Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

chimpanzee retirement

Bobbing for apples

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It’s fall time and that means apples are very plentiful. Today we decided to let the chimps bob for apples! We filled buckets with water and added small whole apples. As predicted, no one really “bobbed” for their apples—they just used their hands 🙂 But they definitely loved the forage—food squeaks were echoing through the chimp house as we scattered the buckets around.

Jamie in particular loves whole apples and she gets very excited whenever we include them in forages. Today was no different, and she was sure to get her share (and then some!) But everyone else enjoyed the forage as well.

Jamie:
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Annie:
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Jody:
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After all that foraging, Jamie curled up for a nice nap in the sun:
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Eye Contact

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Eye contact can be a powerful and effective way of communicating between individuals. Sometimes all it takes to form a deep and everlasting connection with someone is to stare into each other’s eyes. No words need to be exchanged to solidify the connection or explain what the other is thinking. A long gaze into each other’s eyes can act as a recognition of kindred beings; an exchange that allows for acceptance of one another.

Sharing such an intimate act as eye gazing with each of the chimpanzees here at the sanctuary is something I truly cherish. It has helped create and solidify a bond of friendship, connection, acceptance and compassion over the years.

I understand that many of you may not have the chance to personally look into the eyes of a chimpanzee, so I wanted to share with you as best I can what it is like to look into the eyes of these seven magnetic beings.

Can you guess whose eyes are whose?

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Ice cold determination

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It is a beautiful, sunny day at the sanctuary, but looks can be deceiving. We’ve only made it up to 27 degrees with a wind chill of 15. It’s very still and quiet outside and even the birds seem to be hunkered down out of the cold.

“Negra’s Valley” that she loves to watch over from her nest and the view from Young’s Hill:

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If you are new to the blog, Young’s Hill is the chimpanzees’ 2-acre outdoor enclosure and the chimpanzees have access to it year round (providing the voltage on the electric fence stays in our established security perimeters). While the chimps don’t care to spend a lot of time outside in extreme temperatures hot or cold, the option is there as their choice to make. And if you’ve been following the blog for awhile, you know that it takes some pretty significant weather conditions to keep Jamie from her Young’s Hill perimeter walks. But today was not one of them. Jamie has walked (or more accurately, ran) around the hill with her caregivers five times in these temperatures!

All the other chimpanzees spent their day nesting, grooming, and playing in front of every available sunny window so everyone stayed nice and toasty. And it took awhile to “warm up” enough outside before even Jamie would brave the hill:

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Here a caregiver is offering to go on a walk with Jamie and she sees her favorite boots:

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She spent a few minutes pondering but decided she was up for it:

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There was a lot of poking her head out the door to test the waters so to speak, but once she set her mind to it she was off! Which meant the caregivers had to run to catch up with her! Jamie has a will and determination unlike anyone I know. Head into the wind, she wasn’t deterred:

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We passed a herd of deer at the top of the hill, but Jamie had no time to bother with them:

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Once we got to the other side of the hill where we were less protected from the wind Jamie decided we needed to pick up the pace. And I have to say I agreed. We ran all the way back to the greenhouse and warm blankets fresh from the dryer:

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In extreme temperatures we trust Jamie to make her own choices about going for walks or not. That said, given her determination we closely monitor temperatures, and Jamie, to make sure she stays safe and healthy. Rain, shine, snow or wind, Jamie makes the most of each day in sanctuary. And we couldn’t be happier to be running along side of her.

Take Action Tuesday: One Direction’s wrong turn

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Last month, we sent out an action alert about the band One Direction’s new music video with a chimpanzee named Eli. Several advocacy groups, experts, and supporters from around the world wrote to the band, but so far we haven’t heard any kind of commitment from the boys to avoid working with apes in future productions. Since their new album is releasing next week, we want to continue to put pressure on the band and ask that they make the pledge before their album release—and until they do, we will spread the word to fans and tell them not to buy the album.

Many of our readers are aware of the tragic lives of chimpanzees in entertainment—chimps like Jamie, for instance, live with trainers when they are young and when they are too big to be managed, they have to live inside a cage for the rest of their lives. Jamie is lucky to have reached a sanctuary, but many others have not had that chance. Some of Eli’s trainer’s former chimp “actors” have been cast off to decrepit roadside zoos. The trainer himself, Steve Martin, has been cited numerous times for things such as failure to have an environmental-enhancement program to promote the psychological well-being of primates, failure to supply adequate shelter from the elements and inadequate ventilation, failure to provide animals with minimum space, filthy cages, and improper feeding.

