Posts by Debbie
Negra’s story
Today is the fifth anniversary of Negra and the Cle Elum Seven’s new lives in sanctuary. It’s amazing what sunshine and good food and comfort can do for these inspiring and resilient chimps. Today is the day to Give Five for our Queen on her birthday! Stay tuned for a video that we will be…
Read MoreMissy’s story
Missy cracks us up every day. She is super active, but at times can be calm, gentle and is very intense and serious about grooming sessions. She also likes to use tools to groom herself. She doesn’t sit still for long though—every day she runs so fast around the playroom chasing Annie or on the…
Read MoreJody’s story
We are continuing with our chimpanzee profiles leading up to Give Five Day and the five-year anniversary of the chimpanzees’ arrival to sanctuary on June 13th. Today we feature Jody. Jody has a unique personality. She’s very serious and independent, but also caring and kind, and will happily greet her caregivers every morning. She has…
Read MoreTake Action Tuesday: Split-listing may be removed!
This morning the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced that they are proposing to remove the split listing between captive and free-living chimpanzees, making ALL chimpanzees endangered. This potentially will have a major influence on how chimpanzees are treated in this country. It will certainly have an impact on invasive research and most likely…
Read MoreJamie’s story
Jamie is probably the smartest primate you’ll ever meet. Her exact birthdate is unknown, but she was likely born in 1977. We celebrate her birthday on Halloween every year – it fits her mischievous personality. Jamie’s early years were spent around humans. She lived with a trainer and was probably used in some form of…
Read MoreFoxie’s story
Foxie might be the silliest being I’ve ever met. She truly can brighten anyone’s day with her bouncy head nods and loud laughter—even Jamie—the most serious being I’ve ever met, is entranced with her charm and playfulness. Foxie steals peoples’ hearts with her love of trolls and Dora dolls, especially when she rubs their belly…
Read MoreBurrito’s story
Burrito is super goofy. He is often sweet and playful with caregivers – he likes to play chase and tug-of-war (though he does also have other sides to his personality). Seeing him play with his friend Foxie is one of the greatest sites to behold. He’s even goofy when he’s found a toy he decides…
Read MoreAnnie’s story
Leading up to the five year anniversary next week, we wanted to share the stories of each chimpanzee before they came to CSNW. Annie, Burrito, Foxie, Jamie, Jody, Missy, and Negra all were housed in a windowless basement at the Buckshire Corporation in Pennsylvania before they were rescued in June 2008. Buckshire leased their chimps primarily…
Read MoreJamie’s projects
Jamie is always, always, always working on something. Even when she’s resting, I can just see the gears turning in her mind and she’s thinking about the next thing she plans on doing. Sometimes it’s hard to enrich Jamie because her mind is so active and she needs a lot to keep her engaged. Over…
Read MoreBehind the scenes
Understandably, the stars of the sanctuary are the Cle Elum Seven and obviously they are the center of our blog posts. Often though, we have lots of people ask about what the caregivers do “behind-the-scenes.” Long ago we did a post on how we clean and also on the morning routine, as well as how…
Read MoreAlong the Bushmeat Highway: Part 3
This is the third installment of a series of posts from Dr. Cleve Hicks. Cleve did his PhD research in the DRC studying chimps in the Bili Forest. Read Part 1 of this story and Part 2 first! (To add some context to the story, look at the map of the “Bushmeat Highway” here). — Our stay in…
Read MoreAlong the Bushmeat Highway: Part 2
This is the second installment of a series of posts from Dr. Cleve Hicks. Cleve did his PhD research in the DRC studying chimps in the Bili Forest. Read Part 1 of this story about some of his experiences here. WARNING: some disturbing images are included in this entry. — I was encouraged to see that…
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