Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Archives for November 2019

The grateful things

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After all the constant change and unexpected events of the past few months, today I’m grateful for all the little signs of normalcy returning for many of the chimpanzees. All the live long day not one chimpanzee person offered to sit still for the camera for a proper photo. But as much as I love to share their beautiful selves, them getting back into small snippets of their routines, enjoying their lives, having more easeful days, I care more about that than their photos.

Things like Foxie tossing a troll down from the loft and asking a caregiver to play chase up and down the human hallway while she raced back and forth above. Or spinning in pirouettes throughout the loft – I haven’t seen one of her patented Foxie spins in a long time – she’s had other things on her mind. Or Missy, asking a caregiver to brush her hair while she sits atop a barrel against the caging, warming up after a brisk gallop around Young’s Hill. Mave, Honey B and Willy B asking for kisses in the excitement of mealtime. I can’t say this is or isn’t “routine” for them as we’re still getting to know them, but I still take it as a sign of happiness from them. Or Mave low-moaning in happiness up in the mezzanine when I toss up extra blankets warm from the dryer at bedtime. Then there was Annie running over to greet caregivers and asking to groom their toes (Annie LOVES human toes). Jamie being back to asking for her cowboy boots at bedtime. Jody (!!) swinging from a firehose while she play-kicked her friends below. Negra clapping and using salty chimp language in demand for her meals which outside of her amazing nests, she pretty much lives for. Even our beloved Burrito, though he’s busy working hard on healing, giving the sweetest laugh to a caregiver, grooming with his chimp lady friends, and closing his eyes in sleepiness and calm while I knuckle-rubbed the top of his head as he lay next to me pressing it against the caging. Or ending the day with all ten of the chimpanzees giving long and hearty nest grunts goodnight in response to lights out and “Goodnight everybody, we love you.” It’s these little things I’m most grateful for today and always. Because these little things are indicative of such big things. The things I hold most dear to my heart. The chimps’ hearts and happiness, contentment and well-being.

All I managed to capture today was Missy from afar, enjoying her lunchtime chow as she sat suspended in a sunbeam while balancing on a firehose in the middle of the playroom. Such a wonderful Missy thing to do:

Trending Upward

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I must admit that I got quite sentimental in my latest blog post. I even tried to be insightful.

Today’s entry will contain nothing of the sort.

Instead, here is a dry update on everyone’s progress accompanied by images from my phone camera.

Burrito continues to heal and appears more active by the day, but he is still nursing some ugly wounds. We continue to monitor him for potential complications (including but not limited to bacterial infection). Getting him to take meds is a full-time job, so caregiver Katelyn had the tedious task of preparing various foods and trying to sell him on each. As J.B. recently explained, this has been the most challenging aspect of Burrito’s treatment plan. He did get a few bursts of energy today and spent quite a bit of time interacting with the female chimps through the mesh windows separating him from the Playroom. He even climbed up onto his favorite bench, although his movement was a bit shaky and he appears to only have a fraction of his normal strength. Still, it was good to see Bubba being Bubba.

Burrito licks his wounds while reclining in his nest.
Burrito ventures down to the farthest bench so he can see into the Greenhouse.
Burrito enjoys some medication-laced yogurt, even licking it off of the caging.
Our medication board is quite full at the moment.
Burrito presents his injured hand to the females.
Burrito relaxes atop the highest bench in the front rooms.

The girls (Annie, Foxie, Jamie, Jody, Missy and Negra) have been back to business as usual. They seem to appreciate a return to routine, although they spend a lot of time monitoring Burrito and watching the windows and doors for signs of their chimpanzee neighbors on the other side. Whenever Willy B makes an appearance, they shower him with submissive pant-grunts and excited gestures. The weather was chilly and windy today, minimizing the appeal of Young’s Hill, but Jamie recruited volunteer Chad to walk the boundary with her anyway. When not patrolling and policing, Jamie has been enviously watching us give all sorts of foods to Burrito and has been asking for similar treatment. Jody has been obsessively helping Burrito to groom his wounds and he seems glad to have such an attentive nurse.

