Archive for March 5th, 2010

Sarah on the subject of healing

Friday, March 5th, 2010

A few weeks ago, two very special people from Seattle’s NPR station visited the sanctuary and interviewed Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest’s Executive Director, Sarah Baeckler. The interview and audio from their visit will air on KUOW Presents on 94.9 FM tomorrow at 2:06pm. Please listen to it live if you’re in the area.

You can also listen to it, subscribe to the KUOW Presents podcast, or download the interview from their website right now. It’s a very moving piece, and I hope you’ll be inspired to contact KUOW to comment, and encourage them to re-air it as frequently as they can. You will learn a lot about Sarah in the interview and why she does what she does for chimpanzees.

Sippin’ for the Seven – SOLD OUT!

Friday, March 5th, 2010

Tickets for tomorrow night’s Sippin’ for the Seven are sold out. Thanks to everyone who bought tickets – we’re looking forward to a fun evening!

Self treatment

Friday, March 5th, 2010

Chimpanzees spend a lot of time grooming injuries on themselves and others. In fact, we rely heavily on observation of their behavior towards one another to monitor their health. For example, a chimpanzee may develop a small abscess from a bite or scratch during a fight. Depending on the location of the injury, the caregivers may not notice it at first. But the chimpanzees sure do, and this will often alert us to its presence. And while we tend to be a bit overly cautious and provide oral antibiotics, the chimpanzees do a pretty good job of grooming and draining injuries to promote healing on their own. This makes sense, of course, because free-living chimpanzees often suffer injuries and do not rely on humans for treatment. But it is fascinating to watch. Missy seems to be the most adept at using tools (in this case a piece of grape vine) to groom herself.

Web Missy OA self groom stick 3_MG_5676

Web Missy OA self groom stick 2_MG_5675

Web Missy OA self groom stick 5_MG_5684