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animal rescue

Beasts of Burden

January 14, 2025 by Chad de Bree

It is really interesting watching the chimpanzees throughout the day. Whether it is onsite at the sanctuary, or checking in on the security cameras. After witnessing all the great moments such play and grooming, and even the bad moments like fights, there really is no other term to describe them other than “family.”

Families play. Families take care of each other. And families fight, whether with each other or side-by-side one another. Though there has been some instability in Cy’s group, which led to our reintegration plan, I still can’t help but to view them as a family unit. Though the fights can be a stress inducing event and seem like it dominates the day, that’s not necessarily the case. The good moments outweigh the bad by a landslide. 

As we moved forward with the reintegration process, we have seen some magnificent moments with the chimps. Though we wish this process would eliminate all the fighting, we are realistic that it won’t stop all of the fighting. Though the real underlying hope is for the fighting to be reduced from the level it was. Personally, I think it’s working. A good chunk of fights we have seen in the past few months have mostly been just screaming and hollering at each other. 

What initiated this train of thought? This photo I took a couple weeks ago:

Willy B (bottom) and Rayne (top) link fingers before lunch service.

One day, when lunch was brought out, Rayne reached toward Willy B for some reassurance, and this was the outcome. To me it looks a lot like the American Sign Language sign for “friends” if two people were to make the sign together. Here is a photo of a memorial of Washoe making that sign at Friendship Park in Ellensburg.

To me it’s kind of a reminder that there is always beauty in a chaotic world.

Here are some other old photos I found on my phone taken over the course of several months.

Willy B

Annie

Terry

Negra

Though these two photos look the same, they were actually taken months apart. The first photo is her perusing through a peanut butter magazine. The second was from Jamieween after she acquired her food.

Lucky

Cy

Mave

Honey B

Jamie’s Group watching TV

That is Foxie and Jamie on the floor, Burrito sitting on the firehose, and Annie waaaaay up top.

Firehose Cube

Yes… That is a firehose with it’s own nest in between Rayne and Lucky. This isn’t the first time either. I have another photo of a different firehose in a different nest on a different day, but couldn’t find it quickly. And the answer to your question, it was Rayne. Both times I seen this, Rayne was close by or it was in the nest with her.

Sanctuary Wildlife

There’s a frog in our pipes.
A baby gopher snake.
A yet to be identified lizard on the human entrance of the Riverview and Oakwood Greenhouses.

Barn Kitty in hunting mode

I know some of you are wondering where I have been for a while. There was always some sense of happiness anytime one of the other caregivers let me know people have been inquiring about my whereabouts. No, I didn’t quit or get fired. No, I wasn’t in a coma. No, I wasn’t off galavanting around the Cascades with Barn Kitty or any of the other wild conspiracies some of some of you had… Though I do wish one of those were the case, especially the BK scenario. 

The uneventful, boring reason is I got injured while working. It happens at any workplace and no matter the safety precaution, these’s always that small chance. Hello, I am that small chance. I have been recovering for a little bit and am starting to ease back into doing full Chimp House duties. It’s been one step at a time but I am ecstatic that the trend is swinging toward the right direction. I also want to emphasize this was NOT chimp related. It was on my own.

I do want to take this time to thank literally everyone. From my amazing fellow caregivers to the co-directors, and yes, even to you, our dedicated, loving blog readers. My fellow caregivers really rose up to continue our same level of care for the chimps and cattle being down one caregiver for such a prolonged time. Hence the title of this blog. They are my beasts of burden. Plus I had happen to be listening to The Rolling Stones when this was typed. I will be forever grateful to them for their strength and determination, as well as understanding that when I did come back, I would have to ease into everything at a slow pace. Or at least it has been slow to my liking. 

I am looking forward to continue caring for the chimpanzees and bovine side-by-side with my team at full capacity when it’s time. Hashtag New Year, New Me.

ONE LAST SUPER BONUS PHOTO

Remember that time Burrito first climbed the tree and nobody was able to get footage of it until later?

I got this when it was announced on the radio that he was in the tree and I was serving lunch to Negra. This is the only known footage of that day!

