Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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Still healing

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Negra has always worn her trauma on her sleeve.

The first time we met her, she wouldn’t even show us her face. She hid behind a solid metal panel at the end of a bank of four cages in the windowless laboratory basement that had been her home for years. The only part of her that we really saw that first day was her hand as she reached upwards through the food chute to beg for handfuls of peanuts.

When she arrived at the sanctuary she was inactive and socially withdrawn. She could be anxious around her caregivers and was prone to overreaction when touched. When she finally had the opportunity to go outdoors, she was reluctant and would often become overwhelmed with fear when she ventured too far outside.

I hate to admit it, but we always had low expectations for Negra. Some chimps retain their fighting spirit against all odds. Negra was spiritless. If we could just give her a year in sanctuary, we thought, it will have been worth it. Maybe she wouldn’t take advantage of all the new opportunities available to her, but she deserved to finally have the choice. It was a low bar but we were still afraid she wouldn’t reach it.

But she surprised us. Over the last ten years, she gradually became more social with her chimpanzee and human friends. She grew more accustomed to being touched, even allowing her caregivers to provide basic medical treatment. She has spent more time outdoors and ventured further and further into her habitat.

I don’t want to overstate the extent of her transformation. Negra still spends the majority of her time alone in bed, her head shrouded in a blanket for security. Negra’s progress, like Negra herself, has been slow.

But something unusual is happening right now. The pace of change has increased to the point where it seems like each day brings a new surprise, each one announced with excitement over the two-way radios:

“Negra was the first one outside this morning!”

“Negra is at the top of the hill!”

“Negra climbed to the top of the new structure!”

“Negra is wrestling with Missy!”

“Negra is playing with me!”

“Negra is spooning Jody!”

This morning, Diana called over the radio to say that Negra was playing with her in a way that was more typical of Burrito. See for yourself in the video above. This is the kind of thing we live for. Not because we enjoy playing with Negra (though we do), but because we’re excited to see her become more active, playful, and trusting. We love seeing her become more engaged with the world around her.

Why is this happening ten years after she arrived at the sanctuary?

There are a number of factors that enable chimps (and other animals, including humans) to recover from trauma. Things like agency, autonomy, a sense of safety and security, and a physical and social environment that allows for species-typical behavior are all critical. But one thing we mustn’t overlook is time. It took Negra 35 years to accumulate the traumas she experienced while being torn from her mother and her home, having her children ripped away from her again and again, being housed in tiny, barren cages, and being subjected to invasive experimentation. These memories, and the resulting patterns of behavior, can’t be undone overnight. And Negra will set her own pace.

Will these changes last? We don’t know. Negra has come out of her shell before only to retreat again. But for now we are going to play as much tug-of-war with this silly, seemingly care-free Negra as we can. And more importantly, we are going to enjoy watching her socialize more with her chimpanzee family and spend more time foraging on Young’s Hill.

The Sound of Celery

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Volunteers always tell us that watching the chimps enjoy their meals makes them want to eat healthier. Would you try the Chimp Diet? For the Cle Elum Seven, that means mostly whole fruits and vegetables, unprocessed nuts and seeds, and fresh edible weeds like prickly lettuce and dandelions. Oh, and if you’re Negra, the occasional wild frog…

Watch (and listen!) to Negra enjoying her celery, cucumber and sweet potato lunch (don’t worry, no frogs in this video).

The Beauty of Jody

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I have been periodically looking at these photos of Jody on the computer in the chimp house throughout the day today. They just fill my heart with love for her.

All of the chimpanzees are so different from one another in so many ways and each one has qualities that pull you into their personalities.

I admire the way that Jody approaches life in a self-assured way and knows what she wants out of any given situation. She often does her own thing with her confident flair, but at the same time she’s the watchful den-mother of the group.

She has the greatest vocalizations – her happy chimpanzee low-moan we refer to as her “dinosaur noises” because they are so drawn out, and she is the most likely to give a good-night grunt from her nest at the end of the day.

Her big round eyes seem capable of taking in more than anyone’s, and there’s almost always a glimmer of hope or anticipation in them.

