Look who managed to bring in the biggest haul from the lunch forage today! Cabbage, celery, carrots, and green beans never looked so good.
Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Thank you, Michael!
Today was sponsored by Michael Lee who wishes for the chimpanzees “to have a stress free day, everyday, to do whatever they desire….even something naughty!” Michael further shared his gratitude for “all those who go out of their way to save the chimps and give them back a life they deserve, who will continue to look out for them and provide for their needs. I wish you all to have good health, and may you continue to be blessed with the joy of knowing that all your effort has not gone unappreciated. On behalf of all the chimps….Thank You.”
Michael, this is so kind and thoughtful of you. And as if that weren’t enough, I would also like to note that today is Michael’s birthday! I cannot think of a more generous thing to do than to honor others on one’s own birthday. Thank you so much, Michael, and have a wonderful day!
The Last Days of Summer
We are having a last burst of summer at the sanctuary this week with temperatures back in the 90’s. The flies and wasps are endlessly buzzing and the chimps and humans are all endlessly swatting. The chimp house is completely quiet as I type this. Negra is sound asleep in her window nest. Jamie is in her nest flipping through two new boot catalogs I gave her and filing her nails with an emery board. She is also making the occasional happy groan when she sees something she likes. (For those of you who are new to our blog, Jamie was raised in a human home by a trainer until the age of 9 and sometimes chooses to engage in more human oriented activities). Burrito, Foxie, Jody, and Annie are lying in the greenhouse with their feet propped up on the caging, arms splayed out to their sides. And Missy, always on the move Missy, just raced me through the chimp house to the window by the chimpanzees’ cherry tomato bush and asked me to pick some for her, and I of course was happy to oblige.
Autumn is definitely in the air these days although you wouldn’t know it right now. It’s hard to believe we will all be talking about cold temperatures and snow before long. But for now we can revel in the last lazy days of summer. We hope you are all enjoying the special days that only summertime brings as much as the chimpanzees. Here are a few photos of some of the chimpanzees during a forage on Young’s Hill this week:
Annie:
Missy:
Foxie and Dora:
Burrito:
Happy Birthday, Shannon!
Today was sponsored by Janet Henry in honor of her daughter, Shannon Noble’s, birthday! It’s Janet’s wish to celebrate Shannon and her love and compassion for not only the chimpanzees, but for all animals. Janet, what a lovely way to honor your daughter. Thank you both so much for caring about the chimpanzees and including them in your special day. Shannon, on behalf of the chimpanzees, we hope your day is full of pant hoots and food grunts! Happy Birthday!!
A Growing Confidence
Negra’s favorite spot is typically her nest which she builds every day up on the catwalk in the playroom. This is a narrow walkway around the upstairs perimeter of the playroom. Negra builds a big, fluffy nest next to the window that overlooks the neighboring fields and valley. From this vantage point she also can easily see the comings and going from the kitchen to the chimp area and I always look up and greet her as I pass by. Negra will often throw out her arm toward us or nod her head in greeting and seems content to keep her interaction at that (unless you are dancing for her, but that’s another story). The other day I passed by and glanced up to greet Negra, but she wasn’t there. All of a sudden, she came running (well, running Negra style) across the playroom toward me and stuck her lips outside the caging to ask for a kiss. (We offer the back of our hands to the chimpanzees if they want to kiss or tickle us, but for safety never cross the caging).
Now sometimes Negra offers us kisses, but sometimes Negra also feigns offering kisses and pokes and threat barks at us instead. Yes, Negra. It can be hard to tell when Negra is happy. Just like us, sometimes she’s just grumpy and sometimes it understandably might be something more. Negra was captured in the wild, we believe in 1973, but possibly earlier, and then spent over three decades in biomedical research. She has also been part of a study of post-traumatic stress disorder in former laboratory chimpanzees. So in short, even though Negra sometimes initiates interactions with her caregivers, you never know what response you may get in return.
But on this occasion, much to my delight, Negra not only offered me several kisses, she also presented her back for a knuckle rub. Now this is even dicier territory. Negra is particularly sensitive to touch and sometimes it triggers reactions that appear to be PTSD related. And even though she asks for you to rub her back, she sometimes responds by screaming or threat barking at you as soon as you touch her. These incidents are truly heartbreaking. Especially when you think about what life traumas she has experienced to evoke these responses, and even more so when you feel responsible for having triggered them. So holding my breath, I very slowly and gently knuckle rubbed her back as I spoke to her. Not only did she remain calm, but continued to ask for more!
And so it went between Negra and I for several minutes. Negra asking for kisses, back rubs, and even head rubs. And then…….Negra reached out to tickle the back of my hand and LAUGHED! Complete with a play face and droopy lip! I will tell you right now I got tears in my eyes. Not because I was so honored to experience this rare moment with Negra (though of course, I was), but because it seemed to be one more step toward healing for her. One more step toward peace and her confident chimpanzee self.
