Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Debbie

Missy’s birthday

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Today is Missy’s birthday, and we decided to set up a whole frozen fruit forage in the greenhouse this morning. Volunteer Patti brought some awesome ’80s-style headbands, leg warmers, and socks in honor of Missy’s goofy and kooky athleticism. After decking ourselves out in the gear (and of course putting most of it in with the party enrichment for the chimps) we let the chimps into the party area and listened as they food squeaked with excitement over the whole frozen fruit. I have been around chimps for 7 years, and this group for nearly the whole time they’ve been at CSNW, and I have never heard so many food squeaks at once. They loved it, and it is just what we needed after the last week and a half of recovering from the Taylor Bridge wildfire. All of the staff were present as well as volunteers Patti and Jennifer. Watching the chimps happily enjoy their forage was definitely just what the doctor ordered—both for staff and for the chimps, too! They have certainly been through a lot in their lives, and getting to see them enjoying their time here so much brought such a huge smile to my face. All I could think about was that we are all so fortunate to be here with them.

Enough of that sappy stuff — here’s some pictures from the party!

Negra enjoying some fun forage boxes (that look like Rubix cubes) made by Patti, and filled with pieces of chow:

Foxie:

Annie:

Jamie, looking very regal as the boss should:

Jody, taking a huge mouthful of watermelon:

Burrito, mid-food squeak:

The birthday girl herself, Missy:

And lastly, some of the ’80s gear on us humans (Diana was taking the picture, but she was also decked out, and somehow J.B. stayed out of the photo even though he was wearing an awesome pink headband)

From left to right: Jackie, volunteers Jennifer and Patti, Elizabeth, Sarah, and myself (Debbie)

Thank you so much to Robbi & Dick Brown and Patti for the fun enrichment, to all that have been so supportive and donated the amazing amounts of produce we were able to freeze for the party, and everyone that has been so willing to offer their help as we cope with the effects of the fire. And of course, to all of Missy’s pals!

Take Action: Good news for CJ, and how to help Crystal

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I am shocked it’s already Friday! With Foxie’s birthday being this week and our (successful!) fundraising drive, this week’s Take Action Tuesday post was a little delayed—but not forgotten!

Last month, we were once again reminded about the tragedy behind keeping chimpanzees as pets. CJ and Buddy, two pet chimps from Las Vegas, escaped from their backyard cage. Though CJ survived the ordeal, Buddy was sadly shot to death. Chimpanzees are not safe as pets, and they can and will bite. They are capable of terrible damage, as seen from the infamous incident with Travis and Charla Nash a few years ago.

Thankfully, last week CJ’s owners decided the best thing for her would be to send her to a reputable sanctuary that would be dedicated to providing quality lifetime care. Chimps, Inc. has agreed to take CJ and give her a home where she can be with other chimpanzees and live in an environment that will fit her needs.

This is great news for CJ, but it is also a reminder of the remaining chimpanzees in the U.S. that are kept as pets and used for entertainment purposes. Chimpanzees are portrayed on TV and in movies as cute and cuddly attractions, which seriously misinforms the public about the true nature of these beings and perpetuates the pet trade.

This problem is not just unique to chimpanzees—monkeys are also very prominent in the media, and it is estimated that thousands of monkeys are kept as pets in this country. Unfortunately, NBC is planning on airing an entire series featuring a capuchin monkey, Crystal, in their upcoming premiere of Animal Practice. Although the show doesn’t start until the fall, NBC is airing a special sneak preview episode immediately following the closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games on Sunday night. Please don’t watch it, and tell your friends not to also! Read this Action Alert to find out how you can speak up for Crystal. Post on the show’s Facebook page, send tweets to your followers telling them not to watch it, and send an email to the Chairman of NBC expressing your feelings about the exploitation of Crystal.

Sadly, this show will only perpetuate the unfortunate pet trade when people watch a monkey living with a human for a companion. The truth is that their complex social, psychological, and physical needs simply cannot be met in a human environment. Nonhuman primates are not meant for our world, and captivity is never an ideal place for any monkey or ape. Take Action today to help Crystal (and join our mailing list, too, to get alerts right in your inbox).

Bouncy Bridge!

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The other day, volunteers from the Boy Scout Troop 336 from Federal Way finished up a fun bouncy bridge (I can speak from experience because Jackie and I just had to, for safety reasons of course, test it out. There is no video of that, however). The video we have is a combination of footage we took from the chimp house and also the chimps’ view from the GoPro camera. Thanks so much to the Boy Scouts for putting this together! I can’t wait to see wild games of chase on the bouncy bridge.

Burrito and his popper toy

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All the chimps have been in great moods today! (Check out the status update I posted this morning on our Facebook timeline).

Burrito spent probably an hour non-stop playing with this popper toy. He kept pushing it—with his hands and even on his head! He sat on it, carried it around with him, and seemed to be really enjoying himself. It was pretty hard to focus on getting the front rooms clean when we had to pause every couple minutes to laugh and be goofy with him.

Take Action Tuesday: GAPCSA Progress

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As you may have heard last week, thanks to all the public support for the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee favorably approved the bill (S. 810). This is a huge step forward, but we aren’t done yet! Though GAPCSA has been approved by the committee, it has not passed in the Senate—yet. With your support, we can move even farther ahead in helping release chimpanzees from invasive biomedical research. Visit Project Release & Restitution’s website to find details on how to keep the ball rolling.

Pea tendrils

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About a year ago, volunteer Connie brought over some pea plants for the chimps. They were a huge hit, so this summer she brought some more from her garden! Today they had a big pea shoot and tendril forage.

Jamie and Negra with the tendrils:

Jamie:

Jamie was taking the peas and spitting them out, and eating only the pods plus the shoots and tendrils. You can see the pea “rejects” on the floor in the background of this picture of Negra:

Negra looking in a tendril-filled boot:

Chimps have big mouth pouches and they sometimes munch fibrous foods all together to get out as much flavor as possible. We call this a “wadge.” Here’s Annie with a pea plant wadge:

Thanks again, Connie!