Full disclosure, this video was taken a few weeks ago. Lizz was here today and I remembered I had the clips on my phone, so I decided to put them together into a video to add some classic Burrito play to your weekend.
chimpanzee rescue
We are so LUCKY
Lucky [luhk-ee]
chimpanzee
1. kind-hearted
2. engaged
3. first to greet her caregivers when they walk in the room; knows how to make someone feel special
4. observer of her surroundings
Lucky is truly one of a kind. And as cliché as it sounds, we are so lucky to know her.
When I first started at CSNW as staff, Lucky always made such an effort with me. Every time I saw her, she would storm across the room, no matter what she was up to, just to say hello. She was the head of the welcoming committee for me and she doesn’t even know it. She does this with all of her caregivers. She is easily excited and genuinely happy to see everyone 24/7.
You may have noticed in some previous blog photos or videos, Lucky uses blankets to scoot across the floor. You can see this behavior here (around 0:43). She will gather a few blankets, tuck them under her thighs, and use them to help glide herself across the floor. Closely related to rocking, this is a common behavior for chimpanzees in captivity. To phrase it in the simplest way I can, she does this as a comfort mechanism. As someone who was born in a laboratory, not raised by her own mother, and will live the rest of her life in captivity, it is understandable for her to seek comfort in any way she chooses. I believe even we, as humans, have our own individual ways to comfort ourselves in both good and stressful times. And that is okay.
As seen in the photo above, this is one of Lucky’s signature poses. Anytime you see a photo of Lucky from this angle, just know she is staring down whoever is behind the camera. Simultaneously, she is doing a motion with her mouth where she alternates sucking in her cheeks/lips. I presume that she is deep in thought every time I see this face.
We love you, Lucky!
Nuance
This post was going to be about Rayne and Honey B and what a fantastic duo they are. When they are doing their mall walking in the morning, I can hardly tell them apart. Rayne seeks out the more aloof Honey B for interactions all the time, and has even been joining her and Willy B in the front rooms at night as they bed down.
I captured a few photos of Rayne grooming Honey B today in the sunny front rooms and then converted them to black and white.
These photos are of a touching moment between two half-sisters who were recently united at the sanctuary. When I was watching them interact and taking these photos with the thought of being able to share this moment, my heart was bursting with joy. I’m so glad Honey B has Rayne now, and I’m so glad Rayne has Honey B. It wasn’t easy to get to this moment, but this is what sanctuary is all about.
Then I looked at the photos again. I asked myself how they would be perceived by people who don’t know this touching backstory or maybe don’t know anything at all about Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. What would they see?
We all jump to opinions, myself very much included in that “we”. This tendency often serves us well because we can make incredibly quick judgements that help us avoid harm and allow us to make sense of the world. This ability to quickly assess our surroundings and form judgements, despite its advantages, may just be at the root of all of our societal problems. And there’s no clearer window into that than on social media. We can see a single image and jump to so many conclusions in an instant, even if we have practically no knowledge or real understanding of what we are looking at or what the overall context is.
This has been on my mind for a long time. I know that sanctuaries, us included, censor and filter the images and information that we share about the places where we work. For one, we don’t always trust that “the general public” will take the extra time to gain more information or to consider that they don’t know as much as they think they do about the realities of life in a sanctuary.
For the vast majority of you who are reading this, you get it more than the average person. You’re curious, and maybe you’ve been reading this blog for a bit so you have the broader context. The feelings that arise when you look at images of the chimps comes from that knowledge. But when we post something on social media, it can go out to a bunch of people that don’t have that same knowledge.
Here at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, we made the decision to try not to filter too much. We show all of the spaces of the sanctuary, knowing that when we share a video of the chimps in the front rooms people will say, “that is not a sanctuary because the chimps are in cages.” It’s not the first time I’ve written about this. See here and here.
We value transparency and truth, and we try to sprinkle in the tough stuff in between all the fun and polish. But I think we still fall short. We want to make sure our “brand” is positive and uplifting and shows the stark contrast between “before” and “now.” We have learned through comments what fulfills people’s expectations about sanctuaries, what they respond positively to, and what raises concerns or confusion; this learning process inevitably influences what we share.
It worries me.
I know that other sanctuaries avoid certain subjects altogether, or never allow public photos of certain parts of their facilities. I absolutely understand this. No one wants to spend their evening, after posting a beautiful photo, answering questions that come from ignorance, like “why are you torturing that poor creature. She should be free.” No one wants the place they love and are proud of to suddenly be the target of a social media mob. There are people out there who have zero qualms about fabricating or deeply twisting things, and some of them are able to convince others of their stories.
The problem is, by not sharing more, we sanctuaries are perpetuating the ignorance and the overly idyllic view of what a sanctuary “should” be. I fear that this cycle is getting worse. I don’t know exactly what the answer is. The truth is that it can be difficult to discern a good sanctuary from a terrible facility. A good sanctuary will make occasional mistakes (it turns out sanctuaries are run by humans, and humans are fallible). Plus, standards change over time (thank goodness).
There’s a whole heck of a lot of nuance when making judgements about a sanctuary or any facility caring for others, and people these days don’t seem to be very good at nuance. We don’t want to hear about grey areas. We want to form an opinion.
If one is truly attempting to ascertain the relative “goodness” of a sanctuary, one place to start is looking for oversight. For example, we voluntarily have a USDA license and are accredited by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries. This is a start, but there are always going to be issues with the standards used to evaluate facilities, the subjective judgements of the humans doing the evaluating, and the decision whether to seek accreditation or not.
I will be sharing the updated interview I did with Jen Feuerstein about the group integration process, and we get into some of the realities of the challenges of caring for chimpanzees in captivity and the incredibly difficult choices that are made in the hopes that their lives can be improved. I promise we’ll share more on other difficult subjects in the future.
In the meantime, here are some more carefully-curated photos of Rayne and Honey B today 😉
Burrito in Recovery
Burrito spent much of his day just like this:
His friends did cause a ruckus midday that got him up and alert, and, later in the day, I saw him sitting on his “stoop” on the other side of the mesh while Negra groomed him and Foxie checked in on him. But that was enough activity for the day. He didn’t even want to move much to eat his dinner of mashed sweet potatoes.
Since we have had Burrito in recovery many times we know he’s usually out for a day after a procedure, so it was good he was even a little active and eating.
Since J.B.’s post yesterday about Burrito’s procedure, some people were asking how we knew that there was an issue with his tooth. It was an observation made by staff caregiver Kelsi who noticed that the left side of his face was swollen by his nose. Volunteer caregiver Krissy said she had also noticed that and newest staff caregiver Jenna shared a video that showed the swelling, but it was really only noticeable upon close inspection.
Per Dr. Erin, we first tried giving Burrito an antihistamine to see if the swelling went down, which would have indicated some sort of allergic reaction. When that did not result in a significant reduction in the swelling, there weren’t many other options for what it could be, and Dr. Erin started organizing the team in preparation of a tooth extraction. She surmised that it was likely his upper canine on that side.
Chimpanzees have some impressive canines. Willy B kindly allowed me to take this photo today while he was eating dinner in order to show you:
The part of the tooth that is visible doesn’t even begin to reveal the full tooth, though. Here is a photo of Burrito’s tooth that was removed yesterday, cleaned up by staff veterinary assistant Sofía:
You can imagine that it was quite a lot of work to get that tooth, with it’s long root, out of Burrito’s mouth. I’m happy to say that I was not personally in the room when that work was happening, but I could hear the drilling as we were cleaning.
No doubt Burrito will be a much happier man without that issue bothering him. And his smile will likely be even more charming.
Willy B’s missing front teeth, for example, is his signature look; one that he likes to check out whenever he gets the chance:
In fact, this is not Burrito’s first tooth removal at the sanctuary. Several years ago, he fractured his left lower canine and had an upper incisor pulled at the same time. That was when we had a much different set-up for procedures and the chimpanzee would have to be wheeled outside of the building to the back of an RV that J.B. had retrofitted into a medical clinic.
Though the “mobile clinic” worked fine, and was all we could manage given our resources at the time, I don’t think anyone misses those days. We are extremely happy to have a clinic within the building that is much better outfitted, and very grateful to donors who made this possible as part of Phase 1 of the building expansion.
The more procedures we do, the more we realize that there are certain things that would be helpful to have, so we will likely be looking to purchase some more medical equipment for the chimps in the future.
In the meantime, we are forever thankful to everyone who has contributed not just specifically to the expansion, onsite clinic, and equipment upgrades, but also so grateful to everyone who continuously supports the sanctuary, allowing us to continuously improve the care that we are able to provide all of the chimpanzees and the bovines.
Silent Communication
Today, I spent some time with Honey B in silence.
When I’m one-on-one with a chimpanzee in a quiet moment, I find myself trying to communicate to them through my gaze or just my presence.
I want them to know that I’m so sorry for every bad thing that’s happened to them.
I’m sorry that humans took so much away from them.
I’m sorry that they will never know what it’s like to live free.
