Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary for primates.

Archives for June 2018

Females in Charge

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We’re getting ready for the small groundbreaking ceremony this afternoon! The actual construction on Phase 1 of the expansion will start in a little over two weeks, but today we’re having a ceremonial start to this huge project. I can’t even express how happy we are to have arrived at this day and how incredibly grateful I am for every single person who has donated these last two years as we fundraised to begin this project.

We have a lot of work ahead of us, but it’s amazing to be finally at the first step towards bringing more chimpanzees home.

 

In the meantime, I bring you my thoughts this morning as I walked around Young’s Hill with Jamie, Missy, Jody, and Foxie walking together on the inside of their habitat…

In the wild, chimpanzees societies are patriarchal. With their might, size, and testosterone, even low-ranking adult males are said to outrank all of the adult females in any given group. In captivity, things are often quite different. Every group of chimpanzees that I have worked with for an extended period of time has had a strong female that clearly called many of the shots and at least occasionally put their foot down with males in the group.

Maybe it’s because the chimpanzees I’ve known have not been socialized into a normal chimpanzee society – they were raised in human environments or spent much of their time living alone or in pairs within laboratory settings. Or maybe part of it is that chimpanzees are flexible and adaptable, figuring their relationships out as they go rather than having a rigid, strictly biologically-driven social order. Most likely it’s a bit of this and a bit of that.

Even though it’s not what they would be doing in the wild, and it would likely be much better if they were living in a more balanced male-to-female group, I can’t help but admire the female power that exists at the sanctuary.

Like today, when this all-female patrol walked around the perimeter of their territory.

Breaking Ground

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Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest’s Bring Them Home expansion project officially got underway this morning.

A few years ago, we launched a campaign to expand our chimpanzee facility so that we could take in more chimpanzees in need. We knew it would be an ambitious project for an organization our size; what we didn’t expect, however, was all of the twists and turns that we’d experience along the way.

As we began to develop plans for the new addition, we were surprised to learn from the DOT that we’d be required to build a new driveway before we could get a permit for the building. We needed to find a suitable location to connect to the state highway and the options on our existing property, located on a long curve in the road, were limited. As fortune would have it, a neighboring property with an approved access location came up for sale, so we purchased it and made plans to install a driveway connecting the two properties. To get a permit to build that connecting driveway, we had to conduct a months-long environmental study. Given how eager we are to build for more chimps, each of these delays felt like an eternity. But at last we are underway.

This morning, Gordy Margullis of Gordon’s Dozing and Backhoe Service came over bright and early from Renton, WA to donate his time and equipment to build the nearly 1/4-mile-long connecting driveway. We are so incredibly grateful to Gordy for helping us with this project – he even took it upon himself to get other businesses to donate towards the cost of the gravel!. Our thanks also go out to Darci, who found out about our driveway project during a donor visit last summer and told her animal-loving employer, Gordy, about our situation.

Ellie supervising:

Connecting the new with the old, with Young’s Hill and the chimps’ Twister structure in the background behind the old barn:

It always helps with donors when your resident elk knows how to turn on the charm:

Next we will have to rip up the asphalt on part of the neighboring driveway and regrade it so that it’s not so steep (to meet code). Luckily we have another generous contractor lined up to help with some of that project and reduce the cost as much as we can.

The driveway is a costly and time-consuming project that we had not anticipated when we set out to expand the chimp house. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the sanctuary’s incredible friend Vicki Fagerlee and to the many donors from last summer’s Summer Biddin’ online auction who stepped up to help us cover the costs of this first part of the project. Because of them, and because Gordy and others have helped keep those costs as low as possible, we can put more of our resources towards the expansion and, ultimately, getting more chimps to sanctuary.

Speaking of the expansion, we are scheduled to begin construction on July 16! Due to the cost of the project, we have broken it into phases. The first phase will add a foyer, a permanent veterinary clinic with a recovery enclosure, a new bathroom, a new laundry/enrichment room, and two small indoor chimp enclosures to aid in quarantine and introductions. Phase 1 will immediately improve our ability to care for the Cle Elum 7 and create a better working environment for our staff and volunteers. It would also allow us to take in a very small number of chimpanzees to integrate into our current group, but only under certain conditions (depending on the number of chimps in the group, their ages, etc.), so there’s no guarantee that this would happen right away. However, we plan to continue as quickly as possible with Phase 2 (a new playroom) and Phase 3 (a new greenhouse) so that we can have space to integrate and care for a new social group.

For those of you with excellent eyesight, here’s a look at what the floor plan will look like after all three phases are complete:

Tomorrow we’ll be holding a ceremonial groundbreaking to commemorate this momentous occasion!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Give and Take

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Today volunteer Amanda captured some interesting chimp behavior on her phone while watching volunteer Kailie serve lunch to the chimpanzees. Kailie had set a couple of pieces of yam within Jamie’s reach. As boss, Jamie has the unique privilege of being able to leave her food unattended and be reasonably sure that no one else will have the nerve to take it. Today Jamie wasn’t showing much interest in her yams, so Annie (who is at the very bottom of the dominance hierarchy) must have done some quick mental calculations and decided that Jamie might not be too upset if Annie took her yams. As you’ll see in the video, it turns out that Annie was right, but it was still a gutsy move, and it demonstrates just how much confidence Annie has developed since her early days at the sanctuary when she wouldn’t have dared risk upsetting the boss.

Incidentally, later in the meal Jamie got her own form of payback when she distracted Annie with a kiss to the forehead while she swiped some of her primate chow.

Getting prepped!

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Exciting things are happening at the sanctuary! We are preparing to break ground on Phase 1 of our expansion plans! Today JB moved our temporary clinic/break room (AKA the Desert Fox travel trailer) just outside the perimeter fence to make way for the construction that is imminent! We also have a special groundbreaking ceremony scheduled for Saturday and a date set for construction to begin early next month! We will post a more thorough blog update soon, with the details of what’s to come with our expansion, but for now enjoy these photos from today.

Ellie the elk was on hand to supervise the trailer moving process:

Annie, Negra, and Foxie investigating the new empty space in their view:

Here’s what their view looks like now! Next up, this shelter is going to be transplanted to a new location at the sanctuary. Stay tuned!

In memory of Ruth Syrop

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David Beckett sponsored today for the chimpanzees in memory of Ruth Syrop.

David, thank you so much for thinking of the chimpanzees in Ruth’s memory. We’re always so touched when someone chooses to remember and honor someone special to them by making a difference in the lives of others. I can’t think of a more wonderful remembrance and legacy of one’s life. We so appreciate your gift and so do the chimps!

Jody:

Missy:

Annie:

The joy of being Foxie

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Foxie has been full of spitfire and shenanigans today, her hair standing on end (pilo-erect) almost all day due to her seemingly constant state of joy and excitement. She’s been engaging us in wild games of chase, carrying a minimum of three dolls everywhere she goes, and just entirely enjoying her day.

J.B. captured photos of Foxie the other day during the celebration of the chimps’ 10th anniversary and Negra’s birthday, her and her new France Dora doll, out on Young’s Hill by themselves enjoying a spin under one of the structures in between foraging. Pure joy. Pure Foxie.