Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
Stuffed animals aren’t just for snuggling, as Burrito demonstrates. After playfully hitting this teddy bear on the head and throwing it up in the air numerous times, Burrito groomed the teddy bear’s head.
Tomorrow (Monday) is the first day of the International Primatological Society Conference in Edinburgh, Scotland. There is a very important symposium occurring at this conference on August 8th (Foxie’s birthday) – a discussion of the use of chimpanzees in invasive biomedical research. Learn more on the Humane Society of the United States’ website.
Also, the Project R&R site is filled with information about the use of chimpanzees in biomedical research and the work being done to end this practice. It’s shocking what we have put chimpanzees through, including those now (thankfully) living at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.
Volunteer Pam made these raisin logs for the chimps – she drilled holes in the logs and stuffed them with golden raisins. With Jamie’s love of fruit, I’m sure you can guess who got most of the raisins, but the other chimpanzees managed to get some too.
Burrito with raisin log and Jamie pant-hooting in excitement:
Jamie with her collection and Annie looking on:
Here’s a photo of Foxie in front of one of the windows with a raisin log. She managed to get one right away and sequestered herself ‘upstairs’ as Jamie searched for more logs on the floor below (even though you don’t see Trixie in this photo, she’s there – right at Foxie’s feet. Foxie is still carrying her wherever she goes. If you don’t know who Trixie is, you are very behind in the activities of the Cle Elum Seven and you should read some previous posts 🙂
I started to write the post below a few months ago. I didn’t finish it because I thought it might be too much of a downer, but I think it speaks to the question of whether we would allow babies to be born at the sanctuary. To be clear – there is no way we would intentionally bring another chimpanzee into a life of captivity. I have no doubt that some of the chimpanzees at CSNW would love to have a baby to nuture, and it could bring new energy and focus to the group, but the cost is too high. Chimpanzees belong living free in the wild.
It is not possible for the Cle Elum Seven to have the life of free-living chimpanzees for a variety of reasons, the main one being that they would not know how to survive – they were not brought up by other chimpanzees and taught the necessary skills to be a ‘free’ individual. What we can do, with the help of all of you, is do the best we can to provide for them for the rest of their lives in a sanctuary. Thanks to all of you who are doing this and for asking great questions!
Here’s the post I began in April before moving back to Washington to work at CSNW:
It won’t be long before I am in Cle Elum and I will be returning to caring for chimpanzees on a daily basis. After being away from that work for a few years, and spending some time with the Buckshire Seven, I’ve been reflecting about all of the good and bad that comes with caring for chimpanzees in captivity. Sometimes it is really difficult – not just the heartbreak when a chimpanzee dies, or the worry that comes when watching chimpanzees fight with one another, or the concern that arises when a chimpanzee behavior changes – it’s the daily knowledge that neither you nor the chimpanzees should be in that position. When I was at Fauna there were definitely days when I felt much more like a prison guard than a caregiver. And it wasn’t just because there were chimpanzees throwing things at me (a favorite past time of Binky) and spitting to get my attention (or just to get me wet), it was the understanding that chimpanzees simply don’t belong in captivity, but we have no choice but to keep them behind bars, penned by electric fencing, or surrounded by moats for the rest of their lives.
Jamie is always busy doing something – often multiple things at the same time. She definitely gets a lot of use out of the enrichment that we provide, as you can see from this video:
We’ve been going through some older videos we have and I just love this clip of Negra. I was standing on a ladder filming the chimpanzees coming into the playroom for the first time (it was only a little over a month ago!) through one of the windows. Negra saw me and approached, presenting her belly for a little rub. The window where I was is still a favorite spot for Negra – it looks out over the valley. Negra’s expression at the end of this clip is absolutely precious.
