Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

levi

Remembering and Cherishing Friends

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If you missed Grace’s blog yesterday, you should go read it. It was a beautiful tribute to Jody and how her memory lives on here, through everyone who knew and loved her and continues to share her story. It was also about processing the grief of losing a dear friend. While I never had the honor of meeting Jody, I was fortunate enough to work with and build a friendship with her son, Levi, as well as many other chimpanzees prior to starting my journey here.

Levi

Close up of Levi

Unfortunately, I too have experienced the loss of chimpanzee friends that I have known and loved that have passed away over the years. Some of my friends were very old, having lived long lives since being taken from the wild as infants, but still carrying with them the knowledge their wild families no doubt imparted to them even at such a young age. Lessons like how to climb a tree. Other of my friends did not seem nearly old enough for their time to be up, but yet it was. Despite our best efforts and all the love in the world, time was up. While each of these losses caused immeasurable pain and heartache, I keep coming back, knowing my heart would again break when another friend passes away. Because the heartache and pain and loss is what comes from such a great love. There is nothing more wonderful than seeing chimpanzees thrive in sanctuary. We get to make their lives the best that they can be, and continually strive to improve them. We get to be their friends, their caregivers, to see them get excited to see us when we come back from our weekend or just back to work the next day. We are there with them and for them on the best of days, and on the worst.

One thing I have learned from the losses I have experienced is to always make time to spend with your friends while you can. You don’t want to have regrets for not making time to play a quick game of chase with someone, or being too busy to stop to say hello on your way to your next task. Sanctuary life is busy and there are always more tasks to be done, but make time for your friends too. Because the time is always up too quickly.

Pictured is Juan, a wonderful friend to all he met. Read more about him here.

I am extremely grateful to be a part of this community and to get to share stories with you all every day. I worry sometimes that my old friends will be forgotten one day, that there won’t be anyone left to share stories of them or remember how quirky their greetings were or that they had the best laugh. But we have each other, to share stories and memories and in doing so share the joy and love of our friends, as well as our grief that they are no longer with us. Through each of us, their memory lives on.

Chimps in Labs report

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We are lucky that we are able to see and share “the other side of the story” of the Cle Elum Seven chimpanzees. But we never forget where they came from and we never forget about the over 1,000 chimpanzees still in biomedical research facilities.

Today, an excellent set of articles came out about the use of chimpanzees in biomedical research and the issue of the Alamogordo Primate Facility chimpanzees whose fate is still uncertain after receiving a temporary reprieve from their transfer to what is now called the Texas Biomedical Research Institute. Please read the series of articles in McClatchy by Chris Adams here: www.mcclatchydc.com/chimps

If you’ve been following this story on our blog and e-newsletters (just search for “Alamogordo” in the search box to the right), you know that Jody’s son Levi was already transferred to the biomedical facility. Among the 186 chimpanzees whose fate is depending on the decision of the NIH officials examining the issue is Negra’s daughter Heidi (pictured below), Foxie’s son David, and Jody’s daughter April.

Heidi

This is a crucial time for not just the Alamogordo chimpanzees, but all laboratory chimpanzees. The bill to outlaw the use of chimpanzees in invasive biomedical research in the United States was recently reintroduced as the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act.

Learn more about this bill and how to help: Project R&R

For more on the Alamogordo Primate Facility chimpanzees: Retire the Chimps

Levi and Brandon Wood’s video

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Today, Jody’s son Levi turns 27. He has been a research subject his entire life. The note in Jody’s file for this day twenty-seven years ago simply says, “Delivered healthy infant male #88 – removed & taken to nursery.” If she got a glimpse of Levi that day, it was probably the last time Jody saw her son.

Six weeks later, an adult male chimpanzee was transferred into Jody’s cage in the hopes of “breeding” her again.

Levi was among the unlucky group of chimpanzees who have already been moved from the Alamogordo Primate Facility to the Southwest National Primate Research Center in San Antonio, Texas.

Learn more about the transfer of the Alamogordo chimps on Animal Protection of New Mexico’s FAQ page and learn how to help here: RetireTheChimps.org.

Also, for Jody and Levi, please support the Great Ape Protection Act, which would permanently retire all chimpanzees currently supported by the federal government and would ban the use of great apes in invasive biomedical research. Visit the HSUS TAKE ACTION link to contact your reps.

For inspiration, watch 10-year-old Brandon Wood’s video below. Brandon is one of the most active chimpanzee advocates out there. The dedication of someone so young is remarkable. You can follow Brandon through his blog, his Facebook page or on Twitter. Visit his sites and thank him for working so hard for chimpanzees.

202 Chimpanzees update

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Watch this recent interview with New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who just might be my new favorite person: http://apnm.org/news_current_events/2010/govrichardson_koat.php

If you’re in New Mexico, watch KNME at 7:00pm tonight for “New Mexico in Focus.” For those not in New Mexico, the show will be made available online after the weekend.

The KNME show will include a panel discussion about the Alamogordo Primate Facility chimpanzees who are slated to move to a laboratory in San Antonio, Texas. The panel includes State Representative Nate Cote, University of New Mexico Professor Dr. John Gluck, and Animal Protection of New Mexico’s Laura Bonar.

Included in the group of 202 chimpanzees in Alamogordo are Jody, Foxie and Negra’s children. Jody’s son Levi has already been transferred to Texas.

Much of this information comes from the latest update from Animal Protection of New Mexico.  Read the entire update here: http://apnm.org/mailbox/aug13_1_10.html We are so grateful to APNM for continuing to work on helping these chimpanzees and for keeping us all informed and letting us know how we can help.