Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
It’s a profoundly peaceful, beautiful and lazy spring day here at the sanctuary. Napping in the warm breeze, tickling of toes, napping, listening to the birds, foraging for wild stuff, napping, chasing huge Swallowtail butterflies (that would be me), the scent of blooming mountain lupine, watching the grass blowing, napping, the end.
One of our bluebird neighbors peeking out:
Jody:
Negra:
Annie:
A swallow neighbor:
Foxie, luxuriating at the top of the hot greenhouse:
Independence is a trait we celebrate in the chimpanzee sanctuary community. If a chimpanzee exhibits independence, it means they take advantage of the sanctuary environment they are provided with, and choose to do what they want, when they want it. You may recall that Jamie shows a deep independent streak when it comes to letting staff close off Young’s Hill for the night (especially on warm evenings).
Negra (like Jamie) is an independent character. But unlike Jamie, she is not known for choosing Young’s Hill as the place to spend her time. She mostly prefers to nap indoors in a cozy blanket pile or sit at a window and survey the valley below the sanctuary. Lately, Negra has harnessed her courage to travel to almost the top of Young’s Hill and pick mouthfuls of wild prickly lettuce that grows especially thick on several mounds of earth.
It was on one of these mounds that I found Negra last week. As the rest of the staff set about doing a positive reinforcement training session with their chimpanzee partners, my partner (Negra) opted out of the training session and chose instead to munch happily away on the hill. The fact that Negra got to make a choice is what life in a sanctuary is all about.
Do you remember when Diana wrote to stay tuned for a new unveiling? Well, today is the big day!! Blog readers and sanctuary supporters, meet Twister; the chimpanzees’ newest climbing structure. The Twister design was conceived by J.B. with a starting idea by Nick and built by J.B., Keith, Josh, Becky, Mark, Jack, Jim, Brian, Gretchen, and Patrick.
Funds for building it were donated by friends of Bill Walters. He and his wife Nicki and their friend Dave were here today to see the chimps explore the structure.
Jody, Annie, Missy and Jamie checking out the newest addition.
Some of the chimps were daring enough to reach the top and take in the surrounding view.
Annie sitting on top and Missy just below.
Missy
Jamie
But, I think the highlight, and perhaps they would agree too, was seeing Annie and Missy playing on and in and around it. Here’s an action shot Katelyn took today of Missy and Annie.
Stay tuned for more photos and videos of the chimps exploring this newest addition to their 2 acre outdoor enclosure (Young’s Hill).
It’s been a beautiful weekend of celebration of our beloved Jody’s birthday and honoring both the mothers who the chimpanzees lost and the mothers who they are. We are honored to continue the celebration with today’s day of sanctuary in memory of Judy Matthews, sponsored by her daughter, Ronda Cluff. Ronda sent this beautiful message about her mother:
“This donation is in memory of my mother, Judy Matthews, who nurtured my love and respect for animals by teaching me from the earliest age that “do unto others” applies to all creatures. She continued her support of me as I became a vegetarian and animal activist and even thanked ME for teaching HER to see the world a little differently”
Ronda, your mother sounds like such a special person and we are so touched that you would choose to honor her through helping to provide the chimpanzees with the nurturing home and lives they deserve. Thank you so much for choosing to live your life in such a compassionate way and for all you do for animals. What a beautiful way to honor your mother’s memory each day. As we celebrate Judy’s life here today, our thoughts and gratitude are with you both! Thank you for making a difference in the chimps’ lives!
Today is a day for dual celebration. Not only is it Mother’s Day, but it’s also the day we celebrate Jody’s birthday. We don’t know her actual birthday, (she may have been born in the wild.) What we do know is that Jody spent decades as a test subject in biomedical research before coming to Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. During those years in the lab, she gave birth to nine babies, so we chose Mother’s Day to celebrate her and to honor her as a mother.
It’s hard to fathom Jody never having had the chance to raise any of her babies. It’s equally hard to imagine that she was not able to learn and grow under the guidance of her own mother in the wild. Wrapping my brain around the reality of her past is heartbreaking. And knowing that there are so many other captive chimpanzees that share a similar story brings tears to my eyes. But, today is a day to celebrate; to celebrate Jody, her life and all that she has become since her new beginning at CSNW.
Because we have two very special reasons to celebrate, we set up two parties…one in the Greenhouse….
…and one in the Playroom.
Today, we honor the mother that Jody is by showering her with love and giving her some of her most favorite things…extra blankets for building huge nests, good food, flowers and alfalfa cubes. You can read more about Jody here.
Jody
Missy
Annie
Foxie
Jamie
Negra
Burrito
There’s a whole crew of people here building a new structure on Young’s Hill today! We will do a big reveal on Monday, so start making your predictions as to what the structure will look like.
Because there are humans on the hill, the chimpanzees don’t have access. And today is HOT! It feels like summer. With these two circumstances combined, we needed to come up with something cooling and time-occupying for the chimpanzees. We decided on water and ice enrichment.
I’d say it was a hit.
Annie:
Missy:
Burrito:
Foxie:
Jamie making up her own enrichment (of course):
Of all the things we share with chimps – the ability to use tools, the capacity for language, the intelligence required to plan ahead and solve complex problems, and so on – none seems quite as relevant to the question of whether they deserve our compassion as how they react when they are tickled.
