Diana

The Crazy Continues… but you can do something

July 24, 2025 by Diana

You may have seen that Tonia Haddix, the main subject of the documentary Chimp Crazy, was in the news again recently.

Even if you didn’t watch the HBO series, you may have heard about Tonia testifying under oath that Tonka, a chimpanzee in her care, had died and she had helped cremate his body. In dramatic fashion, the filmmakers of Chimp Crazy reveal that Tonka was actually being held in the basement of Tonia’s home.

Thankfully, Tonka is now living in a social group at Save the Chimps sanctuary in Florida, where many of the children and siblings of the chimpanzees at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest also live.

According to records from PETA, there’s a good chance that newly rescued George is Tonka’s half-brother!

But that’s not why I’m writing this.

Incredibly, the reason that Tonia is in the news again is because she was found to be hiding another missing chimpanzee in her home. I really wish all of this was a made up story. But it’s not.

Tonia Haddix is clearly a very disturbed individual. And yet, she was able to be responsible for the lives of multiple chimpanzees and held a license for years to display, buy, sell, and transport primates and other animals, even after the Chimp Crazy documentary aired. Many of the primates she was “brokering”, as seen in the documentary and more recently on Tonia’s social media profiles (which I don’t suggest you visit because it will only increase their reach and her celebrity), are very young infants. Removing infant primates from their mothers to sell to private owners is something that is still legal to do.

I’m glad that there are now serious charges against her, but her story and profession points to a lack of oversight, a need for better laws and better and quicker enforcement of existing (rather weak) animal welfare regulations.

Which brings me to why I am writing this.

We are re-launching our advocacy program, Primate Patrol, and we want you to be a part of it.

Please check out this short survey to let me know if you are interested in being a part of Primate Patrol and advocating for primates.

And if you want to deep-dive into Chimp Crazy, Andy Gray of the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance and I co-hosted discussions via zoom after each episode of Chimp Crazy aired. The four videos are still available to view on our YouTube channel.

Video of Gordo’s 37th Birthday Celebration & Happy Birthday Betsy Cow

July 20, 2025 by Diana

Ellen posted photos of the Christmas in July celebration for Gordo yesterday, and I had the privilege of putting together the video today of clips that Ellen and others captured while preparing for and during the grand celebration.

I think I know mine, but what’s your favorite moment in the video?

Today happens to be Betsy‘s 18th birthday! The cows celebrated with some homemade applesauce, and it was reported that they loved every last tongue-full of it!

Betsy is a wonderful sentry and protector of her little herd, and was such a great mom to her son Nutmeg, who passed away at the sanctuary last year.

She is also the friendliest cow with us humans.

There’s so much I love and admire about Betsy’s personality. I hope we get to share many more years with her and with Gordo at the sanctuary.

Summer’s Bounty

July 13, 2025 by Diana

I took the video of giving Jamie currants. When I sat down to put it together this afternoon, I looked at Kelsi’s blog post from yesterday and realized were were on the same wavelength. So, read about “The Jamie Tax” from Kelsi, and watch today’s video to see it in action.

Spa Day

June 29, 2025 by Diana

I don’t know if Betsy, Meredith, or Honey would call it a spa day, but they did get their nails done followed by some bonding and a wonderful meal.

Betsy might have even given herself a mud facial if she noticed that nice mud by the creek that she likes

Introducing Introductions. Again!

June 22, 2025 by Diana

A few years ago, when we were embarking upon introducing Honey B, Willy B, and Mave to the Lucky Six, Anthony (who is no longer a staff member but was coincidentally here today as a volunteer, meeting George for the first time) wrote a thoughtful blog post about the complications of introductions.

Because we are planning on introducing George to members of the Lucky Six in the coming weeks, it seemed like a good time to share Anthony’s blog post again, which you can read here.

I also thought it was important to set some expectations about how we may or may not be sharing the details of these introductions.

Introductions can be a challenge for staff and chimpanzee alike. We don’t want you to expect to be kept apprised of every pair-wise introduction that George is involved in as we embark on this process. For sure, we will share – it’s in our nature to do so and this blog certainly has gotten us in the habit of providing daily information.

In order to honor this process and George’s in-limbo status (no animal welfare charges have yet been brought against George’s former owner), we will be less synchronous with our updates, and trust that you will appreciate how taxing the introduction process can be. We will of course share updates in time!

On Resiliency

June 15, 2025 by Diana

Our big celebrations on June 13th got me thinking, once again, about resiliency.

I was thinking about Negra and Terry and their resiliency, and the incredible resiliency we have witnessed in all of the chimpanzees who arrived seventeen years ago after decades of use in biomedical research.

This was the first time Animal Sanctuary Caregivers Day fell on June 13th, so that caused me to think about the resiliency that is required of caregivers who work in animal sanctuaries.

The caregivers at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest are incredible human beings in all regards and would be regardless of where they worked. Working as a caregiver, however, has a way of testing a person in numerous ways.

A lot of what caregivers do is very physical work, so being in good physical shape and bouncing back from inevitable injuries becomes more important than in other occupations.

Keeping in shape mentally and emotionally is perhaps even more important.

Caregivers are faced with many challenges in a given day that are often decisions that don’t have right or wrong answers. Caregivers are constantly weighing different welfare considerations against each other (for example, do I take more time scrubbing to provide an extra clean environment or do I do a quick clean so the chimpanzees can have access to the space sooner?). Living in gray areas can be uncomfortable, and it takes a lot of communication and ability to see fellow caregivers’ perspectives to avoid misunderstandings or division.

That’s just the day to day. Then there are the really big events like chimpanzees getting injured, sick or passing away that is part of the job of a caregiver. There’s the worry and grief and doubt that comes with that, and then there’s having to continue on with the daily routines for the sake of those who are still relying on that daily care.

It’s a joyful, uplifting, satisfying job; and it’s a hard job. There’s no way to do it long term without developing resiliency.

Huge kudos and gratitude and admiration and love to all of our caregivers at the sanctuary, our current staff especially, and also all of our past staff and volunteer caregivers. I have learned, and continue to learn, so much from all of you. I truly and deeply appreciate all that your bring and give to this work.

The chimpanzees are able to be their amazing selves and build their resiliency every day because of you. It’s a loop of resiliency from them to you and back again, and it spreads outward from there.

In addition to hundreds of other moments, today Negra was able to forage on Young’s Hill and bring some celery to the greenhouse to crunch, on her 6,207th day of sanctuary.