Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest (CSNW) is located on 90 acres of farm and forested land in the Cascade mountains, 90 miles east of Seattle. CSNW is one of only a handful of sanctuaries in the country that cares for chimpanzees.
CSNW was founded in 2003 to provide sanctuary for chimpanzees discarded from the entertainment and biomedical testing industries. On June 13, 2008, seven chimpanzees arrived from a private biomedical facility in Pennsylvania. Some of the chimpanzees were kept as pets and used in entertainment when they were young. Some of them were captured in Africa as infants. All of them were used by the biomedical research industry to test hepatitis vaccines. Most of the females were also used as breeders during their years in labs and their babies were taken from them shortly after birth.
Now the Cle Elum Seven chimpanzees enjoy a rich social life in an exciting indoor and outdoor environment where they have choices to make every day. Each day brings new adventures, and we chronicle their transformations and experiences on our blog.
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