I hope these photos of the dashing Mr. B make your day a little brighter. Let us know which is your favorite!
Cle Elum
Negra Unleashed
A few days ago was the five year anniversary of the chimpanzees going outside onto Young’s Hill for the first time. For many of the chimps, it was probably the first time they had ever been outside in their lives, and it took some adjustment.
Out of all the chimps at the sanctuary, Negra has probably had the hardest time adjusting. On her first day out, she accidentally touched the electric fence and received a shock. For someone who was already predisposed to feel some anxiety at being outdoors after decades in lab cages, this certainly didn’t help. For several months after that Negra refused to step foot outside. Eventually she decided to try again, but she wouldn’t venture far from the greenhouse, and at the first strange noise or gust of wind, she would run back inside with a fear grimace on her face.
This year has been a turning point for Negra. This spring she started hiking straight up to the top of the two-acre Young’s Hill with no apparent anxiety to enjoy some of the wild greens growing up there. Today we set up a lunch forage on the hill and Negra headed outside with the rest of the group, calm and confident.
We Like What We Like
Jamie spent her childhood living in a human home, and like all chimps who begin their lives in human homes, she quickly grew too strong and unmanageable. Jamie was sold to a research lab when she was about nine years old, and spent the next 22 years in hepatitis vaccine trials and possibly other invasive studies.
Jamie is one of the lucky ones. When she was 31, she was “retired” from research and moved to Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. Chimpanzees who have lived with and around humans often pick up human habits and interests – Jamie files her nails, ties knots, and loves (and sometimes wears) boots. Jamie is different from the chimpanzees you see behaving like humans in movies and on TV; those chimps are trained – brutally – to perform and are often duct-taped into their clothes. At the sanctuary, Jamie chooses the objects she likes from the various enrichment items we provide each day and she does what she wants with them: nests with them, plays with them, ignores them, destroys them, or wears them.
A few days ago we had a visitor whose beautiful boots Jamie was clearly obsessed with. In a moment of overwhelming generosity, our visitor left Jamie the boots she came in with and walked out of the sanctuary barefoot. Jamie couldn’t resist giving her new boots a test run.
An Imperfect Life
In Negra’s alternate life – the one she should have had – she was born in the wilds of Africa, enjoyed a long, lazy childhood by her mother’s side, spent her days traveling with her group, climbing trees, and playing with friends, and grew up to have and raise her own babies and grandbabies.
In Negra’s actual life, she was born in the wilds of Africa, captured as an infant – probably after watching her family shot to make her capture possible – and shipped to the United States to be used as a research subject. She spent her days alone in metal cages no larger than a bathroom stall and experienced the world through filters of boredom, fear, pain, and loneliness. She had three babies in a five year span, all of whom were taken away from her within days or hours of birth, never to be seen or touched again.
Negra was about 35 years old when she stepped out of her last lab cage and into her new home at the sanctuary. That was a little over eight years ago. I sometimes wonder if there is some equation to represent the value of sanctuary to Negra and the others. Does one day in sanctuary cancel out one day in the lab? We can only hope.
Negra shouldn’t be here. She deserved to be wild and free. But her lot in life was determined by forces out of her hands, and out of ours. All we can do, and what we must do, is infuse her imperfect life with as much love and warmth and joy and comfort (and blankets and peanuts and sunshine) as we can, and then root for her as she steps toward recovery.
This is for the activists
Last night I was going through some old documents and newspaper articles and reading about the history of chimpanzees being retired to sanctuaries, and, in particular, activists who worked to get chimpanzees out of Buckshire, where the seven chimpanzees living at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest came from.
I will share more details at a later time, but one thing that really struck me was the extremely dedicated people who worked for years to help chimpanzees who they had never even met.
Working at and for a sanctuary can be hard work, but the reward is constant. There is a direct connection between the care that goes into sanctuary work and witnessing happy chimpanzees benefit from your labor. Most people who work in sanctuaries are also advocates, but our priority, as it should be, is to provide the very best life possible for those we care for at the sanctuary.
People who work full-time as activists and animal advocates don’t often have this direct reward. Their work, which often involves endlessly writing complaints and submitting FOIA requests, or working to change legislation, can be arduous. They know that there is wrong being done, and they work to create better outcomes, but it often takes years to see an outcome; all too often nothing comes of their hard work. Then, when there is a happy ending, they move on to the next animal or animals who are suffering.
But their work is precisely what has made the sanctuary life for the Cle Elum Seven, and for other animals in sanctuaries, possible.
Today I would like to publicly thank them and let them know that in my head and heart I thank them each time I think of the Cle Elum Seven chimpanzees, which is pretty much all the time.
Negra foraging for lunch:
Foxie with Dora and friend:
Jamie and Burrito patrolling together:
Burrito finishing up the patrol around the hill:
Annie and Missy at the top of Twister:
Jody in profile:
How Far We’ve Come
Jamie eight years ago in the lab:
Jamie today:
A Day in the Life
9:00am: Up the winding driveway…
Good morning, sanctuary!
Ellie the elk started the day in her favorite spot under the observation deck:
Volunteer caregivers Denice and Sandra set to work preparing breakfast:
Usually when we arrive for the day this time of year there are several chimps outside in the greenhouse. Today it was just Negra cuddled under a blanket:
Soon breakfast was ready!
Our typical routine is to serve a small snack in the indoor front rooms first thing to entice the chimps out of the greenhouse so we can close it off for cleaning. Volunteer caregiver-in-training Yuri offered the chimps some grapefruit while I closed and locked the doors leading to the greenhouse.
Negra is not always a people person, but this morning as she ate her grapefruit she was feeling extra affectionate as she offered her back to Sandra for a knuckle rub and offered Denice a kiss.
We all checked the doors and locks to make sure it was safe to unlock the greenhouse:
and then got to work!
Afterward Yuri double-checked locks on the greenhouse door:
and we started the first batch of dirty toys soaking in the tub:
and the first load of dirty blankets in the washer:
Then Yuri served the rest of breakfast in the greenhouse:
and wrote in his training notebook:
Next we tackled the playroom, which is the largest indoor space at the sanctuary. We cleaned upstairs:
and downstairs:
and when we were done, set up a little tea party for the chimps:
While we cleaned the playroom, the chimps enjoyed the warm greenhouse.
Annie:
Burrito:
We run through a series of safety checks before giving the chimps access to Young’s Hill each day, so I did those while Denice, Yuri, and Sandra wrapped up the playroom.
Foxie was the first to squeeze through the door to the hill as it was opening:
But she was quickly joined by Jody, Negra, Missy, and Annie:
Our last big cleaning task for the morning was the front rooms, which we started after a short break:
After some time outside, Foxie wandered into the playroom to spend some quality time with her dolls:
and Jamie requested a drink of water from the hose:
Since we had plenty of cleaners to handle the front rooms, Denice started on some kitchen tasks. She prepared some chow bags:
and put some potatoes in the oven for dinner:
After cleaning, Yuri and Denice picked some veggies from the chimps’ garden for lunch:
While Yuri served lunch in the greenhouse, Sandra kept the endless laundry moving along:
After lunch, it was finally time for some fun. Sandra and Jamie groomed in the greenhouse:
while Yuri and Burrito went for a walk around Young’s Hill.
After the walk, Burrito was in the mood for a little tug of war:
A little later in the afternoon JB, Diana, and Katelyn came up from the office and we did some PRT (Positive Reinforcement Training) with the chimps.
Missy presenting her wrist for Katelyn:
We ended the day with a dinner forage in the playroom. Jamie used a plate to collect her food:
Burrito:
Annie:
And finally, it was goodnight.