Jody grooms Burrito’s hand.
Jamie chills out on a firehose “vine” after breakfast.

Honey B has been an absolute star when asked to present her wounds for inspection and treatment. Her toe and backside are healing well and she is behaving like her normal self. She’s been more interested in grooming my freckles than she has been in her own injuries, so our concern for her recovery is minimal even though we continue to treat her lacerations with topical and oral medication. Honey B is an ideal patient because she is comfortable with our presence close to the steel caging and she is generally accepting of any flavor of yogurt, even if it tastes like antibiotics or Ibuprofen. As long as she gets to hold the spoon and hang out with caregivers, she’s happy.

Honey B inspects the camera lens on my phone. She really doesn’t seem to mind having humans operating within her personal space.

Willy B and Mave have been dealing with the unfortunate loss of their new social partners now that the groups have been split up and integration efforts have been halted. Instead, they’ve been focusing on reinforcing their bonds with each other (and with Honey B, to a lesser extent). We’ve also been showering them with enrichment and allowing them to sunbathe in the outdoor chute during the afternoons.

Willy B (left) and Mave (right) engage in some rough play before dinner.
Willy B used my phone camera to inspect his teeth…
…and groom his nails…
…and fix his hair.

Overall, everyone is trending upward. However, we continue to place an emphasis on helping Burrito to recover while keeping the other chimps busy and comfortable as the fall weather gradually fades into winter.

The river meanders its way past the sanctuary this afternoon.

The Tale of the Slippers

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As J.B. mentioned yesterday, and as I’m sure you would have surmised in any case, we’ve been spending extra time outside of our normal hours at the sanctuary as Burrito recovers. (If you are wondering about Honey B and why we don’t talk about her recovery, well, that’s because her day to day quickly returned to normal and she’s doing great!)

The first few days following last Friday’s procedure were pretty much 24/7 Burrito-watch.

We are grateful that Burrito’s chimpanzee friends on the other side of the mesh provided their own nursing and care skills. Honestly, I think their presence is what helped him the most after his surgery. Once again, they have shown us that their relationships with one another, though not always peaceful, provide a social network that the humans are woefully inadequate to imitate.

As Burrito has gotten better, we have not needed to stay overnight by his side, but we’ve still made late-night visits to check on him and give him food and medication.

The sanctuary owns a house on site that J.B. and I have lived in since 2009. It’s a hundred or so yards from the chimp house. This short commute to work is quite convenient for everyone, and especially so when we need to wander up at a moment’s notice and/or in the black of night.

I was making one such journey on Thursday, outfitted in pajamas and a coat, with the stars providing meager illumination. About halfway up the driveway, I stopped to confirm that the sound I heard in the bush was just the scuttling of deer, at which point I realized that in addition to my sleepwear I was also wearing slippers, which had not been my intention.

Squinting through the dark down towards my feet, I took a minute to internally debate whether to turn back to put on more appropriate footwear. In the end I talked myself into continuing onward clad in house shoes because, I reasoned, I was already nearly halfway to the chimp house and the slippers had a decent-enough sole on them anyway.

I entered the chimp house and prepared Burrito’s medication. By this point in the week all of the chimpanzees had become accustomed to the humans constant hovering over Burrito or late-night visits that included turning on lights and offering him food.

Despite these unusual disruptions, most of the chimps consistently remained silent in their nests without stirring. Even ever-vigilant Jamie has occasionally let these untoward visits take place without comment. Thursday, however, after I had given Burrito his pain-relieving treat, Jamie presented herself at the doors to the playroom, banging on the mesh to get my attention.

Jamie, to be sure, is keeping an internal tally of all of the treats that Burrito has been receiving. She has brought to our attention the inequity of treat distribution on occasion this past week, though for the most part she seems begrudgingly understanding. I thought the message that she wanted to communicate to me in that moment had to do with this clear favortism, perhaps hoping to persuade me to slip her a treat as well.

Then I noticed that her eye gaze was fixed upon my feet.

Of course! Jamie had not seen me wearing slippers before. She wanted a closer look, inside and out, of my atypical foot covering. I happily obliged, letting her feel the fabric too.

