Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Cle Elum 7

The Many Sides of Burrito

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There is no denying that Burrito is one of the sweetest guys around.  I mean, just look at this face.  When he wants to play with us he will often try to pass toys or scarves through the caging for us.  The other day he happened to pull up a flower and hand it to me and then offered me a kiss.  Now he may or may not have been just grabbing what was in reach, but nevertheless, my heart melted.  And there are the raucous games of chase and tug of war.  During one particularly spirited game the other day he started laughing so hard he fell over backwards! Which, of course, made me laugh so hard I had tears coming down my face.

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But just like all of us, Burrito has many sides to his personality.  When we open the door to the chimp area in the morning he typically displays loudly and vigorously, rattling the caging, charging through the playroom clapping, throwing things, and pant hooting at the top of his lungs, getting all the ladies stirred up.  He has also been known to bang relentlessly on the caging throughout meal time, and upon occasion, will even try to poke us as we are serving none other than the Boss, Jamie.  Mind you, we are the ones who get in trouble from Jamie for this.  And with me being one of the newest staff members here at CSNW he also likes to let me know his opinion of my new ability to move and unlock doors.  There have been many a morning that as I am opening or closing doors in the chimpanzee areas that he climbs up the caging directly in front of me, bangs, and spits water (with excellent aim I might add) right in my eye.  I know, who could believe such stories of this sweet man chimp?  But all of this is normal, healthy, male chimpanzee behavior.  Burrito is reminding me that this is his home and that just because I have the keys does not mean I am in charge.  It means that he feels safe and secure enough to claim this as his territory.  And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Upcoming guest bloggers

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I’m pretty excited to announce that we’re going to be featuring some guest bloggers who work with apes in the wild! Our mission at the sanctuary is to provide quality lifetime care for the Cle Elum Seven, but also to advocate for apes everywhere. If you’re signed up for our Take Action list, you’ve probably received some action alerts from Eyes on Apes before. These are usually for issues that our nonhuman ape cousins face close to home, like the entertainment, pet, and biomedical industries.

Free-living apes are facing a whole different set of issues. In Africa their habitat is slowly being torn down, and the logging roads create access for hunters to easily hunt chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos, and a whole slew of other exotic animals and sell their meat on the black market (it’s called the bushmeat trade). In Southeast Asia, orangutans are losing much of their habitat to palm oil plantations and other agricultural development.

From afar, there’s only so much detail we can provide—but those who are right there witnessing these issues can paint a very different picture. Our goal is to have them tell their stories, and help us to help our closest living relatives who are literally facing extinction.

We already have folks lined up for this exciting project: Dr. Cleve Hicks (former graduate student at the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute just down the road) who is now working with apes in the Bili Forest in central Africa; Dr. Debra Durham who is currently in east Africa and has expertise in both captive and free-living issues (you might remember this article about PTSD in ex-biomedical lab chimps, including Negra); and Dr. Zarin Machanda who met JB and Diana at the Fauna Foundation years ago, and has worked with chimpanzees in east Africa. Stay tuned for these stories with great information coming very soon!

Here’s a photo of Negra, who now gets to have sunshine, friends, and choices after being stolen from Africa and used in biomedical research for decades. Let’s raise awareness about others like Negra still in labs, and for her relatives in Africa that need our help. Share this video and subscribe to the blog if you haven’t already, so you’ll be sure to get notified of the upcoming guest blogger posts!

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Guest blog posts:

Resilience and The Landmine Snare by Maureen McCarthy

Along the Bushmeat Highway: Part One, Two, and Three and The FARDC ‘Petting Zoo’ at Bili by Dr. Cleve Hicks

Video interview Part One and Part Two with Dr. Debra Durham (presented as a Take Action Tuesday posts)

Jacky and Nama by Dr. Sheri Speede

Meet the Chimpanzees of Kanyawara and Research at Kanyawara by Dr. Zarin Machanda

Margot and Is successful reintroduction possible? by Dr. Gwendy Reyes-Illg

Why are orangutans endangered in the wild? by Rich Zimmerman

Changes

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In my home I have a wall where I’ve hung each of the chimpanzees portraits.  I chose photos that reminded me of each of their personalities.  But I look at those photos now and they almost seem like different people.  It seems that the chimpanzees are changing and growing by leaps and bounds each day.  Sometimes it’s big differences like Negra venturing so far out onto the hill that we lost sight of her for a couple of hours this morning.