*Sorry if some of the images maybe repeats or similar to others in the past few months. I forgot who I gave photos to publish for the blog and what photos have been used.

Filed Under: Caregivers, Friendship, Sanctuary Tagged With: animal rescue, Animal Welfare, chimpanzee, chimpanzee rescue, chimpanzee sanctuary, Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, chimpanzees, Sanctuary

A Day of Distractions

June 15, 2024 by Sabrina

Today there were a lot of distractions and side quests that left me short on time for making a well edited blog, so for today’s blog you can check out the short video for footage of our biggest distraction, along with some Burrito shenanigans and check out some bonus photos below!

Lucky enjoying the sights up near the top of the Bray

One of my new favorite photos: Lucky observing the cattle from her comfortable perch on the Bray

We also have a surplus of photos of handsome Gordo enjoying the lunch forage during the Jubilee a couple days ago so I wanted to make sure they got shared!

Don’t forget about our online Sweet Sixteen auction which ends tomorrow at 5pm PT! You still have time to bid on the amazing art pieces that are up for grabs including, my personal favorite, this fun little watercolor “Chipotle Burrito!” which was donated by Megan Senate and features our endearing, fun loving Burrito chimpanzee eating a Chipotle burrito

You can check this painting out as well as all the other amazing paintings, ceramics, photographs, etc here!

 

Filed Under: Burrito Tagged With: animal rescue, Burrito

Lucky Us

October 15, 2022 by Diana

There are chimpanzees in captivity who are front-and-center as soon as you meet them and every day thereafter. Burrito and Jamie, for example.

Then there are chimpanzees who allow others in their group to take the human-liaison role and more often hang out in the background.

Sometimes, this is because they just aren’t that interested in the humans (think Missy). More power to those confident types who just don’t need us bipedal apes (unless there are tomatoes to gather from the garden, of course).

Sometimes, chimpanzees are just shy or apprehensive. I can relate! It might take them more time to warm up to caregivers (think Gordo).

Sometimes, there are chimpanzees who choose certain humans they connect with, while they are pretty ambivalent about other people in their orbit (the best example of this with the chimpanzees I’ve known over the years was Washoe – she had her favorite people, and was SO EXCITED to see them. Everyone else was simply there to wait on her, and the rare occasions when she decided to pay attention to you, if you were not on her favorite list, were thrilling. And she knew this.)

Personally, I’m just not sure about Lucky and where she fits on this spectrum I just made up. She does greet her caregivers with enthusiasm, and seems to be more enthusiastic with certain humans (Jenna may be her human BFF right now).  She’s not front and center like others in her group. She is often at a bit of a distance, observing.

The other day, I felt very privileged to sit down with Lucky for a somewhat extended period of time while she was in the Oakwood Greenhouse.

She quietly sat, wanting to groom my hand, and looked into my eyes. Towards the end of our interaction, she started to look around, like she was searching for something but not finding it.

After a few seconds, she reached over to the bamboo plant next to her and pulled off a leaf. Then, she handed it to me through the caging.

I don’t know what she was thinking when she did this, but it seemed to be a gesture of friendship, and it made my day.

Bonus photos of one of the more gregarious chimpanzees in Lucky’s group. The ever-present Terry:

Filed Under: Caregivers, Friendship, Lucky Tagged With: animal protection, animal rescue, animal rights, Animal Welfare, chimpanzee, chimpanzee rescue, chimpanzee retirement, chimpanzee sanctuary, Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, chimpanzees, friendship, primate protection, primate rescue

Be Like Burrito

October 8, 2022 by Diana

Ya’ll, let me tell you that taking care of chimpanzees in captivity is a job full of stress and worry. But Burrito here, even when you know he can be the instigator of drama, shows us why we do what we do. Enjoy the video and take Burrito’s outlook on life to heart.

 

Filed Under: Burrito, Jody, Party Tagged With: animal protection, animal rescue, Animal Welfare, chimp sanctuary, chimpanzee, chimpanzee rescue, chimpanzee retirement, chimpanzee sanctuary, Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, chimpanzees

Follow Burrito to find out what’s happening today

September 24, 2022 by Diana

It was simply a gorgeous early autumn day today. A perfect day for J.B. to lead a big crew of volunteers. It’s so exciting to see the new outdoor habitats coming together, including trees that were recently planted and transplanted bamboo on both sides!

