Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Annie

Happy Jamie-ween!

by

It is no accident that the boss’s birthday is our biggest party of the year! Jamie’s (honorary) 35th birthday party has been pretty epic! In addition to caregivers being decked out in goofy Halloween get-ups, we had tons of mini pumpkins, pomegranates (a favorite), pinatas, several new pairs of boots from friends (1 from Linda Gere, 1 from Dick and Robbi Brown, and 1 from Tamela Burgess), and a giant pumpkin carved by the super artistic volunteer Stephanie.

It may have been the boss’s day, but that doesn’t mean she’s the only one that gets presents! Foxie’s new friend Bailey Ford sent her a brand new Dora the Explorer doll, which she wrapped in a cute box covered in stickers. Jamie opened it first:

but everyone knew it was for Foxie! She quickly took her Dora out to the hill for some exploring:

Stephanie is amazing at finding pinatas and decorations, and given that it’s her (and my) favorite holiday, Jamie-ween is always over the top!

Annie with the skull pinata:

and Jamie’s birthday decor would not be complete without a boot pinata!

Juice seems to be an all-time favorite party treat around here. Burrito was a squeaking machine!

Jamie with one of her new pairs of boots

For some reason Missy didn’t end up in a lot of our photos, but we did manage to get this one close up of her munching on a pomegranate.

We put out several mini pumpkins on Young’s Hill. They were filled with a mixture of pears and blackberries. Negra was the first to rush out the door when I opened it this morning. She was so excited about the mini pumpkins!

She would grab as many as she could in her hands and mouth and carry them inside to enjoy in the greenhouse. But as soon as she was done, she was back out for more! This went on all morning long (even hours later). She may not spend a lot of time on the hill, but I think it’s safe to say that she is feeling more and more comfortable, especially with the right kind of motivator!

Jody enjoyed them too

Once their palates were set on pumpkins, there was no stopping Jody and Negra from diving into the big one! Jody munched on it for a while but once Negra was finished collecting mini pumpkins from the hill, she happily took over.

The large pumpkin has been passed around to everyone today, though. Burrito had his head in it earlier and then shared a little with Annie. I think we all know who is going to be sleeping good tonight!

Thanks so much to Robbi, Dick, Tamela, Linda, Bailey, Wanda and Stephanie for making today such an awesome celebration! Here’s to the boss!

Take Action Tuesday: Washoe and captive chimps

by

Today marks five years since Washoe, the first nonhuman to use a human language, passed away in Ellensburg (just 25 minutes from Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest where the Cle Elum Seven live). Like Negra, Annie, and possibly Jody, Washoe was captured from Africa. She was supposed to be used in the space program, but when that didn’t work out, she was instead the center of a language project. Now we know that captivity is never a good place for chimpanzees. When Washoe became too strong to handle, she had to live in a cage for the rest of her years. Sadly, that is the fate of any captive chimpanzee—those living as pets or used in entertainment will eventually have to be imprisoned for a crime they didn’t commit because they simply are not meant to live in a human world. Biomedical chimpanzees are already in cages, some no bigger than a coat closet.

I first started working with Washoe and her family in 2005 as a college student. She taught me humility and to take everyone on their own terms, and she blurred the line between animals and humans. The way I see the world and my place in it has definitely changed forever—it was because of her that I realized how amazing these beings are and became a chimpanzee advocate. I met the Cle Elum Seven shortly after they came to CSNW in 2008, and was moved at how resilient and forgiving they were after everything they’ve been through. Annie, Burrito, Foxie, Jamie, Jody, Missy, and Negra have been an inspiration. They have been through so much, yet they still find time to laugh and play. They can finally walk outside with sun overhead and grass under their feet—something we definitely take for granted. I can’t imagine living my entire life inside bars and I am so proud of the Cle Elum Seven for how brave they have become in the last four years. I know it is our duty to give them and all other captive chimps a good life. We took them from their natural and rightful environment from the forests of Africa, stuck them in cages, bred them, and exploited them for a cheap laugh or invasive research, all without regard to how they are just like you or me. They are beings who deserve to be taken on their terms, treated as equals—not forced to perform on TV or be injected with viruses because of humans believing they are superior.

Let’s speak up for captive chimps. Let’s release them from biomedical research. Let’s get companies and productions to stop using chimpanzees in their advertisements or movies. Since we can never return them to Africa, let’s at least give them a better life in a sanctuary where they can be taken on their terms, treated not as lesser beings but where their needs are of the utmost importance.

Help 100 chimpanzees get to a sanctuary by signing this petition—we need 1,250 more signatures to reach our goal of 5000! Write a letter to this TV show that teaches kids it’s OK to have a pet chimp. And don’t forget to join our Take Action: Eyes on Apes list to stay up-to-date on issues and action alerts!

