Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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Primates in the News & Honey Cow’s 17th Birthday

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First, bask in comfort (and joy) by bidding on the latest item we’ve added to the Comfort & Joy online auction: a blanket for you and a matching blanket for Negra featuring the beloved image from an original painting by Margaret H. Parkinson entitled Negra in the Sun.

There’s just ten days left in the auction, and we’re continuing to add items regularly, so check in on the auction and bid often!

Next, today we celebrated Honey Cow’s 17th birthday! Enrichment Coordinator Ellen made a special treat for Honey and her family – pureed pumpkin, served twice-baked potato style in a pumpkin bowl shell.

All of the cows are known to be a bit suspicious of us humans and the odd things we try to convince them are food. As reported and documented (see photos below) by their server, Ryan, they gave Honey’s birthday treat some, “complimentary sniffs”, but didn’t taste them in his presence. Perhaps they were just waiting for him to leave before partaking in a private birthday celebration.

I really love the cows so much. You might think of herd animals as being more uniform in their behavior, but Honey, Betsy, and Meredith have such different personalities and ways of going about life. Honey can often be described as the Jamie of the cow family – she does not put up with any funny business and will let you know if you’ve overstepped your boundaries. Yet, in some ways, she’s the most cooperative when we need to shift the cows into a particular area. Just like Jamie. I’ve come to realize that a lot of Honey’s assertiveness towards humans is more threat than actually wishing people harm, and, I think, she actually likes to be around people.

Another thing that Honey really likes is rubbing up against brushes. We have a really cool brush with automatic swinging action in the online auction that you can “bid” on so that we can buy it for the cows. It costs about $900 so we could use more people bidding on it. Check it out here!

Honey:

 

Betsy:

 

Meredith:

 

Finally, for this multi-topic blog post: primates have been in the news a lot this last week.

We are beyond THRILLED with the news of the last 23 remaining chimpanzees living at an Air Force base in Alamogordo, New Mexico will be finally moving to Chimp Haven! We’ve been following the chimpanzees in Alamogordo for years, hoping for this decision for more than a decade.

You can read about the news and some of the history of the facility and the work to get the chimpanzees moved in this article from the Humane Society of the United States. That article also notes two sad facts: 21 chimpanzees have passed away at the Alamogordo facility in the last five years, never having an opportunity to experience a sanctuary life, and there are still 48 more government owned or supported chimpanzees at two other facilities.

Not mentioned, because they are not supported by the federal government, are the 88 remaining chimpanzees living at New Iberia Research Center (NIRC), awaiting their sanctuary retirement; Project Chimps has been able to rehome over 100 chimpanzees from NIRC and has a contract to rehome the remaining chimpanzees as they are able.

A great resource that shows where all of the captive chimpanzees live in the United States is the Project ChimpCare map, created and maintained by Lincoln Park zoo.

By way of taking a bit of a break from all of this text, here are a couple of photos I took recently.

Another of Rayne in her box (the same photo session as the photo at the top of this post):

And this one of Burrito. He and Jamie often walk along these logs at the top of  the new Young’s Hill as part of their perimeter walks now. Burrito likes to stop for a minute and sit down so the humans can catch up:

 

Another primate news story that has garnered widespread attention is the 43 young female rhesus macaque monkeys who escaped a warehouse and breeding facility for laboratory monkeys in South Carolina owned by Alpha Genesis. Read more about this from CBS. Born Free is requesting that the monkeys, once captured, be moved to their sanctuary.

These two stories are reminders and indicators of the status of primate research in the United States.

For chimpanzees, invasive research has ended, and the decision about the Alamogordo chimpanzees means there will be fewer than 50 chimpanzees living in federally funded biomedical research facilities and fewer than 150 total living in research facilities. Compare that with the 742 chimpanzees living in accredited sanctuaries.