Satisfied, Jamie returned to her bed. I checked in on Burrito once again, turned off the lights, locked up, and made my way back down to the human house to settle into my own nest.

If you don’t know, Jamie is obsessed with shoes. She particularly likes cowboy boots. Here are a few photos from over the years:

jamie sepia

Today is for Linda Goodrich

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Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by me, Diana, in memory of my aunt Linda Goodrich. Linda was a long-time supporter of the sanctuary, first making a donation as a wedding gift for me and J.B.

Linda lived her life with a sense of adventure and independence and followed the Golden Rule by treating people with kindness.

Though she lived a few states away in Colorado and wasn’t able to visit the sanctuary as she would have liked, Linda considered the chimpanzees part of her extended family and had a soft spot for her buddy Burrito. She always appreciated the calendars of the chimpanzees I would send each year as Christmas gifts.

It has been several years since I have seen Linda. I am so sorry I wasn’t more present during these last few years while she went through cancer treatment.

I made arrangements to go to her service which was last Friday in Colorado, but cancelled those plans at the last minute because of the emergency procedure for Burrito. I know Linda would have understood and would have been sending good wishes and prayers for Burrito.

My sister-in-law posted some photos of Linda’s service and the displays at the service included several photos of the chimpanzees that Linda had received in the mail over the years. It warms my heart knowing that the chimpanzees were a part of her celebration of life.

 

 

Midnight bagels

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Whenever a chimp is in the clinic for a procedure, I can’t wait for it to be over so we can put them back into the recovery room.

Drs. Zamzow and Khachatryan perform surgery on Burrito

But as soon as we get them in the recovery room, I almost wish they were back in the clinic.

Diana repositions Burrito, still under anesthesia, for x-rays in the recovery enclosure

That’s because in the clinic, we have tons of information about their vitals and far more control over the administration of analgesics, antibiotics, and other drugs that are essential for well-being and even survival. Once they’re in recovery, we have to hope for a cooperative patient. And chimpanzees are not known to be very cooperative under even the best of circumstances…

If a chimpanzee has a major surgery or shows difficulty recovering from anesthesia, we will stay with them overnight – sometimes for nights on end. We’ll monitor their respiration, give medications, and in some cases just nudge them to get up in order to promote circulation and deeper breathing. Our recent sleepovers with Burrito were actually pretty quiet, though the other chimps occasionally had something to say about the cornucopia of food available only to Burrito.

During critical recovery periods, caregivers sleep just outside the recovery enclosure to provide 24-hour care.

Some of the behaviors we work on in positive reinforcement training come in handy in times like these. While a no-contact thermometer isn’t very scary to begin with, it helps that Burrito is used to holding his temple to the caging while we get a reading.

A no-contact thermometer is an effective way to record trends in body temperature
In addition to charts for medications and procedures, caregivers maintain a log of vital signs such as temperature and respiratory rate

Administering meds is the most difficult part by far. Anesthesia and medications can make a chimpanzee lose his appetite – even a professional eater like Burrito. And some medications taste and smell disgusting. So whenever a chimp is on medication after a procedure, you will find the counters filled with all sorts of goodies – pudding, applesauce, juice, yogurt, soda, smoothie, bread, bagels, baked goods, jam, honey, syrup, dried fruit…anything that will mask the pill or liquid. And in many cases it only works once, so next time it’s back to the drawing board. But they have to take their meds, so there’s no giving up.

Burrito enjoys a midnight snack (spiked with pain relievers).

We’re so grateful that Burrito’s world-famous appetite is beginning to return and his suspicion of being surreptitiously medicated is starting to wane. In the not-too-distant future, he will be back to his old routine. And while I’m sure he’ll be thrilled to go back, I know he’ll miss those midnight bagels…

Sunny spirits

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As Burrito continues to improve after his surgery, we have all slowly been able to take deep breaths of relief. Please enjoy these photos of the girls taking in some fresh air on Young’s Hill this morning.

Foxie and Jody

Annie

Here’s Jody with her “relaxed face and droopy lip” expression. This pretty much summarizes how I feel right now.

