Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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Food and Friends

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Today was overcast but surprisingly warm. The chimps spent most of the morning on the hill. Missy was so happy!

missy playface log stump

 

I was watching Foxie and noticed that she did not have a troll doll with her. I thought, “that’s weird.” Then, I scanned the landscape and noticed that Jamie had a troll doll in her hand…

jamie with troll doll

 

Less than a minute later, Jamie had climbed down from the structure.

Jamie walking with troll doll in mouth

Foxie approached her, pant-grunting (a submissive behavior). Jamie immediately handed Foxie the troll doll.

troll exchange

 

Then, Foxie turned and Jamie followed her up the hill.

Jamie follow Foxie post troll exchange

This was the second troll doll exchange we’ve photographed in the last week (see Elizabeth’s post of the first exchange). Pretty fascinating!

 

For lunch, we decided spread out a forage of tomatoes, small peppers, Brussels sprouts on their stalks, lettuce and chow  all over the two-acres. Foraging for food is serious business, and it’s what free-living chimps spent a lot of their time doing in the forests.

It’s awesome to see a whole group together doing what comes naturally, like in this photo below of Burrito (bottom right), Foxie (carrying the green-haired troll on her back), Jody (to the left of Foxie), Annie (bipedal) and Missy (on the structure). In case you’re wondering, caregivers do get very good at identifying chimps from behind – each backside is unique too, after all.

troop of chimps on young's hill

 

Jamie was off on her own collecting Brussels sprouts and peppers.

bipedal Jamie

 

We scattered the food everywhere, including the top of the structures. Missy doesn’t need much motivation to climb.

missy climbing pole

 

Burrito’s motivation seemed to be to join Foxie

bipedal burrito

Burrito climbing

foxie burrito jody missy

 

Once he was up there, he took in the view. The black and orange in the background is the hill that burned during the Taylor Bridge Fire in August.

burrtio end of plank

burrito end of plank 2

 

 

Take Action Tuesday: Washoe and captive chimps

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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

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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!

 

Happy Birthday to Pam Lehnert from Jill!

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Jill Estep has sponsored today in honor of her friend Pam Lehnert’s birthday. What a nice gift!

Pam, as many of you know, has been involved with Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest for a long time. She and her husband Marc attended the open house we had before the chimpanzees arrived in 2008. She’s contributed countless hours, in kind gifts, and creative ideas to make the sanctuary’s events a success. Our events literally wouldn’t be the same without all of Pam’s hard work.

Today, however, the chimps and her friend Jill want Pam to take some time off and enjoy her birthday, whether that’s by savoring her favorite foods or running with abandon. Let Missy be an inspiration – she manages to do both at the same.

missy carrying food

Vote for Crafty Projects

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Back in July, I posted about a “Pinterest Challenge” asking crafty people to take some misprinted sanctuary shirts and make something new out of them. Several people responded. Then the fire hit.  Following up with crafters, updating the challenge, and spending any time on Pinterest ended up being sacrificed for other work.

We did, however, receive three quite phenomenal projects that I’m excited to share with you right now. Please comment on this post with a vote for your favorite (#1, 2, or 3), or, if you’re undecided, tell us what you like about each of them.

 

#1

dog collar sleeves

The first project we received was hand delivered at the Troll Olympics by volunteer Carrie Parker, so she gets the award for the fastest-craft-turn-around. Her speediness did not take the place of quality, though! These better-than-bandana reversible sleeves thread onto your canine companion’s collar to spruce up his or her look and advertise the sanctuary. Aren’t they neat?

 

#2

blanc's shirt basket

The second project we received was made by friend of the sanctuary Blanc Weber. She contacted me and said she wanted to use the shirts for a crocheted basket. Not being all that crafty myself, I couldn’t picture what that would look like. I had no idea you could transform ordinary t-shirts into such a cool and sturdy basket! Blanc said Foxie could use the basket for her troll dolls, but I’m not sure I can bear to give the chimps this creation.

 

#3

Jenny's chimp stamped bag

The third and last project we received was an adorable tote bag hand stamped by former volunteer and wonderfully creative human Jenny Chang. You can probably guess my favorite part of the bag – the troll-inspired pink hair on one of the chimps. The straps of the bag, which I did not capture in the photo, are braided and long, making this a useful cross-shoulder tote, in addition to being a one-of-a-kind craft.

 

Okay, vote away!

 

Busy hill

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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.

 

Foxie and Choices

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We’ve written a lot about how one of the most important characteristics of a true sanctuary is giving chimpanzees the opportunity to make their own choices (You’ll find a search box on the right hand side of the blog – just scroll down a bit. Type in “choices” and several blog posts will appear).

J.B.’s post yesterday about all of the different things that the chimpanzees were doing in the morning is an illustration of how the Cle Elum Seven chimpanzees have really embraced the freedom to make their own decisions about what to do.

Another hallmark of a true sanctuary is getting to know the chimpanzees as unique individuals and learning what they like, what they don’t like, and how to make their lives better on an individual basis. That’s really a lot of what our blog is all about, now that I think about it – we’re just inviting you to see this process.

Recently, I took a cue from Jackie and presented Foxie with the opportunity to choose among a bunch of her favorite things by bringing out the bin of trolls and other dolls and letting her indicate which ones she wanted. She seemed to really enjoy watching me pick the dolls out of the bin and set them up in front of her:

Foxie and her many dolls

 

We did this together for quite a while and she ended up choosing about 11 of the dolls (at one point attempting, unsuccessfully, to carry all of them at once).

Here’s the first doll she decided she needed to have:

foxie choosing dora

 

She started to nest with a few of her dolls and put her back up against the fencing to be groomed. One of the Dora dolls obliged, which made Foxie quite happy:

dora grooms foxie

 

Another very important mission of our sanctuary is to allow the seven chimpanzees in our care to serve as examples of the hundreds of chimpanzees who are still languishing in laboratories or in other terrible conditions. We want you to fall in love with Foxie, as we caregivers have, and to use that love to advocate for other chimpanzees in need.

Speaking of advocacy, please continue to share the petition to the NIH insisting on the release 110 chimpanzees to a true sanctuary. As I write this, we have 1,750 signatures to go before we reach our goal of 5,000.

You may have heard that an NIH spokesperson told NBC that the NIH had changed their tune and were now saying that all 110 chimpanzees would be going to Chimp Haven. This, however, was news to Chimp Haven, as you can read in their statement released yesterday. It’s now more important than ever that we keep the pressure on the NIH to permanently retire these chimpanzees from biomedical research and send them to Chimp Haven or another true sanctuary.