Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Archives for December 2015

Today is in memory of Soldier

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Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by Amy Ferreira and her family in memory of their beloved pitbull, Soldier. Amy shared this message about today:

“Sponsored in memory of Soldier, our 14 year old Pitbull Rescue. His personality quirks and loving gentle nature made him so special to us. And we love seeing you honour the Chimps’ personalities, quirks, and their day to day choices! The work you do and your blogs sharing with us are good for the soul!”

Amy, we are so touched that you would sponsor a day for the chimpanzees in honor of Soldier’s memory. It makes us so happy to know of rescue animals, especially sweet pitbulls, finding the loving homes they all deserve. Thank you for all you do to make the lives of so many animals better and for having given Soldier such a special forever family all his own. We are so happy to get to share in his life and honor him here today.

Soldier and his human sibling:

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Amy shared that Soldier’s version of troll dolls were his much adored “quacker” stuffed duck toys which he loved to nest with. I suspect Foxie would understand completely:

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Digging out

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Yesterday we got about 6 more inches of snow at the sanctuary and staff and volunteers spent the day battling the weather with car chains, snow shovels and the tractor. Today was one of those beautiful winter days where the sun and blue sky makes the new fallen snow blindingly white. The weather has warmed considerably, causing snow to fall in massive piles off the roof of the chimp house. J.B. took the opportunity of clear, warm weather to dig the chimps a pathway out on Young’s Hill to one of the climbing structures.

Annie was first on the hill and she sat in the new pathway for probably 10 minutes. I watched her enjoy a quiet moment with the warm sun on her face and back.

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This photo should give you a good idea on how deep the snow is getting.

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The snow bank around her provided easy access for a cold snack.

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When she decided she’d had enough fresh air, Annie took some snow back inside with her.

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A special thanks to J.B. for all his snow removal efforts and to all the volunteers who have braved the snowy drive to the sanctuary!

Lunch With the Chimps

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The chimpanzees eat three meals a day, and at most mealtimes they’re asked to shift out of a certain area so we can close off that area to clean. (There’s nothing quite like food to motivate!) Lunch is an exception to this rule. Since we don’t do any cleaning at lunch, the chimps have free run of the entire sanctuary during the meal. The server chooses an area to serve, and the chimps come to that area to get their food, but they can then take their food wherever they choose.

Today volunteer caregiver Becca started serving lunch in the greenhouse, but the chimps quickly let her know it was too cold, so she came inside back inside the building to serve in the front rooms. Most of the chimps tend to stay put throughout the meal, but Missy – always on the move – likes to show up at the beginning of each “course”, grab her serving, and take it off to enjoy in the playroom.

Today’s lunch consisted of tomatoes, bell peppers, celery, and green onions.

Lots of enrichment to choose from

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Here at the sanctuary, mother nature seems to be making up for the lack of snow the past few years with an abundance over the past few days. This seasonal abundance provides great enrichment for the chimpanzees, who often venture out onto Young’s Hill (the chimps’ outdoor enclosure) to search for the snowy treats. But sometimes on days like today, it snows too hard for them to venture out to gather it themselves, so staff and volunteers bring it in to them.

Today, volunteer caregivers Patti and Stephanie discussed how best to present the snow to the chimps. After figuring out that the snow was not the best for making a snowman, they decided on making little snowballs with raisins inside of them. While they were doing that, staff member Elizabeth filled various containers and a new enrichment barrel with the newly fallen snow.

After cleaning, we brought the snowballs, containers and giant barrel inside and put them out in the Playroom (one of the chimps’ indoor enclosures). There were also large boxes full of paper as part of today’s “Lots of Paper” enrichment theme. We also put out lettuce as a forage item. Before giving the chimps access to the Playroom, we put bets on which of the items the chimps would go for first. Three out of the four of us here today voted that snowballs would be first, followed by the boxes of paper. Which one do you think the chimps went for first?

Jamie
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Well, we forgot to factor in the lettuce forage and that is what all of the chimps went for first, so we all lost the bet I guess. How did you do?

Jamie and Missy did peak into the barrel of snow, then the boxes of paper, but then went right back to foraging for lettuce.

Missy
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After all the lettuce was eaten, Jamie settled down to do some more thorough investigating of the boxes and barrel of snow.

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Much to my surprise, the snowballs were last!

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While Jamie was busy with the barrel and boxes, Jody sat on the bridge and ate snow from one of the containers.

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After all of the lettuce was finished, Annie, Burrito and Foxie stayed in the loft eating snow from containers but were out of sight and Negra relaxed under a blanket nest.

Winter Beauty

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We’ve had our first real snowstorm this week. Here are some scenery shots:

The bench outside of the greenhouse, used for observing the chimpanzees during summer months when the greenhouse panels are removed:

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Negra’s cabin (the triangular structure) and the bamboo and climbing structures in the background:

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The lexan-enclosed human area of the greenhouse:

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The snow falls off the roof of the greenhouse and creates snow banks that require frequent shoveling:

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This is what I saw Missy doing most of the day:

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For a quick video of Jamie’s snow-eating technique, take a look at our instagram account (@ChimpSanctuary)

 

Today is for the Taylor Family!

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Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by Meg Lunnum in honor of her family, the Taylors! Meg is a wonderful long-time friend of the chimpanzees and humans alike and she shared this beautiful message for her family:

“My little brother, Alan, who chose to be vegan. My sister-in-law, Angie, who is my yoga mentor and an instructor for Mindful Yoga that includes military veterans, and my two nephews, Harrison and Mitchell, who will grow up to be the most amazing persons thanks to their parents! And, hopefully, their Auntie. I love you all!!!!”

Meg, thank you so much for always holding the chimpanzees in your heart and including them in your family! We so appreciate all you do to make their lives, and the lives of so many other animal beings, better.

Alan, Angie, Harrison and Mitchell, you each sound like amazing people, just like Meg! All of us here at CSNW wish you the happiest of holidays! Thank you so much for caring about the chimp. We are so grateful to know how many wonderful friends the chimpanzees have. Even including some from the most unlikely of places…

Foxie and her troll friend:

Troll doll whispering to Foxie

Jamie and her boot friend:

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Negra and her blanket friend:

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The right ones

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After the playroom is cleaned each morning, we put out a basket full of enrichment. We try to ensure that the chimps are given an assortment of their favorite things. Trolls and Doras have to be included to keep Foxie happy, and for Jamie there must be cowboy boots.

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But we can’t always predict which pair she’ll want. Her obsessions can be fleeting. One day the whole universe revolves around a particular pair; the next day they’re old news. It’s hard to keep up. Sometimes it seems that she’s not even sure which pair sits at the top of her list.

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But you can tell when she’s found the right ones. She lets out a low moan of approval, similar to the groans and sighs we humans emit when we settle into the couch with a drink in hand or climb into a warm bed at the end of a long day. It’s a sign of contentedness, an expression of comfortable familiarity.

Whatever else might happen, at least at that moment everything is right with the world.

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