chimp

Happy Birthday, Michael!

October 7, 2016 by Katelyn

Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by Arlene in honor of her husband, Michael, for his birthday! Arlene and Michael do so much to give the chimpanzees the lives’ they deserve and have been a part of our chimp family for awhile now and we couldn’t be happier to celebrate with them today! Arlene shared this special message about today:

“I would like to sponsor today in honor of my husband, Michael’s, birthday. I am blessed to share my life with him. He is a generous and compassionate person. Michael loves animals, and is a fan of the Cle Elum Seven. He goes above and beyond to help others and make life better for everyone he can. That is why this is a perfect gift for him. I hope that someday we can visit the sanctuary and meet everyone there in person.”

Arlene, thank you to both you and Michael for holding the chimps in your hearts and including them in your lives. To think they lived so many years virtually unknown and unacknowledged for the special individuals they are is unimaginable, especially as we now watch their chimp family and all the love that surrounds them continue to grow and expand. From our hearts, thank you for making that possible for them.

Michael, we wish you the happiest of birthdays and years ahead! To live your life with kindness first is such a gift to others in so many ways and we are so glad to know you are in the world. We hope your day of celebration if full of all the wonderful gifts in life that you help provide for others. Happy Birthday!!

Burrito is always ready for a party. And pumpkins…

and chow…

and apples…

and well, you get the idea. And just being adorable…he can’t help it, he was born that way.

Missy’s 2nd Chance & Those Left Behind

September 30, 2016 by Diana

This year for Great Apes Giving Day, I decided to highlight Missy’s story. If you are new to Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest or haven’t been following every single blog post, you may have missed the story of how Missy almost didn’t make it to her sanctuary home. Take a minute to read this story on our Great Apes Giving Day page here.

There’s another story that we don’t tell very often.

The Cle Elum Seven should have been the Cle Elum Eight. There was an eighth chimpanzee living at Buckshire with Missy, Burrito, Negra, Jody, Annie, Foxie, and Jamie who died two years before the Cle Elum Seven came to Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. He was a male chimpanzee and we believe his name was Ceaser.

I never met him, but I think about him, and what he represents, all of the time.

It is such an amazing time in history right now with the end of biomedical testing on chimpanzees in the United States. And it’s a frustrating time because there are hundreds of chimpanzees who are waiting for their opportunity to live out the rest of their lives in a sanctuary home where the only mission is to provide them with the best care possible.

And I know there will be chimpanzees like Ceaser who won’t have this chance because they will die before they are released from their laboratory life.

It’s a fact that not all laboratories are like Buckshire, where the Cle Elum Seven lived. Most modern laboratories holding chimpanzees have some sort of outdoor space, even if it’s a small concrete fenced in area, and most chimpanzees living in laboratories now live with other chimpanzees rather than in single cages.

I would guess that the majority of people who are directly caring for chimpanzees in laboratories really care for, and even love, the chimps. This may seem strange to those who have never met someone who works in a laboratory as a caregiver, but I have met many people who have held those positions in their past or still do now. Sometimes they didn’t really know what they were getting into, and they are awakened to the injustices of using chimpanzees in biomedical testing after they came to know the chimps in labs first-hand. Often they stay in those positions because they want to make a difference in the day-to-day lives of those under their care.

Philosophically, though, laboratories and accredited sanctuaries are worlds apart. How you view a person or an animal affects how they are cared for. For accredited sanctuaries, the one and only aim is to provide the chimpanzees with a good home full of choices and social interactions and the space to figure out who they are. For laboratories, even if they are not actively using the chimpanzees in testing, the chimps are valued and viewed in terms of their contribution (for which they did not give their consent) to humans and their research questions.

This is a fundamental difference; and it’s the reason why it pains me to think about the chimpanzees, like Ceaser, who will die in laboratories even though the research has ended.

And then I think about Missy, who almost didn’t have the last eight years of her life at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.

Every day is about making sure that the chimpanzees in our care fully experience a life that’s all about them. It’s our moral obligation to try to give back to them at least some of what we, as a society, have taken. And we want to be able to do this for other chimpanzees coming out of laboratories.

This is why fundraising days like Great Apes Giving Day mean so much to us, and to other sanctuaries and rescue centers.

Please consider making a donation to Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, learn about all of the organizations participating in this global day of giving for great apes, and watch this Tuesday (October 4th) when the competition for the prize money heats up.

In the end, the chimpanzees and other great apes that you give your donation towards are the big winners.

Negra Unleashed

September 25, 2016 by Elizabeth

A few days ago was the five year anniversary of the chimpanzees going outside onto Young’s Hill for the first time. For many of the chimps, it was probably the first time they had ever been outside in their lives, and it took some adjustment.

Out of all the chimps at the sanctuary, Negra has probably had the hardest time adjusting. On her first day out, she accidentally touched the electric fence and received a shock. For someone who was already predisposed to feel some anxiety at being outdoors after decades in lab cages, this certainly didn’t help. For several months after that Negra refused to step foot outside. Eventually she decided to try again, but she wouldn’t venture far from the greenhouse, and at the first strange noise or gust of wind, she would run back inside with a fear grimace on her face.