The situation for monkeys is very different. Alpha Genesis alone owns about 5,000 monkeys, and the total number of monkeys (of all species) held for research purposes in the United States exceeds 100,000. It is staggering to think about that many individuals. Perhaps this latest escape will raise important questions about our use of monkeys.

The Golden Years

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I spent some time watching Negra this morning.

I had just opened the hydraulic door that allows the chimpanzees to access Young’s Hill, so the seven chimps were all free to forage and roam across their spacious outdoor habitat for the rest of the day. Neggie, of course, had other plans.

The Queen, pictured above, was lounging on the upper level of the Greenhouse- the optimal location for a morning nap. As she basked on her side in the summer breeze, her lackadaisical bliss reminded me of a sea lion hauled out on a busy fishing pier, unconcerned with the activity going on around her. She had a plaid blanket draped over her shoulders and an assortment of fleece items piled around her legs. Her chin rested on her wrist, giving her the appearance of being deep in thought. She was the definition of comfort. Negra looked glorious.

Negra’s life wasn’t always like this. Neggie was likely captured in the wild as an infant in 1973, making her approximately 46 years old. We often think of her as the most senior of the CSNW residents, but the five other females are also well into their fifth decade of life. Even Burrito, born in the early 1980s, is well past the median life expectancy for captive male chimpanzees and has even exceeded the average life span for males in one of the healthiest wild communities studied by primatologists. According to what we know about chimpanzee life history, this leads us to classify all of our residents as geriatric individuals. We are prepared to manage their health and provide daily care for them accordingly, but it also shapes our expectations for the future of our sanctuary’s residents.

At larger chimpanzee sanctuaries, the populations are typically composed of individuals who vary greatly in age and background. Chimp Haven, a chimpanzee sanctuary in Keithville, Louisiana, just announced the passing of their oldest resident, Sarah Anne. Sarah Anne lived to be almost 60 years old, but didn’t retire to Chimp Haven until 2006 when she was already in her late-40s. As evidenced by the vivid descriptions and heartwarming stories shared by the Chimp Haven staff, Sarah Anne was undoubtedly an amazing individual who made the most of her time in sanctuary.

After reading about the famous Sarah Anne, I see many parallels between her life and Negra’s. Both were taken from the wild and brought to the United States as infants, presumably orphaned. Both were exploited for decades in order to advance scientific investigations. Both were shuffled from one location to another when they were no longer needed for research. Eventually, both found peaceful homes at reputable sanctuaries where they could spend their days doing their favorite things. Both became known for their extravagant blanket nests, and both became known as “queens” for their strong will and dignified demeanor. Remarkably, both overcame their pasts to become cornerstones of their social groups.

Most importantly, their stories demonstrate how chimpanzees who have already endured long and difficult lives can still grow and thrive once retired to sanctuary.

Last year, just three years after the National Institutes of Health (NIH) ended biomedical research on chimpanzees, the number of chimpanzees living in sanctuary eclipsed the amount still living in laboratories. Concurrently, there was an exhaustive debate regarding which chimpanzees should be considered candidates for relocation to sanctuary. The discussion focused on older chimpanzees, particularly those with chronic health conditions. After receiving comments from the public and input from experts, the NIH eventually concluded that all but the frailest chimpanzees should be given an opportunity to experience sanctuary, regardless of age and despite manageable health conditions.

As sanctuary caregivers around the country can testify, life does not end at retirement for chimpanzees any more than it does for humans. In Negra’s case, she has already had more than a lifetime’s share of traumatic experiences and solitary confinement. It’s only fitting that she can now live each day to the fullest, whether that includes scarfing down heads of lettuce, playing with the other chimps, participating in positive reinforcement training, or trekking up the hill to pick wild greens.

Every day, chimpanzees just like Negra and Sarah Anne get to enjoy a peaceful and enriched retirement. As many in the primate sanctuary community are taking time to fondly remember Sarah Anne and reflect on her golden years, we can also use this moment to celebrate the unique opportunities that sanctuary can give to chimpanzees of all ages.