Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
Today was sponsored by Janet Henry in honor of her daughter, Shannon Noble’s, birthday! It’s Janet’s wish to celebrate Shannon and her love and compassion for not only the chimpanzees, but for all animals. Janet, what a lovely way to honor your daughter. Thank you both so much for caring about the chimpanzees and including them in your special day. Shannon, on behalf of the chimpanzees, we hope your day is full of pant hoots and food grunts! Happy Birthday!!
Negra’s favorite spot is typically her nest which she builds every day up on the catwalk in the playroom. This is a narrow walkway around the upstairs perimeter of the playroom. Negra builds a big, fluffy nest next to the window that overlooks the neighboring fields and valley. From this vantage point she also can easily see the comings and going from the kitchen to the chimp area and I always look up and greet her as I pass by. Negra will often throw out her arm toward us or nod her head in greeting and seems content to keep her interaction at that (unless you are dancing for her, but that’s another story). The other day I passed by and glanced up to greet Negra, but she wasn’t there. All of a sudden, she came running (well, running Negra style) across the playroom toward me and stuck her lips outside the caging to ask for a kiss. (We offer the back of our hands to the chimpanzees if they want to kiss or tickle us, but for safety never cross the caging).
Now sometimes Negra offers us kisses, but sometimes Negra also feigns offering kisses and pokes and threat barks at us instead. Yes, Negra. It can be hard to tell when Negra is happy. Just like us, sometimes she’s just grumpy and sometimes it understandably might be something more. Negra was captured in the wild, we believe in 1973, but possibly earlier, and then spent over three decades in biomedical research. She has also been part of a study of post-traumatic stress disorder in former laboratory chimpanzees. So in short, even though Negra sometimes initiates interactions with her caregivers, you never know what response you may get in return.
But on this occasion, much to my delight, Negra not only offered me several kisses, she also presented her back for a knuckle rub. Now this is even dicier territory. Negra is particularly sensitive to touch and sometimes it triggers reactions that appear to be PTSD related. And even though she asks for you to rub her back, she sometimes responds by screaming or threat barking at you as soon as you touch her. These incidents are truly heartbreaking. Especially when you think about what life traumas she has experienced to evoke these responses, and even more so when you feel responsible for having triggered them. So holding my breath, I very slowly and gently knuckle rubbed her back as I spoke to her. Not only did she remain calm, but continued to ask for more!
And so it went between Negra and I for several minutes. Negra asking for kisses, back rubs, and even head rubs. And then…….Negra reached out to tickle the back of my hand and LAUGHED! Complete with a play face and droopy lip! I will tell you right now I got tears in my eyes. Not because I was so honored to experience this rare moment with Negra (though of course, I was), but because it seemed to be one more step toward healing for her. One more step toward peace and her confident chimpanzee self.
Wow. I can’t believe Annie is 39 today! It’s an honorary birthday, because we don’t know exactly when Annie was born. She was captured from Africa and used in biomedical testing for over three decades before coming to CSNW.
Today, we celebrated her freedom from the lab by throwing two parties—first in the greenhouse, we set up a small forage of peanuts and primate chow along with perfect party decor including a cupcake piñata. Then at lunch, volunteers Denice and Joel and myself set up a pretty cool forage on the hill… we dug holes in the ground and “planted” whole veggies—carrots with the greens, whole cabbage plants, beets, and some green onions (Annie’s favorite)!
I never tire of seeing all the chimps out on Young’s Hill, knowing that now they have the chance to have grass under their feet and sun on their backs. It’s something that Annie hadn’t experienced since her infancy before coming to the sanctuary. And today they not only got to forage for their food like chimps do in the wild, but they also got to “harvest” their own plants to enjoy!
Party #1 – in the greenhouse
Annie’s cupcake piñata:
Jamie grabbed it first:
But quickly moved on, leaving it for Annie!
Burrito found a sock with a box of nuts in it:
Party #2 – garden forage on Young’s Hill
Volunteers Denice and Joel helped with the planting:
Jody really loved the garden forage. She cleaned up! Here she’s carrying her bounty with her:
And enjoying cabbage in the greenhouse:
Foxie found some chow pieces to munch on:
Missy collected a bunch of food:
She enjoyed some on the shaky bridge, but then took the rest into the greenhouse with her. Negra didn’t come out for the forage (she was much more comfortable in her nest!) but Missy, being such a good friend, brought some carrots and green onions for Negra to enjoy. Negra also picked up some cabbage scraps, so she got basically the same food at the harvesters outside. Why should the Queen have to go work in the garden anyway, when others will just bring her the goods? 🙂
And Annie grabbed all the beets:
Which gave her “beet lipstick”
Help keep the birthday celebrations going on all week! FLOAT (For Love of All Things) has created a unique clothing design, and for this week only, for every sale they make they will donate $8 to Annie and everyone else at CSNW. Please share the site on Facebook and forward to your friends! The proceeds for CSNW only last until the end of the day on Sunday, September 15th. So hurry and get your shopping in now!
