Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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animal rights

Young’s Hill party forage

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I mentioned earlier on the blog that today is the second anniversary of the opening of Young’s Hill. Watch the video of their first day out here and check out the previous post for some photos of the chimps on that very emotional and moving day!

Today we wanted to celebrate the anniversary in the best way we know how for chimps—a big food forage! The chimps usually are served their meals (so we know that everyone is getting appropriate portions) but a few times a week we do put out a forage for them to do what chimps would do in the wild. In order to scatter the food around and make the forages last for awhile, we usually cut up the food into small chunks so it takes some time for them to find everything.

This time, we not only included a fruit salad of some chopped peaches, raspberries, and grapes, as well as baby carrots and green onions—but we also included WHOLE apples and tomatoes. The chimps were so excited as we headed out to spread the food around! Mixing things up like that keeps the chimps super enriched and happy.

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Everyone really loved all the whole apples and tomatoes! Jody was the first to get a hand (and mouth) full!

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Jamie collected at least four apples:

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Annie:

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Burrito searching for goodies:

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And then taking a quick rest:

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Foxie:

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Missy:

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Thank you so much to everyone who helped with Young’s Hill, and to everyone who has helped the Cle Elum Seven along this amazing and considerable journey!

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Jamie helps flush the drain

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Jamie is always trying to help us get our jobs done the right way. Sometimes she helps scrub the mesh fencing for us, other times she wipes the floor down. She monitors us while we clean, almost as if she is there to make sure we are doing it right!

Yesterday I caught her doing something new: holding down one of the water spigots. I’m not really sure why she was doing it, but it went on for quite awhile! Jamie wasn’t being very environmentally friendly… but she was helping us flush the drain.

In honor of Deb Wagman

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Today was sponsored by Charlie Neath in honor of Deb Wagman. Charlie shared, “I love Wagwoman and what she does!!!!”

Deb is a volunteer caregiver here at the sanctuary and comes all the way up from California every month to give her time to help care for the chimpanzees. She and her husband, Bruce, are passionate advocates for the rights and well being of all animals. They are long time supporters of CSNW and generously help us provide sanctuary for the chimpanzees in countless ways.

Charlie, thanks so much for honoring Deb and the chimpanzees! As you can see, Burrito is a fan of “Wagwoman” as well!

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Virtual tour of the chimp house

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All the time we refer to different places in the chimp house on the blog—you’ve probably seen us write about the front rooms, the playroom, the greenhouse, and of course Young’s Hill. I can imagine that it might not make a lot of sense for the majority of our blog readers who have never seen the inside of the sanctuary!

So with this in mind I put together a virtual tour. I am a very visual person, so this sort of thing would help me out a lot and I’m hoping it helps you all too! For an idea of how the normal day goes, read this blog about the daily routine.

I also thought to include a map of the chimp house. You’ll notice a lot of letters and numbers between the rooms—these are the different chimp doors. Since we never enter the enclosures at the same time as the chimpanzees, we have another person check the doors before we unlock for cleaning. It’s nice to have a label for each door when we report our checks to the staff caregiver who is unlocking.

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Annie’s 39th birthday

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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:

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Jamie grabbed it first:

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But quickly moved on, leaving it for Annie!

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Burrito found a sock with a box of nuts in it:

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Party #2 – garden forage on Young’s Hill

Volunteers Denice and Joel helped with the planting:

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Jody really loved the garden forage. She cleaned up! Here she’s carrying her bounty with her:

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And enjoying cabbage in the greenhouse:

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Foxie found some chow pieces to munch on:

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Missy collected a bunch of food:

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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:

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Which gave her “beet lipstick”

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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!

Kindred Beings release

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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.”

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Nama on her chain she wore for 16 years. Photo © Sheri Speede.

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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!

 

Play and laughter

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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.