Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
What could possibly be better than taking in a view like this on such a beautiful fall day?
…sharing the view with your best friend (Annie on the left, Missy on the right).
These two chimpanzees are the best of friends. They’re constantly playing together and are often in close proximity to one another. They also build blanket nests side-by-side. It’s no wonder, they would also choose to share some quiet time together.
A few days ago was the five year anniversary of the chimpanzees going outside onto Young’s Hill for the first time. For many of the chimps, it was probably the first time they had ever been outside in their lives, and it took some adjustment.
Out of all the chimps at the sanctuary, Negra has probably had the hardest time adjusting. On her first day out, she accidentally touched the electric fence and received a shock. For someone who was already predisposed to feel some anxiety at being outdoors after decades in lab cages, this certainly didn’t help. For several months after that Negra refused to step foot outside. Eventually she decided to try again, but she wouldn’t venture far from the greenhouse, and at the first strange noise or gust of wind, she would run back inside with a fear grimace on her face.
This year has been a turning point for Negra. This spring she started hiking straight up to the top of the two-acre Young’s Hill with no apparent anxiety to enjoy some of the wild greens growing up there. Today we set up a lunch forage on the hill and Negra headed outside with the rest of the group, calm and confident.
Today was an exciting day! Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest had the honor of hosting some amazing passionate humans of the primate sanctuary community! This past week, the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance (NAPSA) held their 2 day conference (this year in Tacoma, Washington). Sanctuary founders, directors, coordinators, caregivers and allies discussed a diverse number of topics such as the founding of primate sanctuaries, visitor policies and their effects, and compassion fatigue.
This morning, many of the conference attendees loaded onto a bus and made the drive to our sanctuary for a visit to the chimpanzees. We aren’t normally set up for larger group tours,so there were a few things that needed to be rearranged first..
We also set up a lunch tent for the humans to relax in.
Upon arrival, visitors split into smaller groups so they could eat lunch, get a look at some behind the scenes spaces, walk around Young’s Hill, and view the chimps enjoying multiple lunch forages.
Here, part of the group watches the chimps forage on Young’s Hill.
Negra and Annie during the forage:
Foxie and Dora:
After our visitors left, JB returned an important item to its rightful place next to the barn, and the chimpanzees continued to leisurely forage on this beautiful early fall day.
Thanks to all our visitors, volunteers, and staff for making today possible! Thanks also to NAPSA for arranging this fantastic 2016 workshop!
Annie:
I love that a stop at Twister is now a part of the regular routine for Jamie, while she patrols the perimeter of Young’s Hill.
After leaving Twister, she resumed her walk around the inside perimeter of Young’s Hill.
Here are a few bonus photos of Jamie on Twister, taken last month.
In Negra’s alternate life – the one she should have had – she was born in the wilds of Africa, enjoyed a long, lazy childhood by her mother’s side, spent her days traveling with her group, climbing trees, and playing with friends, and grew up to have and raise her own babies and grandbabies.
In Negra’s actual life, she was born in the wilds of Africa, captured as an infant – probably after watching her family shot to make her capture possible – and shipped to the United States to be used as a research subject. She spent her days alone in metal cages no larger than a bathroom stall and experienced the world through filters of boredom, fear, pain, and loneliness. She had three babies in a five year span, all of whom were taken away from her within days or hours of birth, never to be seen or touched again.
Negra was about 35 years old when she stepped out of her last lab cage and into her new home at the sanctuary. That was a little over eight years ago. I sometimes wonder if there is some equation to represent the value of sanctuary to Negra and the others. Does one day in sanctuary cancel out one day in the lab? We can only hope.
Negra shouldn’t be here. She deserved to be wild and free. But her lot in life was determined by forces out of her hands, and out of ours. All we can do, and what we must do, is infuse her imperfect life with as much love and warmth and joy and comfort (and blankets and peanuts and sunshine) as we can, and then root for her as she steps toward recovery.
Jamie eight years ago in the lab:
Jamie today:
As soon as breakfast was over this morning Jamie was ready (and demanding) to go on her first perimeter walk of the day. If you got a chance to check out Elizabeth’s great blog post yesterday, you can see this is also the time we begin cleaning the chimp house. But Jamie makes sure we keep our priorities straight. So as Anna and Jamie headed off for a walk, most of the other chimps decided to join them (with the exception of the Queen who was enjoying her after breakfast nap in the greenhouse)! And so I headed out to our observation platform to take photos.
It never gets old seeing the chimps traverse their outdoor habitat, but it was a special treat to see them all on the structures together! They looked so tiny out there…
Anna, (top to bottom) Jamie, Jody, Burrito and Missy:
Annie, Missy, Jamie (at top) and Jody walking away with her treasure of found cattails:
Jamie, Burrito, Missy (Anna looks like she’s catching a piggy back on Missy, but rest assured she’s on the outside of the fence 😉 ), and Annie:
Meanwhile, Foxie and her twin Doras had meandered over to climb up Jamie’s Tower:
So tiny…Foxie on Jamie’s Tower (the top right hand of the photo), taking in the woods above the sanctuary (and our new property!):
Jody continued back to the greenhouse with her mouthful of cattails, making her way through the tall grass like a wild woman:
The others caught up with Foxie and reconvened on Jamie’s and Carlene’s Towers together. Annie standing below, Jamie on the ladder, and Foxie up top:
Jamie, Missy and Foxie:
Jamie made her way across the shaky bridge to Carlene’s Tower:
Burrito isn’t as sure of himself on shaky structures so he’s a little more cautious about traversing the bridge, but he made it across, brave chimp man that he is:
Diana cleverly stuck some cattails on top of the roof for Annie’s birthday a few days ago and somehow it’s gone unnoticed by the chimps. Until this morning:
Missy lucked out after Jamie left and found another one. The second she pulled it down a cloud of seeds blew across the hill:
All during the photo shoot, Ellie enjoyed her favorite morning spot stretched out in the shade underneath the platform I was on, or as I like to call it, the elk port:
