Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

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Food service

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At CSNW, we follow the philosophy that the chimpanzees are in captivity not by choice, and we see it as our duty to let them live their lives out in the best possible way. Essentially, we see ourselves as servants. We clean their enclosures, we serve them their meals, and we play games that cater to what they like best. For instance, I heard Sarah had a box with trolls in it on her head the other day. Anything to make Foxie laugh! And last week, I heard that JB wore some cowgirl boots for Jamie.

On Monday I posted a photo of Jackie serving dinner to the chimps on our Facebook page. It made me realize that we don’t really post about their normal food service—when we post about food it is typically because of a big fun forage. Forages are more similar to how chimps would find food if they were in Africa, but we don’t do a forage for every meal mainly because we want to make sure everyone is getting enough food. Since they aren’t in the wild and aren’t able to continually forage, they depend completely on us to make sure they get their yummy fruits and veggies. Sometimes we make a prepared cooked dish, like oatmeal, rice, or pancakes. They love prepared meals but they are perfectly happy with just fresh produce which is the healthiest option anyway, so that is usually what they get.

For breakfast, we serve a fruit smoothie with ingredients that change daily but always include protein powder. We cut up a couple different fruits and also have a bowl full of nuts as an appetizer. They also get multi-vitamins, probiotics, and fiber at breakfast. Lunch is fresh veggies—usually about 3 or 4 veggies each. Dinner is either a prepared meal accompanied by a fruit and/or veggie, or more often just fresh produce. I like to do a mix of fruit and veggies at dinner, but it doesn’t really matter too much. We cut all the produce into pieces that fit nicely through the caging, and the chimps usually take the pieces to their hands or straight to their mouth. Smoothie and other drinks are served by pouring from a cup straight to their mouth. (This video shows a little bit of the breakfast routine.)

Below are some pictures of dinner tonight.

Negra getting pear to her mouth:

web caregiver debbie serve pear negra GH_MG_0860

 

Annie getting pear to her hand:

web caregiver debbie serve pear annie GH_MG_0866

 

Jamie getting orange to her mouth:

web caregiver debbie serve orange jamie GH_MG_0875

 

Missy getting onion to her hand:

web caregiver debbie serve onion missy GH_MG_0857

 

Jamie getting banana to her mouth (and Missy enjoying hers in the background):

web caregiver debbie serve banana jamie GH_MG_0855

 

Foxie getting onion to her mouth:

web caregiver debbie serve foxie pear GH_MG_0880

 

 

Take Action Tuesday: NIH comment form

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Last week we sent out a newsletter regarding the good news from the NIH working group who met last Tuesday. To review some of the main points from the report, read Sarah’s blog here. They made several recommendations, but the biggest bottom line is: most of the chimpanzees currently being used in research should be retired into the Federal Sanctuary System, but a small number (they suggested around 50) should be held back in a reserve colony for possible future research.

The next step in the process is to solicit public comment regarding the recommendations, which is located here. It is quite daunting in its length and detail—but don’t let that stop you. All you need to do is fill in your name, email, and then scroll all the way to the bottom to fill in a box labeled “Overall Comments.” If you want to be more specific, leave a comment in the field for “Chimpanzee Research Colony Size and Placement: Recommendation SP2.” You can get to that field easily by selecting the “colony size and placement” option from the drop menu at the top of the page.

In your comments, encourage the NIH to accept the recommendations, but also remind them that there is no reason to have any chimpanzees in research—not even a small group of 50. You could mention that no other industrialized nation tests on chimpanzees. Chimpanzees have complex social, psychological, and physical needs that cannot be met in labs. They have been imprisoned for a crime they did not commit, and are injected with diseases or vaccines, forced to undergo surgeries, sometimes kept in solitary confinement, and regularly shot with darts to be anesthetized. Remember to remain polite and be succinct. If you want to share what you submit in the comments section here for others to see, feel free! We’ll share a copy of what we submit soon too.

If you haven’t seen it already, check out this site called “The Last 1000” that is a countdown to the end of chimpanzees in biomedical laboratories. You’ll notice that Negra’s daughter Heidi is on the list along with Jody’s children Levi and April, and Foxie’s son David. These remaining research chimpanzees deserve the kind of life that the Cle Elum Seven have—one with friends, laughter, sunshine, good food, giant nests, fun enrichment, and perhaps most importantly—choices.

