Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
In celebration of CSNW’s 8th Anniversary, we are taking a trip down memory lane. Today we look back on the chimpanzees’ fifth year at the sanctuary.
Year Five was exciting, to say the least.
On August 13th, 2012, a wildfire erupted less than a mile from the sanctuary. It went on to destroy 60 homes and over 36 square miles of land. In the process, it nearly destroyed the sanctuary.
Thanks to the incredible bravery and dedication of local volunteer firefighters, DNR helicopter pilots, and many other emergency personnel, the chimps were kept safe. The fire burned half of Young’s Hill and damaged the sanctuary residence, but we were able to bounce back quickly with the help of supporters from around the world.
With the fire behind us, we built a new structure on the hill just for Negra – her very own “cabin” that would shelter her from the wind and rain and help her adjust to life in the great outdoors. Some chimps just need a little more help than others.
And the chimps never skipped a beat – they went right back to making art, fighting off enemy horses, and napping, as if nothing had ever happened.
To celebrate the Eighth Anniversary of the chimps’ arrival to the sanctuary, we’re taking a quick trip down memory lane. Click here to read about Year One.
As the chimps entered their second year in sanctuary, their physical and emotional transformations were becoming ever more apparent. When they first arrived, their hair was sparse, their skin was pale, and their muscles were atrophied. These early photos of Jamie speak volumes.
Some bore not just the scars of experimentation, but also indelible, haunting reminders of their traumatic pasts in the form of prominent identification tattoos. Jamie was CH-522.
To our great relief, the tattoos became harder and harder to see as their bodies recovered from years in that windowless basement. By Year Two, their hair had begun to grow in, their skin had darkened, and their faces – once frozen and nearly expressionless – were overflowing with personality.
As Diana mentioned in her Year One post, our resources were extremely limited in those early days. With our goal of freeing the chimps from that laboratory basement accomplished, we set our sights on improving their sanctuary home as best we could. Thanks to support from our amazing donors and volunteers, we were able to convert the chimps’ modest outdoor area into a four-season, convertible greenhouse so that they could bask in warm sunlight even on the coldest winter days:
With their bodies healed and their sanctuary home upgraded, the chimps did what happy chimps do best – play! It was amazing to watch them throw off the weight of all those decades in the lab.
Today marks the eighth anniversary of the arrival of the Cle Elum Seven chimpanzees–Annie, Burrito, Foxie, Jamie, Jody, Missy, and Negra–to Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest and a celebration of Negra’s 43rd birthday.
It’s so hard for me to believe that eight years have already passed since the chimps’ arrival, and it’s even harder for me to believe that Negra is eight years older than she was when the truck full of chimpanzees pulled up the sanctuary driveway on June 13, 2008.
Because this is such a nostalgic time for everyone who has been following the story of the chimpanzees at the sanctuary, and because so many people are relatively new followers, I thought it would be fun and informative to take this week to briefly chronicle some of the events of the last eight years, one year per day.
Of course I know you won’t want to miss the news of today’s big celebration, so we will be sharing that later today on the blog too. If you are subscribed to the e-newsletter, you will also be receiving an email today that celebrates Negra’s journey over the last eight years.
For now, here’s a glimpse of the first year of sanctuary for the Cle Elum Seven.
EVERYTHING was new to the chimpanzees.
From enrichment:
To the views out the windows:
To the changes in weather:
And the chimpanzees were new to us humans, too. Though we had met them at Buckshire before they came to the sanctuary, we didn’t have the chance to really get to know them until we spent time with them in their new home. We started to learn about their personalities and their likes and dislikes pretty quickly.
Here is one observation about Jamie and her intelligence a few days after the chimps arrived:
And of course the humans, and Foxie herself, discovered her lasting love of troll dolls during her first year of sanctuary, leading us to ask supporters for more troll dolls. None of us knew then how big her collection would become!
Foxie’s first troll doll:
Foxie demonstrating that troll dolls suit her fun-loving personality:
We were delighted to discover Burrito’s out-of-this-world food-squeaking:
Touched by Annie’s love of Missy:
And thrilled with Jody’s ability to relax:
Every day of the chimps’ first year in sanctuary was an incredible gift.
I’m not going to lie–we had some tough times as an organization as we were just getting our footing. There were stressful moments, to be sure, but it was so inspiring to have the opportunity to watch the chimpanzees learn more about their new home and themselves. And it was incredible to connect with other people who wanted to be a part of giving them that chance. This blog has played a big role in that process, and I’m grateful to everyone who has read it in the past and is reading it right now. Thank you!
It’s pretty thrilling to think that if you stick around you will also be a part of providing so many “firsts” for more chimpanzees who will be coming to Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest in the future.
If you’ve been reading the blog for a while, you know a few things about Jamie–that she likes to patrol the outdoor area, that she likes to have the humans join her on the other side of the fence on these patrols, and that she often keeps the humans late at night in the summer by insisting that we do walk after walk until she is satisfied.
We don’t complain too often about these overtime duties because it makes Jamie happy and because it’s a beautiful time to be outside on the sanctuary property.
Last week, we had a heat wave that prevented the chimpanzees from spending a lot of time outside during the day, but it always gets cooler here at night, so Jamie simply waited until the temperature dropped to get her exercise for the day.
Sometimes, especially during the day, Jamie is very focused on the perimeter trail that she’s worn in the grass, and will follow this path at a fairly brisk pace as we walk on the trail on the other side.
Her dusk-walking tends to fulfill a completely different desire, though, and Jamie will often veer from the perimeter path and explore the climbing structures in the middle of a walk, often stopping to take in a view or rest for a bit. The new Twister structure is a favorite viewpoint of late.
Below are a few photos of her nighttime meanderings.
At the top of Twister:
After viewing the setting sun, she came down the hill and did some more meandering on the shaky bridge:
Balancing on the metal pole structure:
Finally choosing a cross-legged position to rest for a minute:
And moving along again:
Eventually heading back inside, quite satisfied:
It’s often said that healing is not a matter of forgetting, but of accumulating new memories that, over time, crowd out the bad ones.
If this is true, then Negra’s road to recovery began by replacing memories of powerlessness with ones of safety and predictability.
Soon, memories of love and friendship and family began to replace memories of loneliness.
Eventually, memories of courage and adventure pushed aside memories of fear and anxiety.
For some chimps, recovery is a long, steep climb. Thirty-five years in the lab leaves behind far too many memories.
Those memories will never be forgotten. But every time I see Negra absorbing the view from the top of Young’s Hill, I think of how far she’s come in these last eight years, and I hope that moment becomes yet another healing memory that pushes an old one further out of reach.
Evenings are a special time at the sanctuary. With their bellies full, the chimps choose spots to settle in for the night. They make elaborate nests with the 70 fresh blankets we give out each day. Their nest grunts are a chorus of contentment – a series of soft “hoo” sounds and low breathy vocalizations that signal to each other that all is well. Beside them or buried within their nests you can see some of their favorite things: For Burrito, his wooden toys; for Negra, her food puzzles; for Jamie, her cowboy boots; and for Foxie, her beloved troll and Dora dolls.