One of our guest bloggers, Dr. Sheri Speede, has a great new book released today called Kindred Beings: What Seventy-Three Chimpanzees Taught Me About Life, Love and Connection. Be sure to check it out! Sheri will be doing a book signing tour, and will be stopping in nearby Seattle on October 10th at the Elliott Bay Book Company. We’ll post reminders about the book signing on our Facebook page—you definitely don’t want to miss the chance to meet with Sheri.
You might recall Sheri’s post on Jacky. Here’s an excerpt from her new book about a chimpanzee named Nama.
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Sheri Speede’s first interaction with adult female chimpanzee Nama, who was tethered by a five foot chain around her neck for 16 years . . .
As I walked slowly within her reach, she took my arm, and I allowed her to pull me in close to her. I sat down beside her in the wet dirt, trying to avoid the diarrhea. She looked at my face curiously for a few moments, glancing at my eyes but not really looking into them. She was inspecting me, rather than trying to communicate. After a minute or two, her hand hovered in front of my face, and she began smacking her mouth open and closed rhythmically. Understanding that she was about to groom me reassured and relaxed me, but her fingers on my face were not really so gentle. She was digging at the corners of my eyes in a way I didn’t enjoy. I turned my face away. When I looked back at her, she perused my face again briefly, and then tried picking my nose with a finger that smelled of feces. I turned away again. I clacked my own mouth and tried to groom her face, but she didn’t like it either. She turned her head to escape my hand as I had done with hers. This wasn’t going perfectly.
Finally, when I lowered my hands to groom her chest, she pushed her shoulders back and straightened her neck to give me good access. I moved both my hands over her chest the way I thought another chimpanzee would—parting the grayish hairs, flicking off dirt particles, gently scratching at blemishes on skin stretched tautly over easily discernable ribs. After about 10 minutes, Nama lowered her head and returned her chest and shoulders to normal posture. When I looked up to see what she wanted to do next—not more face grooming, I hoped—her eyes were seeking mine with a desire to communicate that startled me. While she held my gaze, she took my right hand and placed it purposefully on the chain around her bony neck, rubbed bare of hair by the shackle. Her lower lip hung open, and her eyes were steady, beseeching. She was requesting the freedom she needed most of all and was expecting no less than simple action as an answer from a friend. All I could give her was a promise that she couldn’t understand, although I meant it with all my heart.
“Nama, I will take that chain off of you, just as soon as I am able to. I will never rest a single day until I do.”
Nama on her chain she wore for 16 years. Photo © Sheri Speede.
Niete and Nama (standing on right) greeting each other at Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee Rescue Center. Photo © Agnes Souchal.
Pick up a copy of Kindred Beings today!
Today was sponsored by Madelaine Thompson in memory of her dad, Robert C. Thompson. Madelaine shared the following sentiments:
“My dad and mom welcomed strays and rescue pets into our household from the time I was a baby. At times, pets outnumbered humans – and there were nine kids! I am ever grateful for his compassion and sense of humor in dealing with the challenges and rewards of a chaotic, loving household.”
Madelaine, thank you so much for including the chimpanzees with such lovely memories of your family. What a generous and compassionate way to honor your dad. Something tells me he would have appreciated the chimpanzees’ household!
Everyone needs a good laugh… sometimes it takes friends to get a smile out of us, and other times we can make ourselves crack up.
A U.S. company called Herakles Farms is planning to begin a palm oil plantation in Cameroon near the border of Nigeria. Chimpanzees and gorillas live in these forests, and in fact the most endangered subspecies of each ape are living in that region. The Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee population (a.k.a. Elliot’s chimpanzee) is estimated to be approximately 3,500 individuals remaining. The Cross River gorilla population is estimated to be fewer than 300 individuals.
Endangered chimpanzees, forest elephants, and monkeys all live within the Herakles Farms concession. These already diminishing populations need our help!
This form letter has been put together to make it very easy for us to lend our voice in support of the apes, courtesy of Greenpeace. Although it is very convenient to just fill in your name and email and hit “send”—it really helps to make your letter unique. Tell the CEO of Herakles Farms why it is important to you that their plans for a palm oil plantation in Cameroon be canceled immediately.
We know from the plight of orangutans in Southeast Asia that palm oil directly negatively affects their population, sometimes driving orangutans and other forest dwellers to starvation when their homes are slashed and burned to the ground to make room for the plantations. In your day-to-day life, try to be a conscious consumer and avoid palm oil where you can. You can help be an advocate for apes every day by taking this extra effort to check the ingredient list of products you buy!
After sending your letter, take a few minutes to watch the second installment of a video interview with Dr. Debra Durham, where she talks a little bit about her conservation efforts with wild chimpanzees. Her current project is called Compassion in Action Mushroom Project (it’s a really innovative plan to help protect wild chimpanzees—be sure to check it out!)