I was sitting with Gordo yesterday while he was gazing at his side of the hill, The Bray. I think he knows it’s for him and his friends.

Jamie and crew definitely know they will be getting a new space, and they have been watching with great interest.

Well, at least some of them have. Jody had other priorities when I was filming today.

Filed Under: Burrito, Construction, Jody, Latest Videos, Volunteers, Young's Hill Tagged With: animal protection, animal rescue, animal rights, Animal Welfare, chimpanzee, chimpanzee rescue, chimpanzee retirement, chimpanzee sanctuary, Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, chimpanzees, Sanctuary

Ties to LEMSIP

September 17, 2022 by Jenna

Many of you may have noticed, several of our chimpanzees have a common origin story: LEMSIP.

Today, I wanted to scratch the surface on this topic. There is so much more to say about non-human primates in laboratories. Much of this blog is from online sources that I have found while researching LEMSIP, because my personal knowledge is limited. I was blown away by what I found.

LEMSIP stands for the Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery in Primates. LEMSIP was a research facility at New York University, beginning in 1965. The original goal was for LEMSIP to be a federally funded primate research center, although it remained a private laboratory until their closure. At one point, LEMSIP housed around 300 chimpanzees and nearly 300 monkeys, who were subjected to intensive biomedical research in areas such as reproduction, blood transfusions, hepatitis B, and HIV.

Ultimately, LEMSIP shut down in 1998. Many believe one of the contributing factors to the demise of the facility was the revision of caging requirements prescribed by the USDA, which would cost the University roughly $2 million to accommodate.

This made me think…

Back in 2019, I completed a summer internship at fellow sanctuary, Fauna Foundation, located in Canada. During that internship, I heard a lot about LEMSIP, because just like CSNW, many of their chimps had been at that laboratory. Although it has been over three years since my internship, I remember so vividly learning that this (pictured below) was the type of cage the chimps spent their lives in. The “home” they would not leave unless they were anesthetized and used for a biomedical research study.

Photo of cage from LEMSIP, which is on display at Fauna Foundation:

Plaque in front of cage:

“For decades they languished in cages like this

Victims of research

Until the day of their rescue

By a place that would come to be home

FAUNA Foundation

Founded in 1997 for

Annie, Jeannie, Pablo, Donna Rae, Billy Jo, Rachel, Sue Ellen, Binky, Jethro, Regis, Chance, Petra, Pepper, Yoko, and Tom”

At LEMSIP, the majority of the chimpanzees were housed singly in these small cages. It wasn’t uncommon for the chimps who were young enough, to be housed in pairs. But, that was short-lived as chimps grow quickly.

All of the cages hung above the floor. The founding director, Jan Moor-Jankowski, MD believed that “allowing feces and urine to fall out of the cages would maintain a healthier environment, opposed to hosing out the cages, creating dampness – a contributor to the widespread upper respiratory problems in captive primates.”

However, the design ultimately created a permanent foul stench from beneath the caging that the chimpanzees were forced to breathe in every single day.

Chimpanzees were denied any outdoor access because Moor-Jankowski believed that this would limit their germ exposure.

Adult chimpanzees were given little enrichment.

Infant chimpanzees were taken from their mothers and raised by human caregivers (in the “nursery”) to accustom them to being handled for procedures.

Chimpanzee mothers were bred repeatedly so more babies could go into research. None were allowed to raise their children past one year, if at all.

When NYU withheld the funds earmarked for increasing the size of the chimpanzees cages to comply with the updated regulations, Moor-Jankowski filed a complaint against his employer with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) highlighting the deficiencies.

In the early 1990s, the USDA charged NYU with 378 violations of the Animal Welfare Act at a separate university lab. The charges were in regard to water deprivation and other cruel treatment of monkeys used in addiction experiments. The charges stemmed from Moor-Jankowski having revealed information to the USDA about problems at that lab.

