Thursday, October 02, 2008

Meet Negra the Chimpanzee


Have you heard of Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest? Recently a customer who volunteers for the organization told me about their mission and I knew I had to help.

According to their website, the CSNW is located on a 26-acre farm in the Cascade mountains, due east of Seattle. CSNW is one of only nine sanctuaries in the country that cares for chimpanzees.

CSNW was founded in 2003 to provide sanctuary for chimpanzees discarded from the entertainment and biomedical testing industries.

The farm is home to the Cle Elum Seven, a group of chimps who were rescued from a lab in Pennsylvania last year. You can learn more about the gang here on the website, and also see videos like these on the charming blog.





We hope you'll join us on Saturday, October 25th as we host a fundraising shopping spree at our store. We'll donate 20% of the gross sales that day to Chimp Sanctuary Northwest. (All merchandise and custom orders qualify. New gift certificate purchases excepted.)We want to raise as much as we can for these beautiful animals, so please tell your friends!



3 comments:

Sandi Heinrich said...

At first I was so excited to see this story on your blog, I had no idea there was a chimp sanctuary in Cle Elum (although it's not entirely surprising given the work being done with chimps at CWU in Ellensburg.) But after reading their stories at the CSNW website I'm just feeling sick with despair and am so angry that these places are even necessary. Chimpanzees have a huge home in my heart after absorbing myself in the astounding work of Jane Goodall while I was studying Evolutionary Psychology in school. These animals need the utmost respect and protection and it kills me to know it's humans who have made it necessary for these seven to live in concrete cages. They should be making their beds of tree fronds, not blankets!!

Pleh : (

But I'm proud of you, Laura, for bringing attention to CSNW and highly commend you for sharing your profits to help out these critters. As always, nice work... you definitely inspire me! I'll try to focus on that today, instead of being sad & angry : )

Laura Bee said...

Sandi,

I know these sorts of issues can be really overwhelming and depressing. That's why I think organizations like these are so amazing. The staff and volunteers have chosen to do something positive about an issue about which they are passionate.

Also, I like the fact that their website/blog is not preachy. It's actually quite upbeat and inspiring!

Also, the chimps have been in human captivity too long to be released into the wild. That's why a sanctuary is so important.

Sandi Heinrich said...

Just saw your response to my comment from last week... really, I'm thrilled to know there are sanctuaries out there fighting the good fight for all the animals who are unwitting victims of unthinking humans, my idealist self just wishes they weren't necessary at all. I'm definitely thankful there are people who are working hard to right the wrongs of others by improving the lives of these incredible creatures. I hope one day the incredible work of Jane Goodall will put an end to the need for chimp sanctuaries at all : )

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge of this organization. I would really, really love to take pictures of the chimps! (Although it is hard to shoot with tears in my eyes...)