Burrito is doing well and the ladies are making sure he is taken care of! Each one of the girls came up to Burrito throughout the day to groom or spend time with him at the mesh. Honey B, Mave, and Willy B got access to the chute for the first time since Burrito’s injury. Which, did cause a little bit of commotion, but the girls made sure to check on Burrito during the whole process.
Annie seeking reassurance from Burrito:
Foxie also checked in with Burrito:
Jamie pulled up a barrel to watch over Bubba and also to see what snacks he was getting:
Jody, like the den mother she is, was constantly making sure Burrito was okay:
And Neggie stopped by to groom him too:
CeeCee says
Poor little boy, I’m so glad he has his girls around him for love and support.
Mary Russell says
Happy to hear he’s getting better.
Cara says
So sweet, happy his friends are there for him…
Jackie says
So happy to hear that Mr. B is doing better. I know the ladies are taking good care of him
Sherry says
Glad he’s healing and getting back to feeling more like himself. I loved the description of Jamie! Gotta supervise those snacks, and make sure he’s not getting something that she’s not.?
Kathleen says
Best friends are the best medicine.These photos are wonderful, so sweet to have the perspective of peeking over his fuzzy shoulder. I can now rest easy knowing (and seeing) Burrito is healing in the finest of loving hands.
Debi says
awww Jamie…You’re cracking me up tonight, & the rest of “The Girls” fussing over “Bubs” is probably the “medicine” he needs the most at this point…It always hurts my heart when any of the chimps have to be isolated from their friends…Since they’re such social animals, they must really feel & question the sudden absence of one of their family members…I love the mesh barrier since it’s so effective at protection for whomever needs it while still allowing close & safe contact for both sides…They won’t feel so scared & alone……
Bless you all…The humans as well as the almost humans…The love, dedication & commitment of you wonderful beautiful people have for these ten animals is just so awe inspiring…I hope you all have gotten some extra rest & are in good spirits….
Judy says
It is so good for the soul to see Burrito getting love and care from his girls. It changes the tension in my body and breathes relaxation into me to read and see that he is getting better and the wonderful characters of those checking in on him.. The mental images I have of the humans peeking in constantly on him and the interaction is touching as well. Thank you for the wonderful posts.. as always.
Lois says
This may be off the wall…..but in reading a response from J.B on 11/18 blog post, it made me wonder if Honey B was jealous of Burrito in that he had attention of Willy B & Mave. She has been with them for awhile now and maybe felt he was moving in on her territory, and her friends, (we know how territorial they can be) and a minor infraction might have triggered her to a fight.
Any thoughts on that idea? Hope both healing well.
J.B. says
Hi Lois – In all of the intros that Honey B was involved in, she came on aggressively out of the gate. She seems to like to establish herself as someone not to be messed with. This was true with Negra (who she became great friends with) and especially Annie, Jody, Missy, and Jamie.
Sherry P says
It’s a relief to see “Bubba” on the mend with his nurses lining up to spend time with him. Poor baby boy. I’m wondering if the castration will eventually reduce his urge to display? If so, the girls might see that as a benefit.
Also happy to hear that Honey B is making the best of her owies. 🙂
J.B. says
Reduced aggression/domaninace drive is a possible side-effect, but not guaranteed. We shall see…
Patrick Palmer says
I shall receive abuse for this comment, but it has to be said:
So I repeat the question I asked some time ago and to which I received no answer: WHY did you do this? There were two small groups, each settled and content within itself – and you insist on trying to integrate them, knowing as primate experts what risks you would run. So now you have Foxie missing an ear and Burrito traumatised. Was this not just a piece of primate research? The chimps were doing OK under your care – which (to me as a layman) always appears to have been brilliant. But why try to fix two groups that weren’t broke?
I’d be grateful for the courtesy of s reply this time.
J.B. says
Hi Patrick: You raise a few different issues in your question so let me tackle them separately.
