Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Archives for September 2017

Annie’s Birthday Extravaganza!

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Today is Annie’s 43rd Birthday! We are so fortunate to know Annie – she is a sweet, playful, and loyal friend to humans and non-humans. We celebrated her today with a fun forage full of veggies, chow, roasted onions, and smoothie in the greenhouse and Young’s Hill.  Annie also really LOVES kale especially from our garden. It was quite the party!

Annie standing bipedally while foraging on the hill:

Annie found some delicious kale from our garden:

Burrito scored a few presents:

Burrito (wonder what he found inside):

Annie enjoying a plate of corn and broccoli with a side of socks:

Jamie drinking smoothie:

Jamie unwrapping a present:

Jamie holding some boots in her pelvic pocket:

Negra basking in the sun and foraging:

Birthday girl (Annie):

Missy:

Jody eating some leeks from our garden:

Annie enjoying her kale:

Foxie eating chow:

Annie found one last plate:

Secret Hideaway

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First, I want to express our good wishes for all of our primate friends in Florida right now. We have been thinking about Save the Chimps, Center for Great Apes, and Jungle Friends since coverage of Hurricane Irma began. We know the humans at those sanctuaries have been working hard to prepare for the storm and rolling out their emergency preparedness plans in order to keep the non-human primates in their care safe. We’re so grateful for all that you do and know that you will update everyone when you can, just know you are in our thoughts.

Second, this is pretty difficult to believe, but we will be celebrating Annie’s 43rd birthday tomorrow!

Annie

We don’t know Annie’s actual date of birth, and, in fact, even the year could be wrong, but it’s important for us to celebrate the chimpanzees’ individual birthdays, even if the dates were chosen by us when they arrived. Be sure to check in tomorrow for the party recap!

 

And now, for the news of Jamie’s new hideout on the hill. It’s actually not new at all – it was one of the first features that we included on Young’s Hill.

tunnel construction

We called it Missy’s Tunnel because we had a plastic culvert in the playroom that Missy liked to run through when she was playing chase with Annie, so we imagined that she would do the same with a culvert partially buried and covered over with dirt on the hill.

We haven’t seen much play in the tunnel, though I have seen Missy run through it a time or two.

This summer, Jamie decided to adopt the tunnel and has been using it quite regularly as a resting stop when she’s doing her perimeter walks around the hill.

First, she coaxes one of her caregivers to put on a pair of boots and “join” her on the walk, then, when she gets to the tunnel, she proceeds to just hang out in there for several minutes while her human subject is left standing and waiting on the other side of the fence.

 

Jamie sitting in tunnel

 

When she’s good and ready, she emerges and resumes the walk.

Jamie coming out of tunnel

 

Despite not having a tunnel on the human side of the fence, I’m finding this ritual rather relaxing myself just watching her.

And it has brought back memories. At my elementary school, we had concrete tunnels on the playground. They were great places to cool down away from the sun for a bit, gossip with a friend, or just have a voluntary timeout from whatever else was going on. Even though they were out in the open and everyone knew about them, being in one felt like I was in a secret hideaway.

I like to think that Jamie feels the same way about her newfound private place.

Jamie sitting in tunnel

 

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A Breath of Fresh Air

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Last night a new weather pattern rolled in and we were all able to breathe a sigh of relief. The thick smoke that we have been living under for over a week has finally lifted, at least temporarily. The cooler temperatures and higher humidity should help the firefighters continue their containment efforts on the nearby Jolly Mountain Fire.

I can’t tell you how great it felt to be outside today.

While Foxie, Annie, and Burrito took to different levels of the Lookout after breakfast, Jody went out to collect some bamboo to snack on.

Negra set up camp in the greenhouse, where she could enjoy the breeze from underneath her protective shield of blankets. Each time we walked by, she would stick foot up to the caging as an invitation to play. While tickling her foot I could hear a brief and very faint laugh. That’s the best you can hope for from this old grump.

Annie seemed to relish the cooler air. She must have made five or six different nests in the greenhouse today but in the end she chose to forego the blankets and relax au naturel.

Missy pulled her barrel up to the playroom doors so that she could keep a watchful eye on the goings-on in the kitchen. Volunteer Patti brought a car full of donated fruits and veggies from Darwin’s Natural Pet Products and Charlie’s Produce, so our official tomato inspector had to evaluate the haul.

Foxie was in a devilish mood. Anytime I would walk into the playroom area, she would climb to the top of the caging and throw her Dora the Explorer doll down to me. When I would try to give it back to her, she would spit water at me, spin in circles, and then run away laughing. I don’t know why every game has to result in me getting wet.

Burrito has been a but of  jerk to his family members lately but today he was mostly back to his goofy and charming self.

Jamie greeted Patti with uncharacteristic excitement this afternoon. Before Patti could finish unloading all that produce, Jamie had roped her into an enthusiastic game of chase.

Later Jamie led Anna on multiple walks around the hill. It really felt good to be outside.

 

Going Through the Archives

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Thought I’d share a few photos from the last few weeks at the sanctuary.

Jody relaxing in the playroom:

Jamie surveying Young’s Hill from the top platform in the greenhouse:

Firefighters from the Jolly Mountain Fire presenting Jamie with her own pair of firefighting boots:

Missy discovering a tomato stash during a lunch forage on Young’s Hill:

Burrito:

Annie:

Annie’s hand holding some bell peppers:

Negra eating an onion on Young’s Hill:

Foxie with Dora:

The chimps are still doing fine!

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Thanks for all the concern from supporters. We wanted to let you all know we are okay and still far from the Jolly Mountain burning in the Cle Elum area. Check out Diana’s post from Saturday for more information.

We haven’t had a lot change since her post, so thankfully the sanctuary is still safe and out of harms way. There has been a lot of smoke affecting all of the Pacific Northwest and beyond, but the chimps have been doing fine with it. The chimps spend a lot of time indoors anyway, but are choosing the ventilated space maybe a little bit more than usual. We have been adding supplements to help bolster their immune system and have been monitoring their behavior for any respiratory changes. Thanks to all who have reached out to us and we are thinking positive thoughts for our community in this stressful time.

Don’t worry, Jody is still keeping herself nice and relaxed.

Hot, sleepy and silly

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Burrito was curled up in the corner of the greenhouse this afternoon sooo hot and sooo sleepy. In-between barely being able to keep his eyes open, he intermittently somehow found time to still be adorable without having to get up or really move outside of spinning around on his back to face the opposite direction. But adorable, this guy has down. We know that.

Yawning while looking for something to play bite:

Found his toes to bite:

The classic play face/play bite: