chimpanzee retirement
GAPA event tonight in Seattle
Come to this talk with Debra Durham tonight! I’ll be there and will talk about the sanctuary to attendees.
Primatologist Debra Durham, Ph.D., will discuss her work with chimpanzee sanctuaries in Washington and around the world. She’ll also explain why we need to urge Sen. Maria Cantwell to support the Great Ape Protection Act (GAPA), a bill that would prohibit invasive research on chimpanzees and release about 500 chimpanzees to sanctuaries.
When: Wednesday, Jan. 20, 7:30 – 9 p.m.
Where: Seattle Library
1000 4th Ave., Level 4, Room 2
Seattle, WA 98104
Tel: 206-386-4636
For more information about the event and how to get involved in advocating for GAPA, please see the Physicians Committee for Responsible medicine website: http://pcrm.org/resch/gapa/involved.html.
Missy’s icy chase game
Yesterday, Missy spent some time outside playing chase with JB. It was a bit of a slippery slope for JB, though! 🙂
Why it’s called enrichment
Foxie loves troll dolls and seems to always be thinking of new things to do with them. The video below shows her playing with me this morning. Clearly, the term “enrichment” applies to troll dolls – they certainly do enrich Foxie’s life (and mine as a result).
Foxie and her troll dolls from Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest on Vimeo.
Negra’s son Noah
CSNW supporter Jennifer Douglas and her husband James are sponsoring the migration of Noah on behalf of his mother Negra. Check out the photo of Noah below – he looks so much like his mom!!
![Noah (STC) [Bubba's Family]](https://chimpsnw.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Noah-STC-Bubbas-Family1.jpg "Noah (STC) [Bubba's Family]")
Noah currently lives at the Save the Chimps facility in New Mexico which was formerly owned by the Coulston Foundation – a notoriously horrid research facility that closed down when Save the Chimps stepped in to rescue the chimpanzees. Like all of the chimpanzees at the former Coulston Foundation laboratory, Noah will be making the journey to Florida where he will live on an island with a large group of chimpanzees. We’re so pleased that Jennifer and James and so many of you are reaching out to help the relatives of the Cle Elum Seven in other sanctuaries.
Thanks to Candy Crannell for alerting us that Noah is now on the Save the Chimps website, and for sponsoring the migration of Foxie’s daughter Angie (who also looks remarkably like her mother). Also check out Negra’s daughter Angel from this previous post. Many of the sons and daughters of the Cle Elum Seven are now at Save the Chimps, so more on relatives soon!
Phantom Nesting
Although we have never witnessed Burrito build his own nest with blankets, as we have mentioned in other blog posts, he will often sleep in someone elses’ nest. Today, I caught Burrito engaging a behavior we, at CSNW, call Phantom Nesting. This is a behavior both he and Foxie occasionally do, which involves clapping and running their clasped hands along the fence, the wall, and/or the floor. Interestingly, this is not a behavior that is seen in the wild, and is rarely seen at all. As far as we know, the behavior has only been observed in a few captive individuals, but definitely seems to be related to nesting.
*Editor’s Note (from Diana): we don’t know much about this behavior. We’d love to hear from others who work with chimpanzees both in captivity and in the wild to find out if you’ve observed nesting behavior in the absence of “normal” nesting material and/or if you’ve seen the same clapping and arm movements described above and shown in the video below.
Negra thanks you
Below is the photo of Negra taken on the first day she was in sanctuary and a photo taken just an hour ago. Negra continues to change. She’s been very playful and more active this winter than last. She still avoids conflict and likes to have blankets over her head. She has her favorite foods. And she still loves to see humans dance for her.
Negra’s continued signs of contentment are all because of the support that we have had from so many. Without individual donations, the sanctuary and the quality care that we provide would still be a figment of our imaginations. So much has happened in such a short amount of time, thanks to you all!
Today I wanted to say a special birthday thanks from Negra to a couple of people who are helping to get the stories of the Cle Elum Seven out into the world. Kathy Cochran, whose birthday is today and Margaret Parkinson, who celebrated her birthday on December 31st. These two remarkable ladies collaborated to create the book, Sanctuary: Year One that we have for sale in our online store. Thank you both and happy birthdays!
Negra on her first day at the sanctuary, after living in laboratories for decades
Negra tonight, finishing up the seeds from her night bag
