Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Diana

Seattle store Urbanweeds is our new best friend

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This post is from Lauren Glickman, CSNW board member and event coordinator extraordinaire

A warm thank you to our friends at Urbanweeds, Steve and Tim, for hosting a Weeds and Needs benefit to help us! They donated 25% of their day’s tally – and we raised a whopping $400. We had a gorgeous sunny Saturday where people came by to shop for spring plants, planters and fun gifts as well as dropping off sheets and blankets for our Great Chimpanzee Nest Request. Urbanweeds has generously agreed to be a drop-off location for blankets so the chimpanzees always have plenty of nesting Lauren of CSNW and Steve or Urbanweeds all smiles over the successful sale!materials.

Thank you so much to everyone who made this a great success – and we hope to do it again at the end of the summer – so keep your eyes open for our announcement.

Mushy post about Negra

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I’ve wanted to write this for a while, but I’ve been trying to figure out a way to write it so that it doesn’t sound so mushy that people think it is out of character for me. I think I’m just going to go for it, though…

I’m in love with Negra. It started when I met her in December, but when J.B. and I visited last month, I fell harder. There was this moment when the bars of the caging seemed to disappear. It was as though Negra and I were no longer in the basement of a laboratory with me wearing a tyvex suit and plastic face shield. It was just the two of us sharing the experience of looking into each others eyes. So, like anyone newly in love, I want to tell everyone I know about her and explain why she is so special.

She has a very calm and gentle demeanor, but she’s also clearly emotionally strong and independent. She currently spends most of her days sleeping, although she’ll get up for food. Food is one of the few pleasures that she has in her current life, and she’ll take whatever is offered to her. She has the best relaxed face that I have ever seen – her bottom lip drops so low it practically touches her chest. We don’t have any photos yet, but I’m sure we’ll be able to get a good one of Negra’s drooped-lip face once she is safely in her new home at CSNW.

After observing me playing with some of the other chimpanzees, Negra came down off of her ledge. That’s when she won me over. She just looked at me for a while at first. After sizing me up, she got up and started to play a good, although rather slow, game of chase. It probably only lasted for a couple of minutes, but it was fantastic – a great indication that she has good days ahead of her at the sanctuary. She went back to her concrete ledge, but continued to watch me. When it was time for us to go, I said goodbye to Negra. She returned my goodbye by playfully stomping her foot on the wall from her position laying down.

I can’t wait to see her again.

Diana

Missy & Annie

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J.B. and I had our second visit with the Buckshire Seven this past weekend. On our last visit, there were two chimpanzees who were rather aloof and mostly stayed in the background – Missy and Annie. This visit was quite the opposite.

After we were there for a bit and we had given out some kale (which Missy loves) and dried fruit, Missy engaged in a lot of play with us – stomping her feet and slapping her hands against the old tire that hangs in her cage. Once Annie saw Missy playing, she joined in too. It wasn’t long before they were playing with each other – their foreheads pressed together and their arms wrapped around each other, then separating and slapping each others hands, arms and shoulders. It feels really good to “transfer” play sessions this way, and I think it’s always a subconscious goal of mine to help foster play between chimpanzees. As I was watching Annie and Missy play I was imagining them in their new home in Cle Elum; I was picturing them on a platform in front of one of the windows laughing that breathy chimpanzee laugh and tickling each other.

ABC News story about Chimpanzees in Entertainmnet

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Yesterday an article written by Ashley Phillips entitled “Scientists Criticize Use of Chimps in Media” was published. The full article is available here. Below are some excerpts:

Constantly using chimps for laughs leads the TV- and movie-viewing public to mistakenly believe that the animals aren’t an endangered species, a group of scientists that includes Jane Goodall said this week in Science.

In 2005 and 2006, two separate studies conducted by two different conservation organizations found the same thing: Visitors were more likely to believe that gorillas and orangutans were endangered than chimps. When asked why, the visitors all pointed to the use of chimps in the media.

