Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Annie

Laughing

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As many of our regular blog readers know, Annie is coming out of her shell more and more. We’ve seen her become more confident and play with chimps other than Missy. Foxie seems to be someone she likes to play with, and the other day I caught them in an intense wrestling match. Their laughter was amazing! It really makes me smile so much when I think about how much Annie and the other chimps have all changed since their arrival to the sanctuary over 3 years ago. I can’t wait to see what other changes we might see in the chimps’ personalities after Young’s Hill opens!

Speaking of the ever-changing chimps, in this clip, you’ll see Annie and Foxie playing with Foxie’s new doll that I mentioned on her Facebook page. This is not a troll doll, and although it resembles a troll, it’s still great to see her expanding her usual very narrow focus on “enrichment objects worth interacting with.” As seen in this blog from just a few days ago, Foxie is well on her way to making nests with blankets! Like I said above, it’s amazing to see how the chimps have all changed and keep on changing.

 

 

Happy Birthday to Annie from Marcia Douthwaite!

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Marcia has sponsored today in celebration of Annie’s 37th birthday (we’re gearing up for the party right now!).  Marcia is a regular blog reader, and a sweet and devoted supporter of the Cle Elum Seven.  She even sponsors Annie and her best friend Missy through our Chimpanzee Pal program.  Thanks, Marcia, for helping us give Annie and her friends the celebration they deserve!

Here’s the gorgeous birthday girl:

A birthday card for Annie

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Annie’s birthday is tomorrow! We received this lovely birthday card in her honor from Paige Sobran:

It reads: May you be surrounded by friends, love and joy on your birthday… and green onions, trolls, blankets. From someone who checks for blog updates every day before I check my email.

Thanks, Paige! We’ll be celebrating Annie’s birthday in full force tomorrow—Diana and I have already laid out plans for a birthday “cake” (made from fruits and veggies) with all of Annie’s favorites!

Annie’s cousin?

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Annie’s birthday is Saturday, so I thought I’d share a picture taken from when the raceway to Young’s Hill was built:

When I first met the Cle Elum Seven in 2008, I was working at the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute (CHCI) in Ellensburg, just 20 miles away from CSNW. I was going to grad school studying the chimps’ use of sign language (which coincidentally, all of the CSNW staff members did before me as well).

I remember when I first saw Annie, I immediately thought she looked like Washoe.

Washoe and Annie were both captured from Africa. Washoe originally was captured for NASA to be a space chimp, but she was too big and so she ended up in Reno, NV where she learned sign language. Washoe lived in a couple different places across two decades before she was given sanctuary at CHCI, but thankfully she was never used in invasive biomedical research. She was much luckier than Annie, who was taken from Africa and put straight into invasive research.

Regardless of their backgrounds, captivity is never ideal for a chimpanzee. We can’t ever make up for the amount of space they would normally have in the wild, but with the opening of Young’s Hill, Annie will have more space to roam than ever before since leaving Africa.

Annie

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It’s really amazing to look through some old photos of when the chimps first arrived at the sanctuary. Their skin was so faded, they had so little hair, and they just seemed expressionless. Even after just a few months, we started to see some drastic changes. This post shows before and after pictures of Annie—with only about 3 months between. Well, I took a photo of Annie today sitting in the same exact spot as our “before” picture. It’s pretty striking how amazing she looks after 3 years in sanctuary.

Annie before (June 13, 2008)

 

Annie now (August 30, 2011)