In 1995, NYU announced the sudden closure of LEMSIP and that all its primates will be sent to Coulston Foundation, a New Mexico-based toxicology laboratory. NYU made this placement decision despite knowing that the USDA had filed charges against Coulston for the negligent deaths of both chimpanzees and monkeys. Shortly after NYU’s announcement, Moor-Jankowski was fired from his director position of 30 years.

In 1997, around 100 chimpanzees were sent to Coulston Foundation, following the closure of LEMSIP.

However, James Mahoney, D.V.M., Ph.D, LEMSIP’s veterinarian managed to quietly place 109 chimpanzees and 100 monkeys in sanctuaries around North America. Those sanctuaries included Fauna Foundation, Wildlife Waystation, and the Primate Rescue Center.

Picture of Dr. James Mahoney conducting a biomedical procedure at LEMSIP (Source: National Geographic)

Primate Rescue Center says Mahoney approached them asking, “How many chimpanzees can you make room for?”.

In 1998, Coulston Foundation was “awarded” 111 chimpanzees who were deemed “surplus” by the U.S. Air Force.

In 1999, the USDA settled three sets of charges against Coulston with a $100,000 fine and orders to restrict breeding and divest itself of 300 chimpanzees (half of their population) by 2002.

Coulston had many documented USDA welfare violations including temperatures in cages as high as 150 degrees, to botched medical procedures such as experimental spine surgery.

In 2002, most of the LEMSIP chimpanzees that were sent to Coulston years prior, were rescued by Save the Chimps, when it took over Coulston.

However, an unknown number of chimpanzees who remained incarcerated in lab cages, were transferred to the Alamogordo Primate Facility, which is owned by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and operated under contract by Charles River Labs.

“Chimpanzees have not been used in invasive biomedical research – any research that causes injury, pain, or distress – in U.S. laboratories since 2015. But what to do with the former research chimps – and how to pay for their costly lifetime care – is a continuing conundrum.” – National Geographic

In 2015, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed captive chimps as endangered. This meant that research and experimentation could be done on chimps only if the institution could show the work will enhance the survival of chimps in the wild.

Today, five biomedical research facilities across the U.S. hold chimpanzees once used for research that was funded in some part by NIH.

With all of this said, these are all reasons why we do what we do at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest and why sanctuaries are important. We have sixteen chimpanzees who were apart of the biomedical research industry. Their past lives were unfair, to put it simply. Although still in captivity, we hope what we do here everyday for our 16 chimpanzee residents helps make a difference in their lives.

**Special shout out to everyone involved in HOOT! last night. From attending the event in person, participating in the online auction from afar, or heck, even sharing our posts on Facebook…. As always, we appreciate your continued support for Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. We wouldn’t be where we are without you!

Filed Under: Advocacy, Chimp histories, Chimpanzee, Chimpanzees in Biomedical Research Tagged With: animal protection, animal rescue, animal rights, Animal Welfare, chimpanzee, chimpanzee sanctuary, Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, primate rescue

Graze Anatomy

September 12, 2022 by Anthony

Before I dive into today’s blog, I have an exciting update to share: The HOOT! 2022 online auction started today!

You can visit the online-only page to decide which amazing items to bid on. Tickets are still available for the live event which will be held on Friday, Sept. 16 at The Foundry by Herban Feast in Seattle! You can learn more about the event by clicking here and buy tickets here.

We caregivers also enjoy viewing (and occasionally bidding on) items that commemorate our favorite sanctuary residents. Although there are some great chimpanzee-themed items, I must admit that I am quite partial to the plush Cuddle Clone of the Jersey cow, Meredith.

As many of you already know, the pastures that surround the sanctuary’s Chimp House provide a home to four rescued cattle: Betsy, Honey, Meredith and Nutmeg. This little herd helps the sanctuary by consuming vegetation that could potentially fuel wildfires. In turn, we give them food, water, shelter, enrichment, veterinary care, and everything else they need to thrive. Caring for these creatures is often quite different from the work we do with chimpanzees, so I’m taking a moment to share some interesting trivia about the sanctuary’s lovable, living lawnmowers.

  • Domestic cattle (Bos taurus) are often called bovines because they belong to the subfamily Bovinae. This group also includes bison, buffalo, yaks, and other species of wild cattle. Sheep, goats and antelope are their closest living relatives and belong in the same family: Bovidae.

