Here are some action shots of exciting stuff going on here this morning: Foxie making a (modest) nest! You can see her clapping – she does this as she’s going through her routine. Go Foxie!
Archive for September, 2008
Fireman’s hat + orange shirt + troll + paper = NEST?
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008Dining al fresco
Monday, September 29th, 2008We’re having fabulous weather here in Cle Elum – perhaps the last before things turn chilly and snowy – so we served dinner outside this evening. Here are are few pics of the chimps enjoying the beautiful evening.
Jamie:
Foxie:
Our New Washer and Dryer
Sunday, September 28th, 2008Good news…we’ve purchased the new washer and dryer! Thanks to a fundraising drive initiated by our blog readers, we’ve been able to upgrade our old residential machines to new commercial machines that will save us money and time. Can’t wait until they arrive!
J.B. on the radio
Sunday, September 28th, 2008Right now! I meant to post this earlier, but messed it up. You should be able to access the archives soon. If you read this within the next few minutes, you’ll be able to catch the end of the interview. Link to Martha Norwalk’s Animal World: http://www.marthanorwalk.com/ and the link to the radio station is: http://www.newschannel1150.com/ (clicking on “listen live” will get you the live broadcast).
Update: to listen to the show, click on the marthanorwalk link above, then on “Visit the Animal World audio archive” J.B.’s interview is half way though Hour 3.
Jamie – Then and Now
Sunday, September 28th, 2008In the lab, Jamie plucked the hair from her belly, possibly from stress or frustration, but more likely due to sheer boredom. She has such an active mind, and it is painful to imagine what she went through day after day such an impoverished environment. Here’s a photo of her on Day 2 of her new life in the sanctuary – if you look closely, you’ll notice the tattoo across her chest (522 – her lab I.D. number):
The moment she arrived at the sanctuary, the plucking stopped. The hair grew back in on her belly and became much thicker overall. Thankfully, the tattoo is getting harder to see. Here are a couple of photos taken this morning:
Changing Negra
Saturday, September 27th, 2008Many of you have noticed that I recently changed the image of Negra on the homepage of our website. The photo that was up there I had titled “Negra perfect” because I thought that she looked absolutely beautiful in that photo. I still think that she looks beautiful, but, seeing her now that she has more color in her face and her skin has firmed up and her eyes are filled with curiosity and alertness, I can see she is pretty far from perfect in that image. I’m not sure why this surprises me… she was the subject of biomedical research for decades and had been living in a windowless basement with no sun, fresh air, or mental stimulation. Three months later she looks almost like a different chimpanzee. See for yourself below.
Negra on Day one of sanctuary life, June 13, 2008
Negra outside, Sept. 2008
Scribbling
Friday, September 26th, 2008Yesterday, while we were cleaning the playroom, Jamie amused herself by scribbling with a pen. Even though she’s not drawing anything in particular, you can see that she really enjoys the process. She grips the pen with precision and puts tremendous concentration into her drawing. Diana caught it on video:
Here’s a photo of one of the pages she scribbled on:
And here’s a photo of Jamie drawing, taken by Diana:
Here’s the funniest thing: Last night, while I was doing closing rounds, I went around the building to say goodnight to each of the chimpanzees. Jamie was laying on a bench in one of the front rooms, with blankets pulled up to her chest. But she wasn’t sleeping – she was drawing in bed! I felt like a parent that discovers their kid reading comic books in bed with a flashlight. Of course, Jamie can draw anytime she likes!
Pablo, Dorothy and Chimpanzee Families
Thursday, September 25th, 2008One of the most profound experiences of my life was the death of a chimpanzee named Pablo. Pablo was a friend, and it was the first time that a chimpanzee that I had known personally had died, so it was quite difficult emotionally. But it wasn’t the loss that affected me most. Instead, it was the way the other chimpanzees in the group reacted that moved me so deeply. The day he died, I witnessed a chimpanzee funeral. And as far as I’m concerned, I saw the entire range of emotions that would be on display at any human funeral – confusion, grief, anger, denial, and, among the older laboratory veterans, even a wise and knowing acceptance.
The memory of Pablo’s death was evoked today when I read this tribute written by our friend Sheri Speede to a chimpanzee named Dorothy. The letter is touching, and it reflects the compassion that Sheri and the people at Sanaga-Yong bring to their work caring for orphaned and abused chimpanzees. But, similar to my experience with Pablo, what struck me most was the photo of Dorothy’s chimpanzee family watching her burial. I would challenge anyone to see this photo and not be moved.
Chimpanzees are like us in so many ways, as you can see from the photos and videos on this blog. But some of the similarities are so profound as to render the others insignificant. When I think of why chimpanzees deserve our compassion, I think of Pablo’s friends and family, and now, I will think of this photo.
New CSNW Forum!
Wednesday, September 24th, 2008The Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest Forum is now live! Roslyn from Montreal has been kind enough to offer to help me administrate the forum/discussion board and she’ll be answering a lot of your technical and other questions from that site.
The forum is a place where people can more easily get to know each other and to talk with one another about the chimpanzees at CSNW and related topics – the CCC group asked for it, and we’ve delivered! I think it’s going to be a lot of fun! We’ve created several forum topics to begin with and will see if others seem to naturally develop as people use the board. You must first register to make posts – you’ll see how to do this once you go to the main page.
See you on the forum!! chimpsanctuarynw.org/forum
Diana
P.S. – Shelly K. is a moderator on the forum and will be helping with a few things including making sure the board rules are being followed (common sense stuff about being polite – please read the full rules on the forum) and moving messages to more appropriate topics, if need be.
We’ve got mail
Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008Busy day today, but I thought I’d take a sec to send a note to the mystery person who “helped” the Cle Elum Seven send us a thank you card! JB, Diana, Keith and I got a very sweet message in the mail from all the gang thanking us for being their best friends! We thank them for being our best friends too!
