Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Animal Welfare

Ties to LEMSIP

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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!

Thoughts From a Busy Day

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Today has been a bit of a day here at CSNW.

We woke up to messages from J.B. and Diana that there had been a kerfuffle between the members of Cy’s group in the early hours of the morning. Although Willy B required a trip to the vet clinic, everyone is doing OK. Willy acquired an injury to his right nostril and had to have a few stitches from Dr. Erin. He was a rock-star during the procedure and is recovering well. A special thank you to Mekenzie, CRNA, for stepping in to assist Dr. Erin and Sofia with his procedure!

Dr. Erin Zamzow (right), Mekenzie (center), Sofia (right), and Willy B (on the table).

Dr. Erin giving Willy B his stitches:

Sofia charting a dental exam:

Displaying, fighting, and resulting wounds are a common part of chimpanzee society. While it is hard to watch at times for us humans, and sometimes the displays are so loud that we have to cover our ears, it often is a lot of screaming and, thankfully, direct physical contact occurs less often. It does happen, though, and another key aspect of chimpanzee society is post-conflict reconciliation. This includes reassurance behaviors, grooming, and play. We were relieved to see a lot of this, especially between the guys, and there has been a lot of reassurance between the other eight chimps in Cy’s group throughout the day today. On the other side of the chimp house, Jamie’s group has spent a lot of today watching the construction on Young’s Hill. I briefly interrupted a grooming session between Jamie, Burrito, Jody, and Foxie before Jamie told me in no short order to go away.

Everyone is well.

There was a lot going on today, but all the stress related to something I’d been thinking about for a few days… Not about unexpected trips to the vet clinic, so stick with me. The other day we had our virtual tour of the sanctuary for VIP ticket holders to HOOT! and one of our supporters asked Diana and I what we find to be the most rewarding aspect of working at the sanctuary. I fumbled out some vague answer (I’m not good at speaking on the spot) and Diana answered about how rewarding it is to see all the people who are brought together by the sanctuary and, also, how rewarding it is to see the chimps form relationships with each other and choose to spend time together. This has stayed with me for a few days.

Sanctuary is a unique concept that often seems better defined by an emotion, rather than a written definition. I’m not biased at all, but CSNW embodies this emotion in every way. Working here is a combination of the heavy feeling of knowing that the chimps we care for do not belong in captivity, but we are also so lucky to have the opportunity to know them and to get to form deep connections with them. It’s watching individuals in Jamie’s group play, groom, and be goofy. It’s watching the newly integrated group of 9 form relationships with each other that they might not otherwise have had the opportunity to form. It’s giving them choice, connections, and a lifelong home.

There are so many connections that have been formed because of the chimps here at the sanctuary. Not only have we connected with supporters all over the globe, that we otherwise would never have known, but it has also brought myself and all of my fellow coworkers here to the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. Most all of us have left the places that we called home and our family members to move here and it has created a truly special space where we are all each others family. And days like today, that are more chaotic than most, this comfort keeps my anxiety at bay.

So, if I were to better answer the question posed earlier this week, I would say that the most rewarding thing about working here is the connections. Connections with coworkers, supporters, and (last but certainly not least) the chimps.

We already owe the chimps so much, but this should also be added to the list.

Also, don’t forget that our signature fundraiser HOOT! is coming up this Friday, September 16th! The online auction is live and you can place your bids now! Our annual fundraiser contributes a large portion of the funds that allow us to provide sustainable sanctuary and lifelong care for all of our residents. Click here for more and to help us reach our fundraising goal!

Bonus Photo

Honey B, chillin:

Graze Anatomy

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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!

The end of an eventful weekend!

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We have had so much to celebrate this weekend!

Yesterday, Annie turned 48 years old AND our awesome caregiver, Kelsi, got married!

The chimp house has been full of play sessions, laughter, special treats, and relaxation. Check out today’s video to catch moments from our eventful weekend!

*Bonus* photos I have been saving from my phone:

Dora (L) and Honey B (R) meet the skeleton for the first time:

Gordo meeting the skeleton with a mouthful of water:

Foxie:

Gordo holding his carrot with his foot:

Gordo smelling said carrot:

Negra’s nest:

Disclaimer: others may have contributed to the building of this nest. However, Negra claimed it!

Have a great week! 

“Are the chimps trained?”

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When I tell people that I work at a chimpanzee sanctuary, they usually respond with one of the following frequently-asked questions: Do you get to touch the chimps? Do they go outside? Can people visit the sanctuary?

Today’s blog post responds to another common question with a complex answer: Are the chimps trained?

If this question refers to the awful practice of coercing captive primates to perform tasks for our entertainment, then the answer is a plain and emphatic “no.” (“We don’t do that here.”)

When defined more broadly though, behavioral training can be an important practice for improving and maintaining excellent animal welfare. For example, chimpanzees can be taught to voluntarily cooperate in their own veterinary care, greatly reducing the stress and risk associated with medical procedures. Training can also be a powerful tool for improving human-chimpanzee relationships, desensitizing chimps to unfamiliar environmental changes, and providing the chimps with additional cognitive, social and sensory enrichment.

