If you checked the blog a couple days ago, you’ll know that Jody and Foxie are making some big steps toward finding their place out on Young’s Hill. Well, as I mentioned on her Facebook page, yesterday Jody decided to start exploring all on her own! She even skipped lunch entirely to check out nearly every inch of the enclosure.
When I think about how the chimps must feel about the open space we’ve given them, I imagine they must feel so many different emotions—joy, excitement, fear, anxiety, curiosity, and so many more I’m sure. After living behind steel bars for over 3 decades, it’s fairly overwhelming to step out into grass and open sky.
I was in front of the tunnel yesterday (while cleaning Young’s Hill to get it ready for the chimps) and I was able to see how things are from their perspective. Although Young’s Hill is an enclosure, when you first leave the tunnel it does not feel that way.
Jody was captured from Africa and put into a cage, so it’s really awesome and inspiring to see her gain the confidence to step out into the unknown.
Donna says
Brave Jody! I get tears in my eyes looking at all of the remarkable footage …of course, it is all so new to them …..and I’ll bet from their perspective it looks quite large – good for them! I am so happy to check in and see all of the progress being made! thank you all!
Linda (Portland, OR) says
Sweet, sweet Jody! My heart is just so happy for her and taking the first steps tp explore on her own!
Skipping lunch is a very, big deal and I’m sure she felt that every step she took out there was absolutely worth missing lunch!! (Of course we ALL know Mr. B will never skip any kind of food to go out and explore!! (Tee-Hee!) and that’s why we love him (them) all so much!!!
What a prefect way to end my lunch break!!
Chimp hugs to all!!
diane says
Checking it out. Looks okay. I think I’ll give it a try.
Pam Miller says
Go Jody!
Denice says
Today was a miserable day in Cle Elum, rain, dark clouds and wind. The reaceway door was opened after breakfast for the “7” to go out if they wanted to. Most of the chimps went out between rain showers for a short time. Jody did venture out only to come back in to dry off with a blanket. When all the chimps were in and it looked like they were not interested in going back out the staff decided to close the raceway door. The minute Jody heard the door start to close she ran and sat in the doorway so it couldn’t be closed. She did not want that door closed, she really didn’t want to go out to the hill in the rain but she was determined to keep the raceway door open in the off chance she wanted to go out again. At the end of my shift the door had been closed and hot chocolate, popcorn and a movie were on the agenda for the afternoon.
Anna says
I could watch these videos for hours. 🙂 Every expression, every action is so rich. Contemplating that huge open space as an unknown quantity that pulled at her despite the trepidation; dancing back to bark dust after venturing onto grass; looking back over her shoulder to make sure she could recognize the way back. And Denice – sitting in the raceway door so it couldn’t close? REALLY rich! 🙂 As we head into winter and the weather keeps them from spending too much time out on the Hill, they can ease into a sense of familiarity with it all. When next summer comes around? LOL – we’re bound to see some serious playing out there!
Thanks, Debbie!
Clare Haggarty says
You have to stop making me cry every day! On second thought, don’t stop making me cry — this is all so special.
Margaret and karen says
From Karen. A couple of questions. What does cleaning Young’s Hill involve? Also how do you get the chimps to come inside fromYoung’ Hill at the end of a day? As always it is wonderful to ksee there activities daily. What an amazing accumulation you have accumulated since their arrival with blog entries. Certainly a valuable documentary of chimps released from labs. All of you on staff are wonderful!
Debbie says
Cleaning Young’s Hill is basically right now scanning for anything that needs to be picked up and putting out fresh blankets, and we also do a fence check each day before letting the chimps out (to ensure the safety of the chimps!) and, on a good day, we’ll put out a food forage too.
Getting the chimps to come inside for the evening has not been challenging (yet) especially with the weather being so crummy. We’ll invite them in for dinner and usually food is motivation enough to get them to run inside. (However this is always a choice for them–in the future if they don’t want to come in for dinner, someone will stick around and wait until they want to come in for the night before closing the tunnel door).