Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
Seeing the chimps check out the GoPro camera still hasn’t gotten old… especially when it’s the boss who’s checking it out.
Jamie hasn’t inspected the GoPro like many of the other chimps have. It’s unusual because normally, as soon as we add something new to her environment, Jamie immediately does all that she can to try to tear it apart. But the other day, she decided it was time to get down to the bottom of this “strange object we keep putting in the enclosure”.
Each day after cleaning the chimpanzees’ enclosures, we set out a couple of baskets of new enrichment (toys, magazines, clothing, blankets, etc.). Aside from a couple of obvious favorites – Jamie and her cowgirl boots, Foxie and her troll dolls – it’s somewhat hard to predict what will be of interest to the chimps. A few days ago Burrito grabbed these flamingo boxers (courtesy of volunteer Becca) and initiated some crazy play with his caregivers.
It’s important to distinguish Burrito’s play with these boxer shorts from chimpanzees you might see in movies or on TV wearing clothes. Chimpanzees who “work” in the entertainment industry are often duct-taped into clothing and forced, through physical intimidation or abuse, to perform. (Check out Executive Director Sarah’s informative blog post on this topic here.) Burrito, on the other hand, is not forced to do anything. We work every day to give Burrito and the rest of the Cle Elum Seven as much choice as possible, and we love to see what choices they make.
Today we were pleased to have Kittitas County Fire District #1 from Thorp stop by the sanctuary to visit with the chimps. The crew, along with Kittitas County Fire District #7 (whom we hope to also have out someday soon), were the first to respond on the sanctuary property the day of the Taylor Bridge Fire. We were super happy to have them out again, this time on a much calmer note. The chimps were pretty enriched by their fancy Nomex wildland garb!
Jamie was especially interested in all the boots
And Jody came over and gave them all a very friendly greeting. I think she was charmed by all the men with facial hair. 😉
We’ll never be able to express to this crew how much they mean to us and how much we appreciate the hard work these and all of the firefighters did to help contain the Taylor Bridge Fire. You guys will always be heroes in our book!
If you were on Facebook this morning, you might have noticed that I posted a link to the video from the chimps’ first day out on Young’s Hill—exactly one year ago today! I can’t believe how quickly this year has gone by—I remember that day like it was yesterday. A lot has happened in the last year and we’ve seen so many changes in the chimps. Burrito hasn’t been the most confident in the open air but he is going farther and farther. Missy is a fearless running machine. Annie has gotten to walk through grass that she hadn’t seen since her infancy in Africa. Jody and Foxie were both hesitant in the beginning but will now spend hours exploring the hill. Jamie never showed any hesitation to exploring every inch of the hill, and protecting it from intruders (deer on the other side of the fence). Negra still doesn’t spend too much extended time out there, but she goes out most days first thing and soaks in some sun before heading back in to her favorite spot in the greenhouse or inside the playroom. Today, she was the first one out when I opened the door! She quickly grabbed some forage and went back in before I started filming, so I don’t have any Negra footage, but I caught shots of all the others enjoying their anniversary forage.
I can’t wait to see what changes and growth this next year will bring. Any ideas?
Supporter Dana Alan Troyer thoughtfully sent the chimps the Disneynature movie “Chimpanzee”. Burrito and Foxie have always been fascinated by movies and they were especially excited about this one! You may notice at one point it looks as though Burrito is “dancing” to the beat of the music, but in reality I suspect he was just generally excited about seeing the chimps on TV. He loves TV but is particularly interested in movies with free-living chimpanzees. His face while watching the movie was just priceless! Thanks, Dana!