 

Negra approaches her cabin

by

As J.B. mentioned in yesterday’s blog, Jackie and I caught Negra approaching her new cabin. Unfortunately I didn’t have our camera on me and didn’t want to miss the shot—so this was taken on my phone. I apologize that it is not the best quality and the chimps are pretty small. But, it is super awesome to see Negra sizing up her cabin and getting reassurance from Foxie and Jody. At one point all seven chimps were in the shot. I thought that was also super awesome so I took a screen shot and labeled all the chimps so you can see them all at once.

I can’t wait until Negra makes it all the way inside the cabin!

 

Busy hill

by

Annie may have had Young’s Hill all to herself yesterday, but this morning JB managed to snap 5 of the 7 out there in one frame. Counterclockwise from the top, here’s Jody, Foxie, Missy (on the move, of course), Burrito, and Jamie. Negra was snuggled up in the greenhouse and Annie must have been just out of sight.

 

The Lone Ranger

by

It seems like just yesterday that Young’s Hill was only weeks old and many of the chimpanzees were still finding their own comfort level with the wide open spaces. Missy and Jamie took to the hill right away, but everyone else took their time getting adjusted. In the beginning, Annie would sit in the greenhouse and anxiously bounce her feet while waiting for her best friend Missy to return from her adventures outside. After awhile, Annie would venture out with Missy (and only with Missy) but wouldn’t leave Missy’s side. I remember one day early on when Annie and Missy had walked about a third of the way up the hill and were foraging in a patch of grass near a climbing structure. After awhile Missy started to head down the hill toward the greenhouse, but Annie was so immersed in her foraging that she didn’t notice. When she finally looked up and realized she had been left behind, she hightailed it down the hill toward the building, running faster than I had ever seen her move.

But it seems all she needed was a little time, because these days we spot Annie spending a considerable amount of solo time on the hill. In fact, she looks like she belongs out there.

Mornings

by

Mornings are my favorite time at CSNW. The chimps have had their breakfast and they are all geared up to go out and explore Young’s Hill. Unfortunately it is also the time when we clean the enclosures, so we don’t have much of a chance to sit around and watch them. But it’s amazing how much you can witness in just those first few minutes.

This morning, Foxie took a suitcase full of trolls out to the hill.

She later decided to put the trolls on her back as she walked down the hill, the way a chimp mother would carry her infant. As far as I know, three trolls was a personal record for her.

Missy likes to start the day with some athletic activity, especially this time of year. It’s no secret that January in Cle Elum is not perfect chimp weather, but interestingly enough, the Cle Elum Seven seem to prefer spring and fall to the hot summer months and we are actually seeing them go outdoors more now that the temperatures are in the 60’s.

Today, Missy used the handrail on the shaky bridge as a tightrope. This has become one of her new favorite moves. She’s holding a chow bag in these photos. We still supplement the chimps diet of fresh produce, nuts, seeds, and browse with a small amount of a commercially prepared diet. The manufacturer of the chow that we use recently decided to shrink the bicuits to a quarter of their original size, and now it is too cumbersome to serve them directly to the chimps. So we put them in bags. The chimps actually enjoy this, because they can take their chow out to picnic on the hill more easily. Or walk a tightrope with them.

There was a skirmish in the playroom this morning before breakfast. This is fairly typical, because that is the time of day when Burrito tends to display, and he inevitably gets everyone else so worked up that someone ends up mad a someone else. I didn’t see the conflict between Jody and Missy, but it was clear from their behavior later in the morning that they needed to reconcile.

Jody was coming back down the hill with her leftover lemon from breakfast when she saw Missy on the shaky bridge. (Yes, chimps love raw lemons. Raw onions too. We like to serve the lemons after the onions to freshen up the breath.) Jody immediately became pilo erect (hair standing on end) and approached Missy for reassurance.

The two then touched briefly and then Jody went on her way.

Negra came outside this morning but after a few minutes she decided she’d rather be in the greenhouse under a huge pile of blankets. Negra is not a morning person. She’s not really an afternoon or evening person, either. Really, she would prefer to stay in bed all day if she could. If only the staff would bring her meals to her in bed.

Burrito continues to explore more and more of the hill. He is really getting more comfortable out there. Today he climbed up a structure by himself and sat for a while on the end of a beam, taking it all in.

Here he is sitting on the log bridge, showing off some new scars on his wrist. Chimpanzees, especially male chimpanzees, use the back of their wrists to bang on things when they display, and sometimes to bang on other chimps. This is what primatologists refer to as a “backhand thump.” So many male chimps have thick callouses on the backs of their wrists and often some scabs and scars too.

I didn’t intend for this to be a post about each and every one of the chimps, but now I feel bad leaving Annie and Jamie out. Annie just followed Missy around all morning, as she always does, probably wishing that Missy would just sit still for a minute. But Missy is incapable of sitting still.

And Jamie was kind of a loner this morning. It used to be that Burrito would follow her around the hill. I think she enjoyed that. Not the company so much as getting to be the leader. Now Burrito will follow Jody or even venture off on his own as he did this morning. That left Jamie walking around by herself. But she had fun too. Everyone loves the shaky bridge. Maybe we’ll build some more next summer.