Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

chimp sanctuary

Four Days, $1565 – can we do it?

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Thanks to really awesome supporter-fundraisers, we have raised $5,435 on our Firstgiving pages towards the goal of $7,000 by the end of June. I have been amazed at the success of the supporters of the Cle Elum Seven, and can’t thank you all enough!!

We’re still $1565 away from reaching our goal, and there are only four days left. So, I’m writing this post while I’m on vacation and way past the time when I should be sleeping because I’m wondering if we’ll be able to do it.

I know we can.

Please donate to Negra’s page today or take a look at the other wonderful pages set up by supporters. Margaret is still offering to paint a portrait of the chimpanzee of your choice in exchange for a donation (her paintings are absolutely amazing), Grace is still offering cards with animal illustrations by artist Colin Redmon (who is uber-talented), and Tamela is still offering to make chimpanzee footprint pendants (I have one and it is really cool!). Plus there are many other people who have pages set up and are offering fabulous things in exchange for a donation (including simply the good feeling you get when you support a friend and a good cause) – check them all out, give, and help me sleep easy knowing we’ve reached our goal.

Painting of the chimpanzee of your choice and/or a four course meal!

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CSNW supporters never cease to impress me with their dedication and creativity! If you are a subscriber to our e-newsletter, you saw that we have set a goal of raising $7,000 by the end of June to celebrate the first anniversary of the chimpanzees arrival to Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. We’ve chosen to celebrate Negra’s birthday on that day too. Her release to sanctuary means so much to her and to all of us, so we’re asking our supporters to help us raise the $7,000 (and “secretly” hoping we can exceed that goal). Check out our help us fundraise page for details.

A few people have taken on the fun task of creating their own unique fundraising page.

Nicole’s already received some donations through her fundraising page which she is promoting through Facebook – yay!

Margaret has offerred to paint a portrait of the chimpanzee of your choice for a donation of $700!! Below is a photo of a painting Margaret did of Jody. I can’t say enough about this painting – she really captured the vibrancy of Jody’s spirit, and seeing it in person is no comparison to seeing the photo. I am personally very tempted to donate just to get a painting (of Negra) for myself – but I’ll give you all a chance first. Visit her page for more details: www.firstgiving.com/margaretparkinson

Jody painting by Margaret

Pam’s fundraising page reveals that she is offerring to cook a four course meal and deliver it to donors in Seattle who give through her page by June 8th. She’s going to be cooking food that she has also made for the chimps (Pam is one of the chimps’ personal chefs – we call her the Martha Stewart of the chimp house volunteers). Below is a photo of one of the many meals she has made for the Cle Elum Seven. You may also remember photos of her Valentine’s Day treats. Visit her page for details on what she will cook for you! www.firstgiving.com/pamlehnert

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And, now that you’re inspired, create your own page through Firstgiving!

Jamie’s dexterity

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Jamie LOVES it when we give her a ball point pen. I love her pen ritual – it’s as though she needs to collect a certain shopping list of things before she can begin writing. You can almost see her planning in her head. She’ll take the pen, pause while she scans the play room, and then walk around to collect what she needs. Sometimes it’s a blanket, or a stool, and a certain toy. Today she needed a blanket, an address book, and a scarf with a troll doll attached. There’s been so much talk about how strong chimps can be – but think about the gentle, fine movements required to draw with a pen!

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NY Times op-ed by Charles Siebert

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One year ago, before the Cle Elum Seven arrived at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, I posted a blog entry with a link to a radio interview with Charles Siebert on This American Life.

Today, Siebert had an op-ed printed in the New York Times entitled Something Wild. Here is an excerpt:

There is something about chimpanzees — their tantalizing closeness to us in both appearance and genetic detail — that has always driven human beings to behavioral extremes, actions that reflect a deep discomfort with our own animality, and invariably turn out bad for both us and them.

Siebert uses specific examples of chimpanzee individuals to illustrate humans’ uncomfortable relationship with our closest evolutionary relatives, and our stubborn desire to make them fit into our concepts of of who they are, which manifest not from observing and appreciating chimpanzees as a distinct species,  but from our attempts to make them our human-like playthings as “pets” and “entertainers” or human surrogates in biomedical research.

Siebert explains what I have observed of captive chimpanzees – they live in a world of lost identity. They did not have the opportunity to grow up within a chimpanzee culture, but they cannot fit into our human culture either, no matter how hard we try to force them to.

Sanctuaries like Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest try to make the best out of the inherently unjust situation of captivity. We allow the chimpanzees to be who they are, which is sometimes a strange mix of learned “human” behaviors and a renewed expression of their instinctual chimpanzee selves. Our deepest hope is that we can provide for those in our care while working to ensure that one day sanctuaries like ours will not be necessary because chimpanzees will no longer be used for human purposes.