Though the nation’s top ad agencies as well as several companies have pledged to never use great apes in commercials because of public outcry, there are still chimpanzees being actively used in entertainment, forced to perform for a cheap laugh. Last November, a TV show on Nick Jr. called the Fresh Beat Band featured an episode with two young chimpanzees, dressed in human clothes, side-by-side with humans. Since this show is geared toward children, it could potentially influence young minds to believe that having a chimpanzee as a pet in a human household is an acceptable—and even fun—thing to do. Portraying chimpanzees as cute and cuddly attractions seriously misinforms the public about their true nature. As you may remember from a few years ago, Travis, a “pet” chimpanzee, brutally mauled a woman—which was not surprising for those who are chimpanzee experts and know that they should not live with humans due to their natural aggressive behavior. Very recently, reports came from Japan about an entertainment chimpanzee who attacked a woman. Chimpanzees simply do not belong in a human environment! Since this episode of the Fresh Beat Band is still running on Nick Jr., it is still influencing children into thinking pet ownership is OK. Please write to the producer to ask them to pull the episode from rotation and pledge to never work with apes again.
Sample letter to write to the producer of the Fresh Beat Band: [email protected]
I recently became aware that last November, you aired an episode of the Fresh Beat Band with young chimpanzees dressed in human clothing, and that the episode is still airing. You should know that great apes used in entertainment are torn away from their mothers as infants, often repeatedly beaten during training, and then discarded when they become too strong to be managed.
Showing a chimpanzee side-by-side with humans sends the message that they are cute and cuddly attractions, and especially since your show is targeted toward children, your audience is easily influenced by what you portray. Chimpanzees do not make good pets as they should be with their mothers when they’re young, and when they are older they become very strong and are potentially violent. Surely you have heard about recent chimp attacks in the news? This episode portrays chimpanzees in a human environment, making it seem like pet ownership is OK when it is not.
Please make the compassionate decision to stop re-running the episode called “Chimps in Charge,” and please consider to never exploit great apes for entertainment purposes again. Thank you for your consideration of my comments on this urgent matter.
Live action TV shows and films that feature entertainment chimpanzees are not the only forms of media that can have an influence on public perception—print ads are just as influential. Tieks, a popular shoe company, has several pictures from a photo shoot done with an infant chimpanzee a couple years ago posted on their Facebook page. The images can potentially mislead people into thinking that chimpanzees dressed up in clothes, “smiling,” and being side-by-side with humans is funny. Unfortunately, the “smile” we see on greeting cards as well as in television shows, advertisements, and movies is not funny at all—it’s a fear response. Please ask Tieks to take the photos of a young chimpanzee off their Facebook page, and encourage them to make a pledge to never use chimpanzees in future marketing campaigns.
Sample letter to write to Tieks shoe company: [email protected]
I was shocked and disappointed to hear that there are images on your Facebook page of a chimpanzee dressed in human clothes and “smiling” with their top teeth. In reality, that is a “fear grimace”—chimpanzees make this face when they are afraid, which indicates that this chimpanzees has likely been threatened or abused during their training.
Using a chimpanzee for a cheap laugh sends the message that these amazing beings are simply props. Surely you are aware that chimpanzees are endangered species in critical need of protection? You are exploiting chimpanzees for your own profits and this is an unacceptable business practice.
Please make the compassionate decision to remove the photos currently posted on your Facebook page. They are scattered throughout several of your albums. I also hope that you will commit to never using images that exploit great apes for promotion purposes again. Thank you for your consideration of my comments on this urgent matter, and I look forward to your response.
**If you send a letter to the Fresh Beat Band producer and/or Tieks, please BCC [email protected] for tracking purposes. Thank you!
Chimps, just like humans, have really expressive faces. Here at CSNW, Foxie definitely has one of the most expressive faces, many of which we’ve dubbed “Foxie’s cute face” or “Foxie’s sweet face.” Here’s a compilation of Foxie faces I found today, stretching back a couple of years:
Foxie’s “I got a new troll” face:
Foxie with a mouthful of food:
Foxie’s relaxed face:
Foxie’s “intense face”:
Foxie’s play face: (She is wrestling with Jamie)
Foxie’s sleepy smooshed face:
Foxie’s hoot face:
Foxie’s up close cute face:
