Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary for primates.

ptsd

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When she arrived at the sanctuary she was inactive and socially withdrawn.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.

Adapting

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People who have been incarcerated for long periods can have trouble adapting to life outside prison once they are released, a phenomenon we call institutionalization. Chimps are no different.

For the Cle Elum Seven, life in the lab was horrible, but after as much as 35 years it made some kind of sense. The deprivation they endured flipped the world on its head – metal and concrete were familiar and comforting, while grass and open sky would become sources of discomfort and fear. It’s perverse, that these chimpanzees should have to learn to adapt to what was their birthright.

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It’s tempting to think of reaching sanctuary as the end of a harrowing journey, but it is only a step in the process. When the chimps first set foot on Young’s Hill, they were scared. The world outside was big and unknown. Eventually, their fear became exhilaration as they explored their new territory. More and more now I think we see in them something akin to appreciation or even reverence for the outdoors.

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This process of adaptation continues and will likely never be complete. I think these chimps see themselves as visitors to the outdoors. It’s not their home. They take what they need before returning to the familiar surroundings of their indoor enclosures. But they are each adapting in their own way, and in their own time.

Just look how far they’ve come.

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Negra

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When you take care of chimpanzees in a sanctuary, your whole life revolves around trying to make them happy. You live for those moments when they are food squeaking over a good meal, or playing a wild game of chase around the outdoor enclosure. For some members of the Cle Elum Seven, we’ve begun to take these moments for granted. When does Missy not want to play chase? And is there ever a moment when Foxie is not playing with her troll dolls?

But for some chimps, its harder to tell when they are happy. Negra has one speed (slow) and a limited number of activities that she engages in (eat, sleep, groom, gaze out the window). Perhaps its due in part to her personality; some folks just live life at a different pace. But you can’t help but wonder how much of it is due to 35 years of confinement in a laboratory.

Determining what effect a lifetime of stress in the laboratory has on chimpanzees is currently the work of two researchers, Debra Durham and Hope Ferdowsian. Debra and Hope are conducting a large-scale study of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in ex-laboratory chimpanzees. This summer, we participated in interviews with the researchers to look for indications of PTSD in the Cle Elum Seven.

Debra recently penned an Op-Ed for the Orlando Sentinel (see Drawing Ourselves into the Lives of Chimpanzees), in which she comments on the improvements they have seen in Negra. And, as fate would have it, the article’s publication coincided nicely with this video we took of Negra playing with Missy right before Jamie’s birthday party. (My favorite part of the video? When Negra grabs both or Missy’s ears and shakes her head back and forth 🙂

Its not likely that Negra will ever be rambunctious like Missy, or acrobatic like Foxie. Usually, I take comfort in the fact that when Negra chooses to put a blanket over her head and stare out the window, at least she has a choice. But she does have her playful moments, and according to Debra and Hope’s research, she is still showing signs of improvement.  So we can all look forward to seeing Negra pull Missy’s legs and ears more and more in the days to come.