CSNW, like many institutions that care for chimpanzees, has adapted a behavioral training program to improve the lives of the residents. Our past training initiatives have helped us administer medical care and monitor chimpanzee wellness over the years. We are now revamping this framework to utilize a larger staff, accommodate an additional group of chimps, and target loftier goals. Last year, we invited Margaret Whittaker of Creative Animal Behavior Solutions to review training methodology and help us optimize our plans for the future. One key takeaway has been that progress requires a shared understanding of the underlying theory and familiarity with common techniques. We caregivers should understand what training is, value training as an important component of care, and know how to train efficiently and responsibly.

Essentially, training is the process of behavior modification through learning. We often call training between humans “teaching” and training with non-humans “conditioning,” but they’re basically synonymous. Our preferred type of training, operant conditioning, allows the chimps to voluntarily participate and choose which behaviors to present. The chimpanzees are free to come and go at their own leisure, and we never punish them for choosing not to participate. Indeed, certain individuals often decline our invitation because they have better things to do, and that’s okay. In operant conditioning, they’re the operators.

Although the semantics are complicated, the activity of operant conditioning is actually quite simple. First, the trainer uses both a verbal and gestural cue to communicate that a desired behavior will be rewarded in the subsequent window. (You can see an example of J.B. asking Burrito to present his right foot below.) Then, the trainer uses an audible “bridge” to mark the correct behavior and indicate that a treat is on the way. This edible reward is a form of motivation via positive reinforcement. In training jargon, “positive” refers to the addition of a stimulus and “reinforcement” refers to the increase in a desired behavior.

In short, we give rewards when the chimps choose to do desirable behaviors.

You may be wondering why we choose to modify chimpanzee behavior through training. After all, the chimps are wild creatures and we should respect their freedom to choose their own behavior. Even so, captivity is an unfortunate and complicated circumstance, unfairly chosen for them long ago, and purposeful training has the potential to make this environment more comfortable for them. Of course, we caregivers carry the responsibility to only focus our efforts on behaviors that benefit the chimps and use the least intrusive, minimally aversive methods for each.

Some examples of behaviors we train and rehearse are:

Eating cooperatively and/or at stations (allowing subordinate group members to receive food)

Presenting various body parts for injury treatment and monitoring

Receiving injections for vaccinations and sedation/immobilization

Shifting between enclosures to enable cleaning and to facilitate social integrations

Sitting on a bench scale to monitor weight and body condition

In the future, we will also prioritize desensitizing the chimps to uncomfortable but necessary medical procedures, including heart and lung auscultation, radiographs, EKGs and ultrasounds. These approaches usually require that we isolate, immobilize and anesthetize chimpanzees; winning their voluntarily participation is a safer and less stressful alternative for all involved!

I hope to share more content related to behavioral training (including visual demonstrations of our progress) in the near future!

Security Video of Mall Walkers

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As mentioned on Saturday, I have been working on putting together security camera footage from a couple of weeks ago that captured Honey B and Rayne “mall walking” along with some other fun highlights of that morning. I was able to finally figure out the technical issue with exporting the video, and I wanted to share it with you asap.

I just love that the chimpanzees have their own busy lives completely separate from us humans, and seeing them have so much fun makes all of the anxiety of integrating the two groups well worth it!

Observant watchers will note that the time as shown on the camera footage jumps when the scene switches to the black and white / night vision of the mezzanine. That’s because that particular camera is on a different camera system and the times between the two are about six minutes off. This made it a bit challenging to piece together all of these separate clips.

It would have taken me a really long time to label all of the chimpanzees, so you’ll have to use your best id skills to figure out who is who.

I hope you enjoy this extra long video!

 

Gordo in a Box Saves the Day

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I have a 15 minute long video that I’ve been working on for you all for more than a week, piecing together clips from the security cameras on a particularly busy morning. But, technology is not serving me well, and I’ve been unable to finalize the file for an unknown reason. I showed a very short clip of it during yesterday’s “Insider Briefing” for the Chimpanzees in Need campaign, and now I feel like that was a tremendous tease. Sorry!

It was dinner time and I had been trying to troubleshoot the movie software all day, and I had NO BLOG POST. I was a little panicky. But, don’t worry, Gordo saved me/us.

Yesterday, Gordo wasn’t feeling well and didn’t eat all of his meals, so we’ve been a little concerned. Today, however, he seemed to be back to all of his Gordo ways, including taking his dinner in a box.

This particular box was clear on the other side of the Oakwood Greenhouse, so we had to walk out the door and around the greenhouse to serve him. This is what I saw when I was looking for him from the hallway.

Jenna was able to take these two photos of Gordo finishing off the banana portion of dinner:

I took these while he was eating an onion (yep, the chimps like raw onions!)

We had delayed the handing out of nightbags for his group, and Gordo had gone inside to the front rooms, but he insisted on going all the way back to his box in the greenhouse for the nightbag service: