Please be sure to tune in to Nightline tonight for a very important story about how chimpanzees are treated in laboratories. I just previewed some of the footage and it’s heartbreaking. Knowing Jamie, Burrito, Foxie, Negra, Annie, Missy and Jody were in similar facilities… There are no words!
chimpanzee
More outside action shots
Today Missy had more adventures in the fresh air. Jamie, Foxie and Annie were all outside too, but no one was playing with Missy. She ran inside and came right back out with this blanket. Instantly she had a game of chase going! I love the second picture – Jamie got the blanket away from Missy, climbed up the fencing, and then leapt off from about 6 feet up! I snapped the picture as she was almost to the ground.
Missy in action
Missy was enjoying a game of keep-away with Jamie and Annie today. First, she came running into the outdoor area with a bag over her shoulder. I don’t know what was inside – it may have been enrichment that the volunteers put out, or she may have stuffed the bag with coconuts. In any case, she was challenging the other girls to take it away from her. After going back inside, she reemerged with a single coconut, clutching it like an NFL running back. Missy and Foxie seem to be the only individuals who know how to crack coconuts, so I think Missy enjoys making everyone wait until she’s ready to open them.
Lessons from chimpanzees
When I am feeling down, I think about the Cle Elum Seven chimpanzees at CSNW and everything they have been through in their lives.
I am amazed and humbled that Jody, after decades of living in a small cage in a medical laboratory, after having seven babies taken from her, can still enjoy relaxing in the February sun, holding her feet:
and Foxie, who endured research protocols, five babies being taken from her, and periods of social isolation, can greet each day with the desire to play with her caregivers and her chimpanzee friends
and Missy and Annie, who spent years without each other, can decide to sleep in together, napping in the side-by-side nests they created in the playroom
When I think about my chimpanzee friends and their lives, I realize I have little to complain about. And, if I can remember to live for today as they do, each day should include relaxation, happiness, play and companionship.
Playing Chase with Missy, Pt. II
A few weeks ago I was describing how we play chase with the chimps outside. Here’s a 1st-person video to give you a better feel for it (you’ll feel like you’re watching COPS!). As you can see, it’s impossible to keep up with Missy.
more on Travis and pet ownership
Although much of the coverage on the tragedy of Travis, the chimpanzee in Connecticut who mauled Charla Nash and was subsequently shot and killed, has been frustrating to say the least, there have been a couple of good interviews included in media items very recently which I wanted to share.
This video segment includes an interview from an expert at Save the Chimps Sanctuary in Florida.
This article adds more information to the bigger story. Here’s are a few excerpts from the article:
“A chimpanzee who was shot and killed earlier this week for mauling a Connecticut woman was the offspring of a chimpanzee who made headlines eight years ago when a Festus teenager shot and killed her…..
In 2001, Travis’ 28-year-old mother, Suzy, escaped from Connie Braun Casey’s farm along Highway CC near Festus…..
April Truitt, a primate expert who runs the Kentucky-based Primate Rescue Center Inc., said chimps are too wild to be privately owned. She put more blame on the Caseys for the Connecticut incident than on Herold. She said the Caseys should not have been breeding and selling chimps.”
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You can read my reaction to the mauling in this post from Tuesday. One aspect of this story that has not been getting enough coverage is how the demand for chimpanzee “actors” helps to fuel breeding operations like Connie Casey’s. Chimpanzees should not be pets, should not be used in entertainment, and should not be used in biomedical research. There is no legitimate reason for a chimpanzee breeding operation to exist.
Jamie and Burrito were both “raised” by humans for the first years of their lives and used as “entertainers” when they were young. When they became unmanageable like any chimpanzee would, they were put into biomedical research.
Thankfully they now live in a safe, secure, and social environment at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, but others like them are not in sanctuaries, and the tragedy of Travis will occur again if laws are not put into place to make the private ownership of chimpanzees and their use in entertainment illegal.
One immediate action that you can take is to urge your federal representatives to support the Captive Primate Safety Act which would make the interstate and foreign commerce of primates illegal. Learn more from the Humane Society of the United States.
Bubbles, glasses, and something suspicious
This morning we put out a large bucket of (non-toxic) soapy water, thinking the chimps might want to do some cleaning. Jody had other ideas:
The chimps were also very interested in the eyeglasses (with plastic lenses) that we put out:
Missy, of course, wore her sunglasses on the back of her neck:
Annie seemed content to sit quietly and watch everyone else have fun:
Later, Jamie decided to pull the Christmas tree out of the tire….
….which uncovered something interesting and a little bit scary. Maybe a bug they hadn’t seen before?
