen others sneak peeks from time to time.
Anna says
These are solid choices!