Annie’s 39th birthday
Wow. I can’t believe Annie is 39 today! It’s an honorary birthday, because we don’t know exactly when Annie was born. She was captured from Africa and used in biomedical testing for over three decades before coming to CSNW.
Today, we celebrated her freedom from the lab by throwing two parties—first in the greenhouse, we set up a small forage of peanuts and primate chow along with perfect party decor including a cupcake piñata. Then at lunch, volunteers Denice and Joel and myself set up a pretty cool forage on the hill… we dug holes in the ground and “planted” whole veggies—carrots with the greens, whole cabbage plants, beets, and some green onions (Annie’s favorite)!
I never tire of seeing all the chimps out on Young’s Hill, knowing that now they have the chance to have grass under their feet and sun on their backs. It’s something that Annie hadn’t experienced since her infancy before coming to the sanctuary. And today they not only got to forage for their food like chimps do in the wild, but they also got to “harvest” their own plants to enjoy!
Party #1 – in the greenhouse
Annie’s cupcake piñata:
Jamie grabbed it first:
But quickly moved on, leaving it for Annie!
Burrito found a sock with a box of nuts in it:
Party #2 – garden forage on Young’s Hill
Volunteers Denice and Joel helped with the planting:
Jody really loved the garden forage. She cleaned up! Here she’s carrying her bounty with her:
And enjoying cabbage in the greenhouse:
Foxie found some chow pieces to munch on:
Missy collected a bunch of food:
She enjoyed some on the shaky bridge, but then took the rest into the greenhouse with her. Negra didn’t come out for the forage (she was much more comfortable in her nest!) but Missy, being such a good friend, brought some carrots and green onions for Negra to enjoy. Negra also picked up some cabbage scraps, so she got basically the same food at the harvesters outside. Why should the Queen have to go work in the garden anyway, when others will just bring her the goods? 🙂
And Annie grabbed all the beets:
Which gave her “beet lipstick”
Help keep the birthday celebrations going on all week! FLOAT (For Love of All Things) has created a unique clothing design, and for this week only, for every sale they make they will donate $8 to Annie and everyone else at CSNW. Please share the site on Facebook and forward to your friends! The proceeds for CSNW only last until the end of the day on Sunday, September 15th. So hurry and get your shopping in now!
Kindred Beings release
One of our guest bloggers, Dr. Sheri Speede, has a great new book released today called Kindred Beings: What Seventy-Three Chimpanzees Taught Me About Life, Love and Connection. Be sure to check it out! Sheri will be doing a book signing tour, and will be stopping in nearby Seattle on October 10th at the Elliott Bay Book Company. We’ll post reminders about the book signing on our Facebook page—you definitely don’t want to miss the chance to meet with Sheri.
You might recall Sheri’s post on Jacky. Here’s an excerpt from her new book about a chimpanzee named Nama.
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Sheri Speede’s first interaction with adult female chimpanzee Nama, who was tethered by a five foot chain around her neck for 16 years . . .
As I walked slowly within her reach, she took my arm, and I allowed her to pull me in close to her. I sat down beside her in the wet dirt, trying to avoid the diarrhea. She looked at my face curiously for a few moments, glancing at my eyes but not really looking into them. She was inspecting me, rather than trying to communicate. After a minute or two, her hand hovered in front of my face, and she began smacking her mouth open and closed rhythmically. Understanding that she was about to groom me reassured and relaxed me, but her fingers on my face were not really so gentle. She was digging at the corners of my eyes in a way I didn’t enjoy. I turned my face away. When I looked back at her, she perused my face again briefly, and then tried picking my nose with a finger that smelled of feces. I turned away again. I clacked my own mouth and tried to groom her face, but she didn’t like it either. She turned her head to escape my hand as I had done with hers. This wasn’t going perfectly.
Finally, when I lowered my hands to groom her chest, she pushed her shoulders back and straightened her neck to give me good access. I moved both my hands over her chest the way I thought another chimpanzee would—parting the grayish hairs, flicking off dirt particles, gently scratching at blemishes on skin stretched tautly over easily discernable ribs. After about 10 minutes, Nama lowered her head and returned her chest and shoulders to normal posture. When I looked up to see what she wanted to do next—not more face grooming, I hoped—her eyes were seeking mine with a desire to communicate that startled me. While she held my gaze, she took my right hand and placed it purposefully on the chain around her bony neck, rubbed bare of hair by the shackle. Her lower lip hung open, and her eyes were steady, beseeching. She was requesting the freedom she needed most of all and was expecting no less than simple action as an answer from a friend. All I could give her was a promise that she couldn’t understand, although I meant it with all my heart.
“Nama, I will take that chain off of you, just as soon as I am able to. I will never rest a single day until I do.”
Nama on her chain she wore for 16 years. Photo © Sheri Speede.
Niete and Nama (standing on right) greeting each other at Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee Rescue Center. Photo © Agnes Souchal.
Pick up a copy of Kindred Beings today!