 

Going gray

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People often mistake the white hair around a chimpanzee’s mouth and chin for a sign of old age. This “beard”, however, is part of a chimpanzee’s normal coloration and is generally present at birth.

But many chimpanzees do go gray as they get older. Over the last ten years, we’ve watched Foxie’s patches of gray hair proliferate into a “salt and pepper” look, most notably on her arms.

As my own gray hairs have also begun to proliferate, I prefer to think of it as a distinguished look.

Snake Hunters

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Everyone has a role to play when a snake is discovered on the hill. Watch this video to see how the gang dealt with today’s intruder.

Featuring:

Annie as THE SPOTTER
Jamie and Foxie as THE HUNTERS
Burrito and Missy as EMOTIONAL SUPPORT
Jody as JUST OUT FOR A SNACK
Negra as SLEPT THROUGH THE WHOLE THING
and The Snake as THE SNAKE THAT GOT AWAY

 

Breaking Ground

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Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest’s Bring Them Home expansion project officially got underway this morning.

A few years ago, we launched a campaign to expand our chimpanzee facility so that we could take in more chimpanzees in need. We knew it would be an ambitious project for an organization our size; what we didn’t expect, however, was all of the twists and turns that we’d experience along the way.

As we began to develop plans for the new addition, we were surprised to learn from the DOT that we’d be required to build a new driveway before we could get a permit for the building. We needed to find a suitable location to connect to the state highway and the options on our existing property, located on a long curve in the road, were limited. As fortune would have it, a neighboring property with an approved access location came up for sale, so we purchased it and made plans to install a driveway connecting the two properties. To get a permit to build that connecting driveway, we had to conduct a months-long environmental study. Given how eager we are to build for more chimps, each of these delays felt like an eternity. But at last we are underway.

This morning, Gordy Margullis of Gordon’s Dozing and Backhoe Service came over bright and early from Renton, WA to donate his time and equipment to build the nearly 1/4-mile-long connecting driveway. We are so incredibly grateful to Gordy for helping us with this project – he even took it upon himself to get other businesses to donate towards the cost of the gravel!. Our thanks also go out to Darci, who found out about our driveway project during a donor visit last summer and told her animal-loving employer, Gordy, about our situation.

Ellie supervising:

Connecting the new with the old, with Young’s Hill and the chimps’ Twister structure in the background behind the old barn:

It always helps with donors when your resident elk knows how to turn on the charm:

Next we will have to rip up the asphalt on part of the neighboring driveway and regrade it so that it’s not so steep (to meet code). Luckily we have another generous contractor lined up to help with some of that project and reduce the cost as much as we can.

The driveway is a costly and time-consuming project that we had not anticipated when we set out to expand the chimp house. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the sanctuary’s incredible friend Vicki Fagerlee and to the many donors from last summer’s Summer Biddin’ online auction who stepped up to help us cover the costs of this first part of the project. Because of them, and because Gordy and others have helped keep those costs as low as possible, we can put more of our resources towards the expansion and, ultimately, getting more chimps to sanctuary.

Speaking of the expansion, we are scheduled to begin construction on July 16! Due to the cost of the project, we have broken it into phases. The first phase will add a foyer, a permanent veterinary clinic with a recovery enclosure, a new bathroom, a new laundry/enrichment room, and two small indoor chimp enclosures to aid in quarantine and introductions. Phase 1 will immediately improve our ability to care for the Cle Elum 7 and create a better working environment for our staff and volunteers. It would also allow us to take in a very small number of chimpanzees to integrate into our current group, but only under certain conditions (depending on the number of chimps in the group, their ages, etc.), so there’s no guarantee that this would happen right away. However, we plan to continue as quickly as possible with Phase 2 (a new playroom) and Phase 3 (a new greenhouse) so that we can have space to integrate and care for a new social group.

For those of you with excellent eyesight, here’s a look at what the floor plan will look like after all three phases are complete:

Tomorrow we’ll be holding a ceremonial groundbreaking to commemorate this momentous occasion!