Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
Our building is designed so that the chimps can see what’s going on. They can see into the kitchen, so they can watch us making their meals and see who’s coming and going. They can see the UPS truck and other folks coming up the driveway too. I snapped this picture of Mr. B when a volunteer was arriving today. He leaned out over the catwalk so he could catch a glimpse of who was here!
Check out these funny-looking chimpanzees I found in the kitchen today!
So sorry for our site being down so often lately. We are working with Dreamhost to fix the problem and hope you’ll be patient with these outages!
J.B. hung the mirror today in the playroom that the blog/forum participants purchased for the Cle Elum Seven. The chimpanzees love it! Jamie was pretty intent on figuring out how to remove it from the wall, so J.B. put a frame around it at the end of the day. Below is a video and photos of their first inspections and reflections.
With the crazy weather, the chimps had not been able to go outside for a few days. It’s been sunny three days running now (with more to come!), and we’ve been able to give them a bit of outside time. They go out for brief periods even when it’s cold (but sunny) and windy – you can hear the wind in the video below. They run around, swing, play chase, and grab handfuls of snow to bring back inside.
Burrito and Negra have an interesting relationship. She seems genuinely afraid of him at times and will hide in the front rooms when he is displaying. And if there is excitement in the group, she will give him a huge submissive greeting (she will grunt loudly and present her rear end to him) as if to say “don’t take it out on me, please!”
But they also spend a lot of time grooming together, and once and a while Burrito can get Negra to laugh. Of course, he has to play Negra-style (calmly and slowly, laying down if possible), which is a stretch for Burrito. Take a look (FYI – the hissing sound you hear is me moving the pneumatic doors to let the chimps in for lunch):
We’ve been hearing from people all over the country, wondering how the weather is affecting us here at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. It’s been a pretty dramatic few days – the local area has mudslides, avalanches, and lots of flooding. But rest assured, the chimps are on high ground (literally!) and we are all safe and sound.