Full (Chimp) House

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I have never seen so much commotion in the Chimp House. All day, every day, the facility feels busier than it ever has before. In so many ways, the sanctuary feels full.

There are now chimps occupying every space again. Volunteers rushed back and forth all day to get the daily tasks done, and the interns feel more present in the Chimp House as their training progresses and they learn to work more confidently and independently. The full team of staff was on site today, coordinating duties and organizing the management of the chimps. The refrigerator is stocked with produce (especially thanks to a recent donation of gift cards) and the foyer is full of new enrichment items and devices. It seems like every square inch of every whiteboard is covered in scribbled notes about healing wounds and treatment plans, and the kitchen counters are covered in a cornucopia of soft foods as we try to get Burrito to take his cocktail of medications. Most importantly, for the first time in a few days, the building is full of good humor and positive hope as we set our sights on recovering and rebuilding.

The events of this past Friday were challenging, to say the least. We all feel sympathy for Burrito and have to deal with the sobering awareness that our own chimpanzee friends used such unrelenting physical violence against him. It’s easy to think that such a horrifying incident would derail us. We are professionals, though, and were prepared for this unlikely outcome even though we tried to give the chimpanzees the best opportunities to develop a tolerance for one another and forge new relationships. As anyone in the field of primate care can attest, introducing unfamiliar individuals is always risky and rarely goes smoothly, even when the result is a resounding success. Of all the chimpanzees, Burrito certainly doesn’t have the best social skills, so we knew that he might have some difficulty coping with the uncertainty and chaos of social integrations. The chimpanzees had a string of victories punctuated by a couple of heartbreaking incidents, and we are already drawing insight from those experiences so that we can continue to give the chimpanzees informed and specialized care in the future. Although we are diverting our efforts away from integrating the two current groups with one another, we know that we will eventually have to do some restructuring if we plan to take in more chimpanzees in the coming years. Recuperating and reflecting after the recent setback are both important, but we continue to move forward towards our ultimate goals.

Today, when I unlocked the Chimp House, the chimpanzees greeted me with a chorus of anticipatory pant hoots. Burrito was sitting up and appeared bright and alert as Annie groomed him through the mesh window that still separates him from the other chimps. Honey B was excitedly grooming with Mave and Willy B, and you’d have no idea that she was recently injured if she didn’t make a habit of enthusiastically showing everyone her missing toe. The six original females (who are still the Girl Gang, I suppose) were back to their usual pre-breakfast drama in the Playroom. The day went smoothly, with Burrito’s appetite and humor improving (see photos below) and all of the chimps falling back into some semblance of a routine. Yesterday felt better than the day before, and today felt noticeably better than yesterday. Tomorrow will be even better.

Through it all, I cannot emphasize enough how supportive our community has been. We continue to receive messages of encouragement and compassion from all of Burrito’s fans and are blown away by how invested you all are in his well-being. Our network of followers and donors is strong and vast but our on-site support has been just as dedicated, caring, and helpful. We’ve had volunteers completing unusual tasks, such as grocery shopping and preparing special meals for Burrito, so that our staff can focus on administering medications and managing the complex social groupings. Our regular Monday interns brought in care packages for the staff (mostly snacks) and today’s crew showed up with coffee and hot chocolate for everyone. On campus, students are staying late after J.B.’s primate welfare lectures to ask about the chimps and demonstrate their support. Today, former caregiver Elizabeth stopped by to hang out with Burrito even though her next shift as a volunteer isn’t until the weekend. These are just some examples, but the acts of appreciation and encouragement have truly been numerous and remarkable.

Last week was difficult, for sure, but it’s easy for us caregivers to keep showing up and working hard to build a better life for chimpanzees when all of you do the same. It is because of you that we can fill this space with supplies, fill it with more chimpanzees, fill it with committed and valuable personnel, and fill it with hope for the future. Once again, thank you all.

Burrito didn’t immediately want this banana; he insisted that Diana tickle his forehead with it, first.
Burrito later fell asleep in a beam of sunlight as Diana used a plastic tool to gently groom his shoulders.