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And sometimes it seemingly smaller things like finding Jamie covered up in her usual morning nest while we clean the playroom but with the huge difference of having (and keeping!) her eyes closed, sound asleep.  Jamie is typically always on alert, even while “resting” and in the past typically kept her eyes open, keeping track of what was happening around her.  From my perspective, it would seem that Jamie is finally feeling safe and comfortable enough to let down her guard long enough to rest peacefully, if only for a brief time.

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And there is Annie who no longer rocks anxiously in the doorway to Young’s Hill, waiting for Missy to return to the safety of the greenhouse.  Now she is fast on the heels of Missy wherever she goes on the hill and can even be found foraging on her own.

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And much to my surprise and delight, Jody engaged in a brief game of tug-o-war with me this afternoon and then turned around and presented her back to me for a knuckle rub.  Again, this may seem small but in all the time I have been at the sanctuary I have not seen Jody play like this.  I cannot tell you how happy this makes all of us.  Not because we want or need them to change of course, but because it seems the natural result of their healing.  And I cannot wait to look at my wall by the end of this summer, this year, and beyond and see who’s there.

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Always on the go

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We all know that Missy is a bundle of energy. She’s got one speed when she’s on Young’s Hill: FAST. She brings a smile to our faces every time she darts back and forth and up and down the hill, because she’s able to exert her energy in a space larger than she ever would have even imagined of in the lab. It’s so hard to try and think of how she was able to contain that energy in the confined space she had for decades. Now, she’s able to run as fast as she can, climb every structure and post, do her acrobatics on the fire hoses, and if she wants, to sit still. Missy is a very great example of how the chimps now have choices.

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Honoring Jody and All Mothers

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Mother’s Day at CSNW is always bittersweet (see J.B.’s fantastic blog post on this topic here). In addition to honoring motherhood, we celebrate Jody’s birthday on this holiday in tribute to the nine babies she had during her time in laboratories. Unfortunately, Jody (like most lab chimp moms) wasn’t allowed to raise her babies; they were taken from her immediately after birth and put into research themselves. Had Jody been a wild chimpanzee, she would have been inseparable from her children for their first five years of life. While we can’t make up for what Jody has endured in her past, we can and do celebrate her today.

Since Jody is all about comfort, her birthday parties usually include mountains of fluffy blankets and fresh straw to nest with.

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Jody also loves to eat flowers, so Debbie and volunteer caregiver Stephanie brought lilacs from their gardens.

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Jody spent about twenty minutes lying on her back in this nest and holding these lilacs over her head, plucking flowers with her lips like they were grapes.

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The rest of the CSNW mamas enjoyed the day, too. Annie loved the lilacs.

web Annie lilacs in basket Jody's birthday party mother's day greenhouse GH IMG_7864

web Annie profile streamers in background Jody's birthday mother's day greenhouse GH IMG_7939

Missy’s day was all about adventure, as most of her days are.

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Foxie spent the day with her Dora the Explorer and troll dolls.

web Foxie dora troll climb down from platform Jody's birthday party mother's day greenhouse GH IMG_1983

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And Negra enjoyed some quiet solitude.

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Happy Mother’s Day to all moms, and happy 38th birthday to the best Jody we know.

Nesting in the Bamboo

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We planted some bamboo in the greenhouse this morning. Since chimpanzees are naturally curious and destructive, the plants might not last long, but for now everyone’s leaving them alone for the most part. Jody, however, thinks they make prime nesting material.

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Thanks so much to ProVitro Biosciences for the bamboo!