Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
Jody has really been enjoying “hunting” for wild plants on Young’s Hill. She’s not hesitant to pick the biggest ones she can find. Today, Elizabeth got some great photos of Jody solving the problem of how to carry a big plant back down the hill to enjoy in the greenhouse.
I love Jody’s eyes. And in this picture, Negra’s eyes peeking over to Elizabeth as she’s taking the photo really bring a smile to my face!
Steven Waters generously chose to sponsor a day of sanctuary for the chimpanzees in honor of Lori Waters. What a thoughtful gift, thank you so much Steven! We greatly appreciate it and so do the chimpanzees!
In the mood to do some online shopping? You can enrich the Cle Elum 7 (or their human caregivers) with just the click of a button. Check out our wishlist at Amazon.com and find out what we’re wishing for. Questions about what we’ll be using some of these items for? Well, for example, just look how uncomfortable caregiver Debbie Metzler is in the current kitchen stools.
You could make her day with a brand new stool. Or take a look at the chimpanzee enrichment ideas and pick one up today. Mileage may vary with each toy or treat but every one is sure to brighten the day of someone here! Missy enjoys to spend an afternoon with kongs (listed!) and Jamie can always use another project to work on. That $20 in your pocket can bring joy to chimpanzees and humans alike.
First, thank you for continuing to send the 5-year anniversary video to friends and colleagues. If you haven’t shared the video yet on Facebook, Twitter, by email, or whatever your preferred online network is, please do this weekend! The Give Five donations are still coming in, and we’re now up to $15,525! Every donation helps us to continue to provide quality care for the Cle Elum Seven chimpanzees and to advocate for other great apes in need.
The wildlife on the property are also learning about the sanctuary. In addition to the deer who are quite familiar with our compost, the local crows have learned all about forages. They start swooping in when they see the humans walking around the hill. At first, the chimpanzees chased them off, but that must have grown tiresome. The chimps no longer seem bothered by their corvid neighbors, even as they fly away with a piece of chow or fruit.
The chimps just go about their business of foraging. Negra was quite adventurous this morning during the breakfast forage, even climbing up onto the shaky bridge again!
Look at this contented face:
Burrito is a first-class forager:
and probably most content when he is eating:
I posted a few more photos on some of the chimps’ Facebook pages earlier. I’m sure you’ve liked the sanctuary FB page, but have you liked all of the chimps on Facebook? On FB just type in their name followed by Chimpanzee and you’ll find their pages, or click on their images at the top of this page and you’ll see the link to their FB page on the right side. Thanks for being their friends!
Watch the video below in celebration of 5 years of sanctuary life for Queen Negra, Jamie, Jody, Annie, Missy, Foxie, and Burrito.
Today is the fifth anniversary of Negra and the Cle Elum Seven’s new lives in sanctuary. It’s amazing what sunshine and good food and comfort can do for these inspiring and resilient chimps. Today is the day to Give Five for our Queen on her birthday! Stay tuned for a video that we will be posting in just a little bit in celebration of five years of sanctuary.
Negra’s History:
Negra was captured from the wild, presumably in 1973, however she could be even older. Buckshire leased her to White Sands Research Center in March 1982 where she got the tattoo “#CA0041.”
WSRC started breeding Negra with Mack right away in April 1982, just one month after her arrival. Mack was a popular breeder – he was also paired at WSRC with Annie, Foxie, Jody, and is Burrito’s father. Tarzan, Rufus, and Spock are just a few other male breeder names we see in many of the chimps’ records. In between transfers to breeding pairs the females were sometimes housed alone, and sometimes with another female. At different points Annie was with Foxie and with Jody, Foxie was with Jody, Jody was with Negra, and Negra was with Karen, who was Burrito’s mother. The cross-over that we read about in these records is interesting, but also very sad. It only emphasizes how much these chimpanzees were used over and over to create more generations of lab chimps.
On November 29, 1983, technicians discovered Negra was pregnant. She gave birth to Heidi in January 1984.
1/8/84 – Delivered healthy female infant #91 Heidi. Removed & taken to nursery.
Heidi was taken immediately away, but Negra was able to stay with Angel (see below) for five whole days.
9/4/85 – Healthy infant born this date.
9/9/85 – Healthy infant removed and taken to nursery – female #126 Angel.
In early 1986 the scribbled notes indicate the lab techs believed Negra has some kind of infectious disease due to loose stool and negative parasite tests, and she was moved to isolation on March 31, 1986.
3/31/86 – Dr. ordered animal removed from main colony and placed in isolation for further testing.
The lab technicians took blood from Negra regularly, knocking her down each time. They took liver biopsies, which meant surgery. They tested her for hepatitis C on June 2, 1987, and for some reason the results did not return until over six months later on January 12, 1988. The entry for that date concluded that there was no evidence for the suspicion that Negra had hepatitis C. Negra had been housed in isolation for over a year and a half due to incorrect blood work. At this point, they transferred her back to the main chimp colony.
1/14/88 – Transferred from Quarantine to Bldg. 300 (Main colony) this date.
1/14/88 – Enter cage #28 by herself. Home again.
Negra was transferred away from quarantine but was put back into the cage she had been in during that year and half, by herself. At this point it was considered her home to be alone in cage #28. Being alone didn’t last long, though. The next week, she was thrown back into breeding pairs.
10/17/89 – Infant born approximately 10:00am, taken from mother and removed to nursery. Infant boy. #205 Noah.
Even after living in isolation, undergoing tests, and having babies taken from her, WSRC still took more from her. In early January 1992, they used her in a study that involved injecting a serum near her lymph nodes in her left leg. By March they had done this five times, and prepped Negra for surgery to remove the nodes. As if that weren’t enough, just a couple months later, Negra was transferred again to another breeding pair. She did not have any more babies however, and left WSRC/Coulston with Annie, Foxie, and Jody to return to Buckshire on August 12, 1996.
Before coming to Cle Elum, Keith, J.B., Diana, and Sarah all met the chimps while they were still at Buckshire. Read this post to see what Diana said about Negra back then.
Negra, arriving at CSNW exactly five years ago today:
Jamie and Negra at the barn doors:
Cage #28 is no longer Negra’s home. Now her home is Young’s Hill, where she’s really finding her place under the sun. It has taken her a little while to be fully comfortable on the hill, but this summer, she’s exploring and spending more and more time outside. Some days she’s hard to find! Seeing Negra, the honorary Queen of CSNW, able to relax and enjoy her home fills everyone around her with joy. She is the epitome of CSNW’s philosophy: Hope. Love. Home… Sanctuary.
Negra getting some reassurance from Jamie:
