Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

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Upcoming guest bloggers

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I’m pretty excited to announce that we’re going to be featuring some guest bloggers who work with apes in the wild! Our mission at the sanctuary is to provide quality lifetime care for the Cle Elum Seven, but also to advocate for apes everywhere. If you’re signed up for our Take Action list, you’ve probably received some action alerts from Eyes on Apes before. These are usually for issues that our nonhuman ape cousins face close to home, like the entertainment, pet, and biomedical industries.

Free-living apes are facing a whole different set of issues. In Africa their habitat is slowly being torn down, and the logging roads create access for hunters to easily hunt chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos, and a whole slew of other exotic animals and sell their meat on the black market (it’s called the bushmeat trade). In Southeast Asia, orangutans are losing much of their habitat to palm oil plantations and other agricultural development.

From afar, there’s only so much detail we can provide—but those who are right there witnessing these issues can paint a very different picture. Our goal is to have them tell their stories, and help us to help our closest living relatives who are literally facing extinction.

We already have folks lined up for this exciting project: Dr. Cleve Hicks (former graduate student at the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute just down the road) who is now working with apes in the Bili Forest in central Africa; Dr. Debra Durham who is currently in east Africa and has expertise in both captive and free-living issues (you might remember this article about PTSD in ex-biomedical lab chimps, including Negra); and Dr. Zarin Machanda who met JB and Diana at the Fauna Foundation years ago, and has worked with chimpanzees in east Africa. Stay tuned for these stories with great information coming very soon!

Here’s a photo of Negra, who now gets to have sunshine, friends, and choices after being stolen from Africa and used in biomedical research for decades. Let’s raise awareness about others like Negra still in labs, and for her relatives in Africa that need our help. Share this video and subscribe to the blog if you haven’t already, so you’ll be sure to get notified of the upcoming guest blogger posts!

web Negra green grass Young's Hill YH IMG_8027

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Guest blog posts:

Resilience and The Landmine Snare by Maureen McCarthy

Along the Bushmeat Highway: Part One, Two, and Three and The FARDC ‘Petting Zoo’ at Bili by Dr. Cleve Hicks

Video interview Part One and Part Two with Dr. Debra Durham (presented as a Take Action Tuesday posts)

Jacky and Nama by Dr. Sheri Speede

Meet the Chimpanzees of Kanyawara and Research at Kanyawara by Dr. Zarin Machanda

Margot and Is successful reintroduction possible? by Dr. Gwendy Reyes-Illg

Why are orangutans endangered in the wild? by Rich Zimmerman

Missy the distractor

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Thanks to Jackie Heinricher of Provitro Biosciences, the chimps have had the pleasure of having bamboo in the greenhouse. Jody has especially appreciated nesting in it. This morning, J.B. planted a couple more really tall plants, and Jody did not hesitate to take advantage of such valuable nesting material. She seemed pretty happy! Katelyn and I were commenting that it was interesting she chose the bamboo over her usual blankets, but Jody is an expert nest-builder and will use all sort of things like paper and straw in addition to blankets.

web jody nest in bamboo GH (dm) IMG_8128

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While Jody was happily building her wonderful nest, Missy decided to interrupt her and try to engage her in play. Missy is able to bring the playful side out in just about anybody, even the generally less playful Jody. She entertained Missy’s need for playing for a little while, and then returned to building the perfect nest. Wait for the end of the video—you’ll see just how content and comfy she looks.

Thanks again Provitro Biosciences!

web missy jody wrestle laugh play bite foot on face GH (dm) IMG_8160

Always on the go

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We all know that Missy is a bundle of energy. She’s got one speed when she’s on Young’s Hill: FAST. She brings a smile to our faces every time she darts back and forth and up and down the hill, because she’s able to exert her energy in a space larger than she ever would have even imagined of in the lab. It’s so hard to try and think of how she was able to contain that energy in the confined space she had for decades. Now, she’s able to run as fast as she can, climb every structure and post, do her acrobatics on the fire hoses, and if she wants, to sit still. Missy is a very great example of how the chimps now have choices.

web Missy climb post Young's Hill YH IMG_8082

web Missy climb post structure Young's Hill YH IMG_8070

web Missy tightrope fire hose shaky bridge Young's Hill YH IMG_7968

web Missy sit on stump Young's Hill YH IMG_8093

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Honoring Apollo

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Debbie Redwine sponsored today in memory of Apollo Chimpanzee. Debbie shared that she was very moved by Sarah Baeckler’s story of the undercover work she did at a Hollywood training facility. Apollo was a young chimpanzee that Sarah worked with at the facility and Debbie wanted to do something to honor his life. As many of you know, Sarah is our former Executive Director. Today Sarah begins her next venture as Director of The North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance (NAPSA) where we know she will continue to improve the lives of captive primates while advocating for all those still in need of a safe haven. Debbie, thank you so much for your compassion and generosity in honoring Apollo and Sarah today!

Apollo Chimp

Take Action Tuesday: Petition to Merck

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EOA take action tuesday

Have you heard about Brandon Wood? He is one of the most active chimpanzee advocates, always working tirelessly to help chimps through petitions, fundraisers, and tabling events. Did I mention he’s just 12 years old? He’s an inspiration! His latest project is a petition to a drug company Merck, a private biomedical testing lab, to stop biomedical testing on chimpanzees. Though the National Institutes of Health is moving toward retiring government-funded chimps in research, there are still many chimps in privately-funded labs. Lend Brandon a hand and help the chimps today by signing his petition! And don’t forget to share it with your friends, too.

brandon letter writing

Spring grass

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Everyone is so happy about the spring grass (the chimps and the caregivers alike!) Just look at how content Jody looks:

web jody green grass YH IMG_6979

And Negra is ecstatic to have an entire 2-acre salad bowl to munch on all day.

web negra eat green grass YH IMG_7019