I'll start with the chimpanzees. Sometime this summer, seven chimpanzees will move from a research facility in Pennsylvania to a new, roomy sanctuary dedicated to their enrichment in Cle Elum. They will be the first residents at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest [1] (CSNW ).
One of only nine chimpanzee sanctuaries in the country, CSNW was founded in 2003 to provide homes for chimpanzees cast off by the entertainment and biomedical testing industries. The CSNW debutantes -- Negra, Jody, Jamie, Foxie, Missy, Annie and Burrito [2] -- were mainly used in hepatitis B vaccine efficacy trials, and the females were used for breeding.
Raising funds for the new sanctuary, which is still under construction, is where the shopping comes in. On Saturday, April 12, Urbanweeds [3] in Fremont will donate 25 percent of the day's sales to CSNW. Buy a hip plant, modern garden furniture or the prettiest bird feeder I've ever seen and benefit some deserving primates. I'd say it's a reason to beat your chest, but I think that's ape territory.
If you can't make the sale, maybe pick up one of these seriously cool 98.76% Chimp T-shirts [4]or volunteer to help complete the living quarters at volunteer@chimpsanctuarynw.org [5]. How many people can say they helped build a chimp house?
While we're on the subject of primate retirement, I'm eagerly awaiting a new book from New York Times writer Charles Siebert, entitled "Humanzee," about "retirement homes" for former chimp actors, research subjects and dumped pets. (Siebert provided a strange window into these joints recently on "This American Life [6].")
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