CLE ELUM — A 47-year-old chimpanzee named Jody passed away Sunday night at a Cle Elum sanctuary.
Doctors believe Jody might have suffered a cervical spine injury, either from a fall or something else that happened within her body. That said, the sanctuary says they “don’t have any further answers about her condition or what led to it yet.”
In her late 40s, Jody was considered elderly for a chimpanzee. She’s the first chimp to pass away at the facility.
“I’ve been contemplating this day since the moment I met Jody and her six friends at the laboratory,” Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest Co-Director Diana Goodrich said in a news release. “Never in my wildest imagination did I think they would have 15 years of sanctuary before we lost someone.”
“So, though our hearts feel heavy now, they are at the same time light, as we think about all of the days that Jody had in her sanctuary home,” she added.
KIRO 7 has covered Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest in the past. The facility provides a home for chimps bred or captured for experimental medicine. It’s one of just six of its kind in the nation with full accreditation to house the chimps with adequate food, space, and medical care.
The sanctuary started with seven chimpanzees: Fox, Jamie, Annie, Negra, Missy, Burrito, and Jody.
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