Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
Normally we don’t give the chimps laundry baskets, not because they are unsafe (because they aren’t) but because we need them to do all the laundry, to dry all the washed toys, and to have a spot for the day’s enrichment. So, we reserve them for human use only, and the chimps understand that. If they ever get their hands on something they “aren’t supposed to have,” they think it’s pretty funny. Especially Foxie:
Ever have one of those mornings where you aren’t really sleepy anymore, but you still don’t want to get out of bed?
CSNW’s advocacy program, Primate Patrol, mainly focuses on raising public awareness about issues that chimpanzees and other primates face in the entertainment industry. We are starting to broaden our efforts and provide tools for people to help apes in need for a wider range of issues. You may have seen our regular advocacy posts called “Take Action Tuesday,” where we have posted information on how to take action for exploited apes. (Most recently we posted about this petition—sign it now if you haven’t already!)
As part of our plans to broaden the program we are looking for a new logo and design. We want to see what talented folks are out there, so we are having a logo design contest, open to anyone! Visit this page to find out contest details. The new program will be called Eyes on Apes. Click on the contest link to read the mission statement and help inspire your creative design! We’re hoping contestants can come up with a tagline, too. If you have art or graphic design skills, feel free to send us your mock ups to [email protected] and please share the contest page with your graphic design friends and family!
As a prize for the logo we love the most, we are awarding a beautiful 8×10 matted print of Jamie, as well as a $100 gift certificate to the CSNW store. Jamie was exploited by the entertainment industry and pet trade and then used in invasive biomedical testing before being rescued by CSNW just over 4 years ago. She is one of the smartest primates I’ve ever known and it is so sad to think of how miserable she must have been in her previous life. Captivity is never an ideal place for chimpanzees, but we hope through our advocacy efforts that individuals like Jamie will get to a sanctuary, too. So, in recognition of Jamie, the contest will go up until October 31 (her honorary birthday).
Today, volunteer Ken brought out his backhoe to dig holes for the footings of Negra’s cabin on Young’s Hill. He and J.B. have been out there all day working hard, and we’re hopeful construction will be complete in the next day or so. As you can see from the photos below, it’s going to be fairly close to the raceway/entrance to the hill from the Greenhouse. That is being done with Negra in mind since she doesn’t usually venture out too far from the door, but I’m getting the feeling that everyone is going to love the cabin. I’m envisioning 7 cozy chimps grooming each other in their mini greenhouse on the hill. Ahhhh….
As we discussed last week, the National Institute of Health (NIH) recently announced that they are “retiring” 110 chimps from the New Iberia Research Center (NIRC) in Louisiana. Ten of those chimpanzees are going to Chimp Haven, a sanctuary not far from NIRC. The other 100? They are going to Texas Biomedical Research Institute in San Antonio. Though they say they won’t be used in any more invasive testing, this isn’t a true “retirement.” The chimpanzees should be going to a sanctuary like Chimp Haven or the other six members of the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance (NAPSA).
Please sign our petition to the NIH and help give these 100 chimps a retirement in a true sanctuary. Then spread the petition by sending it to your contacts via email and posting on Facebook, Twitter and other social media. Show the NIH that the public cares about chimpanzees and that we insist former biomedical chimpanzees go to true sanctuaries.
Foxie and I just spent about a half hour going through her doll collection. I was doing some work in the kitchen when she started making raspberry sounds to get my attention. When I looked her way, she pointed towards the bin of dolls. I went through it to see if there were any obvious new favorites I could pass her way but since I was unsure, I decided to pull out the entire bin so that Foxie could help me pick which one she wanted. We often do this for the chimps so that they get the choice, especially with Jamie who so often knows exactly what she wants. When I walked into the chimp area with the bin of dolls, Foxie took off running, starting a game of chase. We ran around the chimp area for a little while, with me chasing Foxie with her bin of dolls and Foxie spinning and laughing hysterically. We then set up in front of one of the front rooms. I sifted through the bin, pulling out ones I thought she might especially love. Foxie made her choices known by pointing and head nodding and I passed a few select dolls her way. With each one that I passed her, she kissed them and held them to her chest for a moment before turning back to the bin to see what else she could choose. We played “pass the troll” for a while, where she tosses a smaller troll out to me and I tickle her with it or we play chase with it, and then I pass it back. All of this typical, every day Foxie stuff– at least for the last 4 years…
While in the biomedical lab, Foxie was used as a breeder and had five babies, all of whom were taken from her almost immediately after they were born. She was never given the chance to be a mother. A few months after arriving at CSNW, Foxie fell in love with troll dolls, often carrying them around on her back and cradling them like a baby, a love that recently branched out to Dora the Explorer. Her love is complex though, and sometimes we witness her beating her dolls on the floor or with a tool. But a few moments later, she is back to loving and kissing them. We will never know what is going through her head, so it’s hard to say if she truly thinks of them as some sort of surrogate child (though I’m certain Foxie understands they are not real), but after years and years of having her babies taken away from her, it’s such an amazing feeling to be able to not only give her a “baby”, but to have her trust us enough to give it back after a game of “baby” keep away. And it all brings her so much joy! Chimps are resilient– we say it all the time– but after all the Cle Elum Seven have been through, it just can’t be said enough.
When the bouncy bridge was first finished back in August, one of the first things I thought of was how cool it was going to be when we see the chimps playing chase on it. I still haven’t seen crazy rambunctious play on it yet, but the other day Missy did all she could to get Annie and Jody to play chase with her on it.