This is obviously an issue that is very important to us, and this research illustrates one reason why it is wrong to use chimpanzees in entertainment. There are many other reasons which directly affect the individuals being used. Please visit primatepatrol.org to learn more and to sign up for action alerts. If you’re already signed-up, let us know about your advocacy on behalf of apes in entertainment.

Chimpanzee “Retirement” on This American Life

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If you have eleven minutes right now, listen to the last segment of Ira Glass’ This American Life episode #350 here. This segment, called Almost Human Resources, is with Charles Siebert, a reporter who is a contributing writer for the New York Times. The subject of the interview is “retirement homes” for chimpanzees! Siebert does a really good job of articulating some of the problems of using chimpanzees for human purposes, including their use in the entertainment industry. It is so great to hear this issue within a fairly mainstream setting (hopefully that’s not an insult to the program) with a remarkable amount of depth considering the rather light-hearted beginning to the topic. Siebert is apparently finishing up a book he has written about chimpanzees in retirement called “Humanzee.”

Towards the end of the interview, Ira asks Siebert what he thinks about this so-called “retirement” for chimpanzees once used in research and entertainment and Siebert replies, “I’ve come to feel that it’s the best we can do for them given the circumstances, but, in the best of worlds, it shouldn’t have happened. They shouldn’t have been kidnapped from their lives for these purposes…”

I couldn’t have said it better.

 Diana

Malt & Vine Beer Tasting Event

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I recently made a trip out to Seattle and Cle Elum to visit the sanctuary site and meet all of the fantastic people involved with Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. I just happened to coordinate my trip so that I could attend CSNW’s Cheers to Chimps Wild Beer Tasting Benefit that was held at the Malt & Vine in Redmond. It was so much fun! I am a fan of beer (in moderation, of course) and I’ve tried all kinds of beers from all over the world, but never before setting foot in the Malt & Vine had I heard of chipotle ale. That was one of seven beers that Doug and Lizzie, the fabulous proprietors of Malt & Vine, picked out. They chose seven unique beers to match the seven chimpanzees who will soon be living at CSNW.

This photo is of CSNW founder Keith LaChapelle (wearing the 98.76% chimp shirt) with friend Todd Foley. Click on the photo to get a better look – I just found out that Keith was voted “best smile” in high school (hopefully revealing that tidbit won’t end my blogging privileges!).

Even more than the beer (and even Keith’s smile), what made the night were the people who attended. If you haven’t already, take a look at the people involved with CSNW. They’re impressive on paper, and pretty fun in person to boot. I also really enjoyed meeting CSNW supporters who attended the event. It’s fascinating to learn how people became interested in chimpanzees and how they discovered CSNW. It was great to be able to talk to people about Annie, Burrito, Foxie, Jamie, Jody, Missy, and Negra, and I look forward to getting to know many more supporters and telling more stories about these seven individuals who have so many friends already.

Diana

Jody’s Eyes

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This post was written by J.B., who also visited the chimpanzees at Buckshire in December.

The first thing that struck me about Jody, besides her diminutive size, was her gaze. She has large, soulful eyes that follow you intently. Though Jody is an active member of her social group, she is keenly interested in the comings and goings of the humans around her.

Jody was born in 1975. Little is known about her life prior to Buckshire, but it is believed that she was used in a circus. Like most chimpanzees in entertainment, she was discarded when she was no longer useful, and sold to a laboratory. There, she would spend decades as a breeder, producing yet another generation of chimpanzees for research. Jody eventually had 7 babies, each taken from her shortly after birth. For a chimpanzee mother, there is no greater tragedy than the loss of a child.

At Buckshire, Jody spends most of her time with her friends Foxie and Burrito. She has earned a reputation as a troublemaker, and if she needs someone to get into trouble with, Jamie is all too eager to help. But for the most part, Jody would rather play with her friends, and we eagerly anticipate the day when the chimpanzees can play together in their new home.

J.B.