I want them to know that this place is all about giving them the best life we can.
And that I love them unconditionally for the unique person they are.
National Animal Rights Awareness Week
This week is Animal Rights Awareness Week! Animal Rights Awareness Week occurs every third week of June and was created by the nonprofit organization In Defense of Animals in 1991. The week is used to “honor the animals who have been exploited and killed by humans around the world, and to create an opportunity to direct the public’s attention to the needs and wants of animals, with the idea that animals’ rights must be acknowledged and pushed to the forefront of our global consciousness.”
This year, they introduced six ways to support animals rights:
- Buy cruelty-free products
- Spread the word about animal rights
- Take action to support animal rights
- Research who you are donating to
- Ditch fur
- Go vegan
While I wouldn’t begin to try to force any of you to do any of these, I would humbly suggest doing at lease one or two to honor those who gave so much for the human race. Every little lifestyle choice helps.
There have been some big news recently in the animal rights world.
One such event was about Tonka, a chimpanzee used in entertainment, who was recently rescued after a yearlong legal battle for his release, followed by a nationwide search. When courts ordered for his release from a facility in Missouri, his owner claimed Tonka has passed on. Feeling suspicious around the owner’s story of his passing, a search was conducted for him. He was ultimately found living in a roach infested basement, in a tiny cage. He was immediately rescued and sent to fellow Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries and North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance accredited sanctuary Save the Chimps in Florida.
As a caregiver who works with chimpanzees who gave so much and given so little before sanctuary, I personally am thrilled for Tonka who can now walk around, see daylight, and experience a life with more opportunities.
Speaking of Save the Chimps, I am also thrilled the remaining chimpanzees at the Wildlife Waystation will soon call Save the Chimps home! Dubbed the Sunrise Seven, they are the last seven chimpanzees in need of a sanctuary home in the Chimps in Need campaign. This is the same campaign that helped bring Willy B, Honey B, Mave, Cy, Lucky, Rayne, Gordo, Terry, and Dora to Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest!
As a caregiver to sixteen chimpanzees who have spent their lives in the biomedical industry and entertainment, we strive to make their lives as best as possible. Though we cannot erase their past, we can try to make their lives as comfortable here on out. One way we do this is use chimpanzee behaviors when interacting with them to help promote positive behaviors. Staff also change our language we use when discussing them with each other. The simplest example is that we say we “serve” them meals vice we “feed” them. They are fully capable individuals of feeding themselves, we just serve them the food. When training as a volunteer and staff, we describe it as we are servers at a restaurant and they are the customers. I am a firm believer in the saying that if you change the way you talk and the vocabulary you use talking about certain things changes the way you think about certain things. By doing this, we view all 20 of our residents (bovine included) as separate unique individuals with wants, needs, likes, dislikes, and so much more instead of just some living “thing.”
We also provide them with warm, comfortable blankets to promote the natural chimpanzee behavior of nesting. Each day they are also provided enrichment to stimulate their minds. This helps promote species specific behaviors, curb atypical typical behaviors, and help to alleviate boredom. The have structures to climb upon, and many spaces to choose from to spend their time. The point is to make them as comfortable as possible.
Again, these are 20 individuals who have given so much and were given so little in return until their new lives in sanctuary. And there are many more out there who have yet to find a sanctuary home. This spans beyond chimpanzees and cattle. Species such as macaques, beagles, mice, rabbits, kittens, dolphins, seals, the list goes on, are still used for medical testing, cosmetic testing, and entertainment purposes. This week is used to honor those who gave that sacrifice, and to raise awareness for those still in those still giving that sacrifice.
That being said, please enjoy these photos of our residents living their life in sanctuary!
Here are some photos from yesterday’s Trifecta Jubilee:
The Cattle in their new pasture:
Honey
Meredith:
Betsy:
Nutmeg and Betsy:
And a few snapshots from today:
Jamie in her Greenhouse:
Foxie:
Dora and Mave:
I hoped you enjoyed that photo dump! 😅
Honey B’s 33rd Birthday Movie
How lucky are we that we have so many celebrations in June!
Also, how lucky are we to have such amazing supporters?! Your comments about caregivers for Animal Sanctuary Caregiver Day will be read over and over again. We are all so grateful to have you all behind us all, providing so much encouragement and sharing your kind words.
Speaking of supporters, Paulette sponsored Honey B’s birthday today. It seemed like an extra special celebration in my view because she had more friends to share in her fun. I hope you enjoy the video, and I hope you enjoy this photo of Honey B looking into your eyes the way she looks into the eyes of her caregivers each day ;).