Negra's daughter, Heidi
Negra’s daughter, Heidi

 

Missy before and after

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I sometimes think it is really interesting to look back at the photos of the chimps’ first few days in sanctuary. It’s shocking how much they have changed. Here is a picture of Missy in June 2008:

web missy sit on pr floor 100_0108

And here is one from earlier this month:

web Missy guitar ukelele gift bags presents birthday party playroom PR IMG_1732

Chimps and snow and decisions

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Even though the chimps have had access to it, it’s been too cold and windy to spend much time out on Young’s Hill lately. But they definitely love having the option! I love that even though we put snow in the playroom and greenhouse almost daily, the chimps sometimes see it as worth it to brave the cold to enjoy a snack on the hill. The other day, the large tub in the greenhouse was filled with snow so that the chimps didn’t have to go out to get it if they didn’t want to, but that didn’t keep everyone inside!

Annie on the hill:
web crop Annie sit under platform YH snow IMG_2388

Missy:
web crop Missy eat snow log bridge YH IMG_2375

But I guess Foxie and Jamie saw it as more appealing to keep their feet dry and enjoy their snack in the greenhouse.

Foxie in the greenhouse:
web Foxie eat snow GH IMG_2405

Jamie:
web Jamie eat snow GH IMG_2392

Captivity

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We’ve been talking a lot about Jamie recently. She provides us with a lot to talk about, both on this blog and amongst the staff and volunteers at the sanctuary. We’ve told you about her artistic side, her love of cowboy boots, the challenges she presents to her caregivers to keep her busy mind active, and we’ve reflected on her complicated personality. There’s one thing that I sometimes mention to people when talking about Jamie in person. It’s something that I was thinking about as I took the photos below, and I don’t think I’ve shared it on the blog yet. So here it is –

I think Jamie is acutely aware of her captivity. I don’t say this about all of the chimpanzees. I don’t think Foxie, for example, with her goofy, please-everyone personality, thinks about how unfair it is that she is on the other side of the fencing from the humans, that we make a lot of decisions for her, and that we go off somewhere else at the end of the day. It’s impossible to know for sure, but I believe Jamie is very aware of all of these things, and she knows it’s not fair. I agree with her. Chimpanzees don’t belong in captivity. We do the best we possibly can with the resources we have to provide a happy life for the Cle Elum Seven, but we could never provide them with everything, especially the true freedom that they deserve (If you’re wondering why we don’t offer the chimps more freedom, take a look at this blog post and the link in it about the true nature of chimpanzees).

But things are getting better. More and more people are accepting the simple truth that chimpanzees don’t belong in captivity. The release of the NIH Council of Councils working group report the other day could be a watershed moment for chimpanzees in biomedical research in the United States, and the growing awareness of who chimpanzees are and what they deserve has played a huge role in this moment. It’s the countdown to the end of chimpanzees in biomedical research, and, in fact, someone is counting down – Lori Gruen launched a new website today called the Last 1,000. It is a list of all of the chimpanzees still in research and a tracking of these individuals from lab to sanctuary by highlighting their name or number in green. Lori’s already been able to highlight some of the chimpanzees who went from New Iberia to Chimp Haven just this week.

Though chimpanzees do not belong in captivity, those who are deserve the best quality of life we can provide them. Thank you for being a part of providing for Jamie.

Jamie top of structure in greenhouse

Jamie profile close up

Jamie side glance

jamie eyes closed

Keeping your friends company

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One of my favorite things about the Cle Elum Seven is how almost everyone is really good friends. We tend to focus on BFF’s Annie and Missy a lot because they are pretty much inseparable, but there are lots of other people that seem to be pretty close, based on the amount of time they play with one another, groom, or have other interactions. If I had to guess based on my observations, I would say (aside from the Annie/Missy duo), Missy is good friends with Negra, Foxie and Burrito; Burrito is good friends with Foxie, Negra, and Missy; Negra is good friends with Foxie, Missy, and Burrito; Jamie is good friends with Foxie; and Jody is good friends with Foxie and Negra (I’ve seen a lot of play between Negra and Jody lately!). Annie’s world still revolves around Missy, but she does occasionally play with Foxie and Negra, so I think she would probably call them good friends too. If you haven’t noticed, Ms. Foxie is a popular lady!

Today I caught Foxie being super goofy all by herself (which is really not all that uncommon) but it wasn’t long before someone had to join in.

Floppy ears

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I just happened to notice that Burrito has 996 “likes” on Facebook! Let’s get him to over 1000! It shouldn’t be hard with an adorable video like the one below. “Like” or share this blog post with your Facebook friends and suggest they “like” Mr. B, if for no other reason, because his ears wiggle when he chews, and who can resist that?