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We’re so disappointed that the One Direction band members are promoting the exotic animal trade rather than using their celebrity statuses to protect chimpanzees, who are critically endangered in the wild.

We urge you to continue to put pressure on One Direction to remove the photos and promise to never use apes again. Please post on their Facebook and Twitter pages and let them know that chimps like Eli should not be used in entertainment. Not only are there numerous welfare concerns, but seeing chimpanzees in close contact with humans perpetuates the idea that they can be treated as pets.

You may also send a letter to the band c/o Lisa Wolfe at [email protected]

Sample Comment on One Direction’s Facebook:

I am disappointed to see that One Direction went ahead and included clips with Eli in the Steal My Girl video, despite hearing from concerned advocates. Chimpanzees do not belong in music videos and you should know that Eli’s trainer is cited for dozens of animal welfare violations (www.eyesonapes.org/eli). Showing these images perpetuates the idea that chimps make good pets. Please make the compassionate decision pledge to never exploit great apes for entertainment purposes again. I won’t be buying your new album until you make that promise, and I’ll tell all my friends to do the same. Thank you for your consideration of my comments on this urgent matter.

Sample Tweets to One Direction:

@OneDirection sad to see Eli in #StealMyGirlVideo. I won’t buy your new album until you pledge to never use apes again! www.EyesOnApes.org/eli

@Louis_Tomlinson @zaynmalik Eli had a nasty chain on his neck in the #StealMyGirlVideo pics! Please promise you won’t work with apes again.

We would love to see Eli and all remaining chimpanzees in entertainment reach a sanctuary, so they can receive the lifetime quality care they deserve and get a second chance at life like Jamie. We’d love to hear stories about sanctuary life someday for Eli and others like this one of Jamie:

This morning, new volunteer caregiver-in-training Lizz kept Jamie busy for quite awhile by dropping a piece of banana just outside the fencing. Jamie first used a magazine, but when that didn’t help much, Denice gave her a plastic tube which was much more helpful. Once she got the banana up against the fencing she used her fingers to delicately move the banana to spot where she could pull it through. We’ve talked a lot before about Jamie’s knack for projects and keeping busy, but when she’s not working on various projects—she’s quite talented at nest-making, and consequently, nap-taking.

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The final thing you can do to help Eli is to spread the word! Please share this blog on social media and encourage your friends to speak up for him, too.

Kongs for Evening Enrichment

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Another one of our evening enrichment puzzles is putting nuts, peanut butter or mashed up banana into holes in kongs. The chimpanzees use their fingers or a tool (or a combination of both) to get at the tasty treats inside, but sometimes the treats can be pretty tough to get out.

Jamie spent the better part of the morning working on her kong that was left over from the previous evening. Evidently, there was a hazelnut that was trapped inside and she could not free it. She tried using all the tools at her disposal, including her finger, her tongue, the arm of a troll doll, and a short wooden tool. When none of them worked I offered her a hard plastic chop stick to use.

Happy Birthday, Larissa!

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Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by Larissa Madrigal! Today also happens to be Larissa’s birthday and she shared that there was no better gift than “helping our genetic superiors!”

What an incredibly generous thing to do on your own special day, Larissa. Thank you so much for caring about the chimpanzees and making their lives better! From all of the primates here at CSNW, we hope you have a fabulous birthday!!

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The Power to Captivate

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I’ve been working closely with chimpanzees for over a decade now, and sometimes I forget how unusual my job is. Just like anything you do day in and day out, being a chimpanzee caregiver starts to feel routine after awhile. Not boring – never boring! – but routine. It’s such a strange and amazing little world we caregivers live in, but because we live in it, it seems downright normal. We find ourselves in some truly surreal situations here at the sanctuary – stuffing a troll doll’s head with peanut butter for an enrichment project or wearing a single ill-fitting cowboy boot and taking a perimeter walk around Young’s Hill with the alpha chimpanzee – but even these things stop seeming weird the longer you do them.

But I’ve learned that no matter how many days, months, or years I spend caring for chimps, they never lose their power to captivate. Sometimes it’s seeing them do something amazing or funny or endearing that takes me back a decade or so to when I was first falling in love with chimps. And sometimes it’s just having a moment to study their incredible faces. I find myself mesmerized by each hair, wrinkle, freckle, and scar.

Annie:

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Jody:

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Burrito:

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Foxie:

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