This year has been a turning point for Negra. This spring she started hiking straight up to the top of the two-acre Young’s Hill with no apparent anxiety to enjoy some of the wild greens growing up there. Today we set up a lunch forage on the hill and Negra headed outside with the rest of the group, calm and confident.

An Imperfect Life

September 18, 2016 by Elizabeth

In Negra’s alternate life – the one she should have had – she was born in the wilds of Africa, enjoyed a long, lazy childhood by her mother’s side, spent her days traveling with her group, climbing trees, and playing with friends, and grew up to have and raise her own babies and grandbabies.

In Negra’s actual life, she was born in the wilds of Africa, captured as an infant – probably after watching her family shot to make her capture possible – and shipped to the United States to be used as a research subject. She spent her days alone in metal cages no larger than a bathroom stall and experienced the world through filters of boredom, fear, pain, and loneliness. She had three babies in a five year span, all of whom were taken away from her within days or hours of birth, never to be seen or touched again.

Negra was about 35 years old when she stepped out of her last lab cage and into her new home at the sanctuary. That was a little over eight years ago. I sometimes wonder if there is some equation to represent the value of sanctuary to Negra and the others. Does one day in sanctuary cancel out one day in the lab? We can only hope.

Negra shouldn’t be here. She deserved to be wild and free. But her lot in life was determined by forces out of her hands, and out of ours. All we can do, and what we must do, is infuse her imperfect life with as much love and warmth and joy and comfort (and blankets and peanuts and sunshine) as we can, and then root for her as she steps toward recovery.

This is for the activists

September 17, 2016 by Diana

Last night I was going through some old documents and newspaper articles and reading about the history of chimpanzees being retired to sanctuaries, and, in particular, activists who worked to get chimpanzees out of Buckshire, where the seven chimpanzees living at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest came from.

I will share more details at a later time, but one thing that really struck me was the extremely dedicated people who worked for years to help chimpanzees who they had never even met.

Working at and for a sanctuary can be hard work, but the reward is constant. There is a direct connection between the care that goes into sanctuary work and witnessing happy chimpanzees benefit from your labor. Most people who work in sanctuaries are also advocates, but our priority, as it should be, is to provide the very best life possible for those we care for at the sanctuary.

People who work full-time as activists and animal advocates don’t often have this direct reward. Their work, which often involves endlessly writing complaints and submitting FOIA requests, or working to change legislation, can be arduous. They know that there is wrong being done, and they work to create better outcomes, but it often takes years to see an outcome; all too often nothing comes of their hard work. Then, when there is a happy ending, they move on to the next animal or animals who are suffering.

But their work is precisely what has made the sanctuary life for the Cle Elum Seven, and for other animals in sanctuaries, possible.

Today I would like to publicly thank them and let them know that in my head and heart I thank them each time I think of the Cle Elum Seven chimpanzees, which is pretty much all the time.

Negra foraging for lunch:

Foxie with Dora and friend:

Jamie and Burrito patrolling together:

Burrito finishing up the patrol around the hill:

Annie and Missy at the top of Twister:

Jody in profile:

How Far We’ve Come

September 15, 2016 by Elizabeth

Jamie eight years ago in the lab:

Jamie today:

A Day in the Life

September 13, 2016 by Elizabeth

9:00am: Up the winding driveway…

Good morning, sanctuary!

Ellie the elk started the day in her favorite spot under the observation deck:

Volunteer caregivers Denice and Sandra set to work preparing breakfast:

Usually when we arrive for the day this time of year there are several chimps outside in the greenhouse. Today it was just Negra cuddled under a blanket:

Soon breakfast was ready!

Our typical routine is to serve a small snack in the indoor front rooms first thing to entice the chimps out of the greenhouse so we can close it off for cleaning. Volunteer caregiver-in-training Yuri offered the chimps some grapefruit while I closed and locked the doors leading to the greenhouse.

Negra is not always a people person, but this morning as she ate her grapefruit she was feeling extra affectionate as she offered her back to Sandra for a knuckle rub and offered Denice a kiss.

We all checked the doors and locks to make sure it was safe to unlock the greenhouse:

and then got to work!

Afterward Yuri double-checked locks on the greenhouse door:

and we started the first batch of dirty toys soaking in the tub:

and the first load of dirty blankets in the washer:

Then Yuri served the rest of breakfast in the greenhouse:

and wrote in his training notebook:

Next we tackled the playroom, which is the largest indoor space at the sanctuary. We cleaned upstairs:

and downstairs:

and when we were done, set up a little tea party for the chimps:

While we cleaned the playroom, the chimps enjoyed the warm greenhouse.

Annie:

Burrito:

We run through a series of safety checks before giving the chimps access to Young’s Hill each day, so I did those while Denice, Yuri, and Sandra wrapped up the playroom.