First, with regard to the groups being settled and content, Foxie’s ear is pretty good evidence that this was not the case. It was Burrito who bit her ear off, before integrations started. And over the past ten years, the seven have bitten off each other’s toes, ears, and fingers, with other injuries too numerous to count. Some of this is attributable to them being chimpanzees who, after all, tend to settle their differences in a different way than you and I. But much of it is due to the fact that the group, who came to us as a group of seven from the lab, did not have a structure that promoted social stability. Chimpanzee groups tend to be led by coalitions of males, but regardless of the sex of the alpha, they rely on strong, confident, and compassionate leaders. The seven never had a leader like that to settle disputes and model appropriate behavior.
Second, sanctuaries are under constant pressure to rescue other chimpanzees – right now there are 39 more chimpanzees under the temporary management of the California Department of Fish & Wildlife in need of homes. They cannot remain where they are forever, and no one knows what will happen to them if they can not be placed. One of the ways that sanctuaries rescue additional chimpanzees is by forming groups. These larger groups create space for more chimpanzees. If we kept all chimpanzees in groups of three, like the incoming chimps from Wildlife Waystation, there would be hundreds fewer chimpanzees in sanctuaries.
And finally, experts in chimpanzee behavior and captive chimpanzee management agree that, with a few medical exceptions, chimpanzees belong in groups large enough to meet their social needs. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums, for example, recommends that chimps live in groups of at least seven individuals, and many institutions are working on maintaining groups of over 20. If we look at the three chimps that came to us from the Wildlife Waystation as an example, Honey B has very little social interaction with Mave and Willy B. She relies almost exclusively on humans for social interaction. But when she was living with Negra, they played frequently. The odds of finding someone you connect with when you live with only two other people are slim. Larger groups allow chimps to find friends. And it’s not just the three that we are worried about – with the average age of the Cle Elum Seven being in the early 40s, beyond the average lifespan, we know that they will need to meet other chimps sooner or later as members die from old age. So we can either start that process now or wait until they have fewer family and friends. We chose to try now.
Of course, introductions are always a risk, but we do them because people who care about these chimps think that the potential benefits are worth the slight risk of severe conflict. And when we do enough introductions, that slight risk means it will happen somewhere; we just can’t always predict when and where. But every institution that cares for chimpanzees has had to deal with severe wounding during introductions. It is a sad fact of life.
Generally, when you approach us (or anyone, for that matter) honestly and without accusations of careless intentions (e.g., “piece of primate research”), you’ll get the courtesy of a reply. Caring for chimpanzee is difficult, and often difficult to explain, but we do our best to communicate with everyone.
mhw says
They’ve explained this: “Conflicts and injury are part and parcel of the introduction process. If we took a zero-tolerance approach to injuries during integration attempts, we would almost never integrate captive chimpanzees. But there is a limit to what we should tolerate on their behalf, based on the extent of the injuries, what we think we can realistically hope to achieve for them from the process, and, ultimately, what is fair to the chimps involved. While it is still true that this group of ten could eventually be formed, to everyone’s ultimate benefit, we feel that the chimps have done all they can for now. Each chimp’s individual safety must remain the top priority.” https://chimpsnw.org/2019/11/update-2/
And Foxie’s ear injury happened in a fight with Burrito on 9/18, before the integration effort began: https://chimpsnw.org/2019/09/19/
Laurie McLaren says
I have really appreciated Chimps NW and its candor about chimpanzees and their behavior. I appreciate the sanctuary even more after this sad little incident (okay to Burrito it’s not that little). With these chimps we have a group of seven who were effectively isolated from other chimps, from being socialized with other chimps, until their mid-30’s to mid-40’s and have nothing really to go on other than their instincts and personalities. Their instincts and personalities never got developed in a socialized setting and thus never got to experience the chimp version of “social norms and mores.” Add another group later on who have their own version of this and you will get conflict. Chimp 101.
Chimps do conflict and biting and making up and grooming and displaying and screaming and Chimps NW shows us this. Personally, I don’t think the integration is going badly even with Burrito’s injury. Think of it this way as well. In the wild things like this happen too and often result in death. Burrito’s injuries would almost certainly have resulted in death from infection in the wild. Here he’s getting veterinary care, he will live and he’s not ostracized from his group.