Today I discovered a new game with Foxie. I was having difficulty throwing her troll doll back to her (some days my aim is just off), so I put it in a sock and tossed it up, my thought being that she would have more to grab on to. It worked like a charm, and Foxie actually really liked the sock! She almost immediately flung it over her neck, walked down the stairs and began playing with it in front of the mirror. I am sure other chimpanzees have done this before, but it was the first time I have personally seen a chimp play in front of a mirror. She was so enamored with her own reflection playing, that she completely ignored Missy’s attempts to get her attention. For the rest of the day, Foxie carried around the sock, sometimes in her hand, sometimes over her shoulders, and once on the top of her head. Every once in a while she would go back to the mirror and play.
animal protection
NY Times op-ed by Charles Siebert
One year ago, before the Cle Elum Seven arrived at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, I posted a blog entry with a link to a radio interview with Charles Siebert on This American Life.
Today, Siebert had an op-ed printed in the New York Times entitled Something Wild. Here is an excerpt:
There is something about chimpanzees — their tantalizing closeness to us in both appearance and genetic detail — that has always driven human beings to behavioral extremes, actions that reflect a deep discomfort with our own animality, and invariably turn out bad for both us and them.
Siebert uses specific examples of chimpanzee individuals to illustrate humans’ uncomfortable relationship with our closest evolutionary relatives, and our stubborn desire to make them fit into our concepts of of who they are, which manifest not from observing and appreciating chimpanzees as a distinct species, but from our attempts to make them our human-like playthings as “pets” and “entertainers” or human surrogates in biomedical research.
Siebert explains what I have observed of captive chimpanzees – they live in a world of lost identity. They did not have the opportunity to grow up within a chimpanzee culture, but they cannot fit into our human culture either, no matter how hard we try to force them to.
Sanctuaries like Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest try to make the best out of the inherently unjust situation of captivity. We allow the chimpanzees to be who they are, which is sometimes a strange mix of learned “human” behaviors and a renewed expression of their instinctual chimpanzee selves. Our deepest hope is that we can provide for those in our care while working to ensure that one day sanctuaries like ours will not be necessary because chimpanzees will no longer be used for human purposes.
Watch Nightline Tonight!
Please be sure to tune in to Nightline tonight for a very important story about how chimpanzees are treated in laboratories. I just previewed some of the footage and it’s heartbreaking. Knowing Jamie, Burrito, Foxie, Negra, Annie, Missy and Jody were in similar facilities… There are no words!
Today Show spot
Sarah, CSNW’s Executive Director, was the expert voice on a segment on the Today Show this morning about chimpanzee pet ownership. The segment spent a great deal of time with a pet owner in Montana who has two male chimpanzees around six years old. These chimpanzees were bought from the same breeder who sold Travis, the chimpanzee who attacked Charla Nash in Connecticut last month and was killed because of the attack. The young chimpanzees in Montana, Connor and Kramer, recently escaped their enclosure and bit a woman.
Their owner has admitted in a public hearing that the chimps have bitten up to 40 people. She allowed the Today Show crew to be in the living room with the chimpanzees while filming. Clearly, this is a tragedy just waiting to happen. Just like Travis’ owner, Connor and Kramer’s “mother” may indeed love “her” chimpanzees, but she is not considering the best interest of them or of her community. Connor and Kramer need to be placed in a sanctuary before it is too late.
After watching the clip, please contact the Today Show and thank them for including expert opinion and encourage them to delve into that opinion deeper for future shows. There are many chimpanzee experts out there who will explain, as Sarah did, that chimpanzees do not belong in human homes and do not belong in entertainment. Jane Goodall recently wrote an excellent article on the subject for the L.A. Times.
A few Valentine’s photos
Here are a few shots of the day. The first is Jody with a treat enrichment that Robbi made – Robbi is an expert chimpanzee party-planner and brought lots of great stuff over. The second is Burrito enjoying Pam’s heart-shaped banana bread. He REALLY enjoyed it. The third photo is Jamie getting a new toy out of a bag that Robbi brought. Even though, as the KIMA piece showed, we do have a lot of toys, variety is important and fun new toys are appreciated by the chimpanzees.
early Valentine’s gift from Wigt Printing
This was a Valentine’s card we received from W.I.G.T. printing today! The calling cards that they printed for us (from a design by our volunteer graphic designer Kim) are really great. So great, that I want all of you to have a chance to get some to pass around. They are smaller than a business card, and perfect for giving to people that you talk to about the Cle Elum Seven or leaving in little stacks at friendly businesses. I’ll make them available through our online store soon.
Here are the cards:
and on the back of the Jody card:
There are three cards – Jody (above) and Negra and Burrito (below)
Negra
We just received a new lens for one of the cameras we’ve been using to take photos in the chimp house – the lens was a gift purchased of our amazon.com wish list!
I’ve had a soft spot for Negra ever since I met her at Buckshire (see this old post), and I think she is the most photogentic chimpanzee I have ever met. These photos were taken using the new lens. Negra has a tendency to look a bit sad or thoughtful in photos, but moments after the last photo was taken she was nodding her head happily as I danced for her (she loves to watch us dance and be silly).