  • The ancestor of all living cattle is the extinct aurochs (B. primigenius). Aurochs once ranged across Eurasia and North Africa and were commonly depicted in prehistoric art (e.g. the Lascaux cave painting shown below). People across the Roman Empire commonly used them in bullfights, but they likely went extinct due to deforestation, over-hunting, and competition with domestic cattle. The last known aurochs cow lived in Poland and died in 1627.

  • Jersey cattle are specifically adapted to life on Jersey, one of the United Kingdom’s Channel Islands. The island’s human inhabitants carefully bred these cattle to yield milk with a high percentage of butterfat, and even prohibited the importation of foreign cattle in order to maintain this quality.
  • Jerseys are not the most popular dairy breed in North America. That title belongs to the black-and-white Holstein-Friesian, which are larger and produce more milk per cow.

  • Newborn cattle are called calves (e.g. newborn Nutmeg with mother Betsy, shown in the Farm Sanctuary photograph above). Immature females are called heifers and are only considered cows after birthing their first calf. Calves gestate for nine months and typically remain dependent on their mother’s milk for ten months before naturally weaning.
  • Ranchers often castrate male calves so they don’t develop into adult bulls, which are difficult to house and manage. Young castrated males are called steers until they eventually mature into fully-grown oxen. Historically, humans utilized oxen as draught animals for pulling plows and carts. Even though they are a relatively small cattle breed (females are usually around 800 pounds), Jersey bulls and oxen can grow up to 1,800 pounds.

  • The glands on cattle noses make distinct patterns that are as unique as human fingerprints.

  • Cattle horns and hooves are bony structures encased in sheaths of keratin, the same protein that makes up human nails and hair. Hooves generally grow ⅕ -¼ of an inch each month. The hooves of domestic cattle must be trimmed periodically to prevent a variety of health issues (below).

  • The common safety practice of horn removal is called polling. The remaining knob is called a poll and any subsequent horn growths are called scurs.

  • Cattle and other ruminants have a complex, multi-chambered stomach that specializes in breaking down fibrous plant matter. They do not have four stomachs. The chambers are called the rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasum (diagram below)  . The rumen alone can hold up to 25 gallons of plant material. Each chamber contains a unique microbiome that is critical for proper digestion and overall health.

  • Cattle regurgitate chunks of semi-digested food called cud. They chew these again before re-ingesting them. This process is called “rumination” or “chewing the cud.” They chew in a conspicuous circular motion, grinding the forage against a leathery dental pad that they develop in place of upper incisors

  • Bovines are quite intelligent and have excellent long-term memories. Experiments show that cattle can discern between individual humans and learn to avoid humans who treat them roughly and trust humans who treat them kindly.

  • Cattle herds are complex societies that regularly split up and reunite (fission-fusion behavior). When not managed by humans, cattle form matriarchal hierarchies where bulls only associate for competition and breeding.

  • Domestic cattle can run up to 17 miles per hour (for short distances).

  • Cattle develop friendships with familiar individuals and reinforce their social bonds through grooming. Their preferred method of grooming is to lick each other with their raspy prehensile tongues (which also help them to grab food).

  • The USDA estimates the current global population of domestic cattle to be over one billion head (individuals), up 13.2 million from the previous year. These populations contribute significantly to anthropogenic climate change. The methane released from cattle ranches accounts for around 14% of global emissions.

  • Red meat consumption peaked in 1976 and has fallen dramatically since, but the average American still consumes around 57.2 pounds of beef each year. Ranching remains a key industry in the communities near the sanctuary (below). Recently, the availability of plant-based meat substitutes, the rising costs of beef production, and the recent drought in the American West may all be contributing to this decline.

Now you’re all prepared to absolutely slay a Jeopardy category on the subject of bovines. You’re welcome.

Don’t forget to check out the HOOT! page to get your bovine collectibles and contribute to their sanctuary home!

Filed Under: Cattle, Farmed Animals, Fundraising Tagged With: animal rescue, animal rights, animal sanctuary, Animal Welfare, chimp, chimpanzee, chimpanzee sanctuary, Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, cows, farm animals, jersey cattle, Sanctuary

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