Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Archives for December 2019

Close up

by

It is that time of year where the chimps nest in hard places to snap a good photo. But, we also have a new challenge because one of our most used camera lens has stopped working. These chimps were definitely moving around and playing, sadly the camera wouldn’t catch the moment. We have put a new lens on our Wishlist in hopes that it is not our camera and just the lens, fingers crossed! However, I hope you enjoy some photos I have saved off my phone!

Sometimes when we try to photograph the three, they get too close to actually get a photo. Mostly, Honey B and Willy B are the ones that get closer to the caging once they see you are holding the camera. They are just fascinated by phones and TVs. Here are a few attempts that turned into REAL close ups.

Honey B:

This one of Willy B just makes me smile:

I was able to snap this one of Jody today:

Sweet Mave:

In honor of Carole Galuska

by

Janice Clayton sponsored this day of sanctuary in honor of her dear friend, Carole Galuska. Today also happens to be Janice’s birthday! She shared this lovely message about her gift:

“I would like to dedicate today to Carole Galuska, who would go to the ends of the earth for a friend.”

Janice, thank you so much for celebrating friendship in such an inspiring way. And on your own special day! Happiest of birthdays to you from all of us here!

Carole, we hope you enjoy this beautiful day! We’re so grateful for your and Janice’s long-time friendship with the chimpanzees and truly appreciate the lasting difference you’ve both made in their lives.

Beautiful Jody, the most wonderful friend to her chimp family:

Foxie, Jody and Jamie:

Foxie’s the best medicine

by

As you may have seen on the blog over the past couple of days, we’ve begun 1:1 “playdates” between Burrito and the girls. Burrito feels that he is absolutely ready to be out of his recovery rooms and back with the six girls. I absolutely do not blame him. He’s had a long, tough road and he’s handled it better than anyone could ask of him. His foot, however, says otherwise and we want to make sure the stubborn infection hanging on is resolved before he returns to the group. He’s oh so close. Other than that Burrito is more fully Burrito with each passing day and to say that is a profound and joyful relief is an understatement.

Burrito and Foxie are really close friends and they haven’t been together in a long time with the exception of meetings at the mesh. I’d hoped that Foxie would be interested in joining him for a visit today. She was, but Foxie is also leery of unfamiliar things and routines so she opted not to come in at first. Jamie though, ran right in, naturally. But after awhile Jamie decided she had more pressing business to attend to (Willy B was in the chute outside the playroom and all the girls were screaming like they’d seen a rock star). I figured that was it for visits for the day, but much to my surprise and delight, Foxie ran in to replace her!

When I opened the door separating her and Burrito, well, OH. MY. HEART! They both screamed, Burrito held his arms out and Foxie ran right into them. They were inseparable! Hugging, hanging onto one another, grooming, softly “hooing” to one another, holding hands. Two old friends together again. Foxie’s the best medicine.

A note on that hand. Yes, I imagine it looks pretty bad from where you’re sitting, but trust me, it looks absolutely fantastic compared to what it was and is healing beautifully so don’t let it alarm you.

And a couple of bonus Annie photos! We’ve had a particularly wintry season so far with a fair amount of snow and lots of freezing fog. But today was sunny, bright blue and coooollldd! But that didn’t stop the girls from ripping and running and climbing all over Young’s Hill. Checking tire swings for ice treats, eating snow and I suspect, just feeling the pure relief of sunshine. Annie is often the one we find braving the coldest of temperatures at the very top of a structure, just taking it all in in solitude. And today was no different.

And double bonus! I was scurrying in and out of Phase 1 where Mave, Honey B and Willy B reside trying to figure something out with the heating and had to rudely keep turning the lights on as they’d gone to bed for the night. I happened to glance over on my way out and saw Mave in her amazing nest!

Goodnight, folks. May you all be as warm, safe, and cozy this cold wintry night as beloved Mave.

Snow Days and Play Dates

by

Well, here it is.

I created this video a few days ago to highlight some ways in which the chimpanzees are spending the shortened days of early winter.

In addition to their usual smorgasbord of foods, an abundance of fuzzy nesting materials and a variety of challenging enrichment puzzles, the chimps now have daily opportunities to harvest armfuls of delicious, powdery snow from Young’s Hill.

Even Mave, Willy B and Honey B, who aren’t as habituated to the cold weather as the seven original residents, seem interested in their outdoor courtyard. The courtyard is an alcove of the Hill that has recently been sectioned off to create a safe, isolated area for the newbies to gradually acclimate to open spaces on their own terms. For the most part, though, they prefer the safety and comfort of the indoor spaces and understandably only go out in the chute when it is sunny and dry. Of the three, Willy seems to be the most cautious about the cold. During his infrequent forays into the chute, Jody, Missy, Annie and the other females make a huge commotion. Their chorus of pant-grunts and unbridled excitement reminds me of teenage girls during Beatle-mania. It’s justifiable, given Willy’s confidence and charm.

It is Burrito, however, who seems the most eager for attention now. He’s recovered in terms of spirit and mobility, so now we are just waiting for him to finish his medication before we reunite him with the full group. In the meantime, he’s enjoying afternoon play-dates with individual companions, and we are ecstatic to see him back to his old ways. Today, for example, he spent time with Jody and then followed Jamie around (inspecting her swollen genitalia incessantly).

I hope you all enjoy the video and the rest of your weekend!

We’re looking forward to giving you some exciting updates soon regarding several new developments at the sanctuary!

Happy Birthday, Linda!

by

Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by Linda Crawford! Linda shared this lovely message about her generous gift:

“Today’s my birthday, and nothing would bring me greater joy than to have the chimps partying with me! But since they’re so far away, and sponsored parties aren’t an option any longer, I’ll sponsor a day, and hope that there is either pineapple or coconut involved, and to see the Tiny One busting open the troll dolls I sent! Something to make their Sunday a little special, the way they, and you, all make most of our days special by sharing a glimpse of your work and their lives in sanctuary!”

Linda, thank you so much for your heartfelt care for each of the chimpanzees and the unique individuals they are. We so appreciate you thinking of them today, your compassion and your gracious contributions toward their well-being and happiness. All of us here wish you the happiest of birthdays yet! May your big heart come back to you tenfold as you celebrate your special day, and all days. Happy Birthday!

Tiny, but fierce. Beloved Foxie:

Snow: Treat or Trick?

by

Burrito, Annie Jody, Foxie, Missy, Jamie, and Negra arrived in June of 2008. Their first experience of snow at the sanctuary (though they may have encountered it earlier in their lives) was almost exactly eleven years ago today. If you can believe it, we’ve been doing the blog this entire time, so you can take a look back at that post, which includes a video, right here.

That was before the greenhouse was a greenhouse with a roof and removable walls, so the chimps just leaned outside of their indoor rooms and grabbed handfuls and mouthfuls of snow. Seriously, watch the video.

It was such an exciting and endearing first at the sanctuary that Seattle’s King 5 television station shared the video on air.

Eleven years later, snow is still an exciting winter treat that produces anticipation and food grunts. There are many, many blog posts that feature snow. We often talk about how it’s the perfect food enrichment because it has zero calories, lasts a long time, and it’s both plentiful and free this time of year.

Here are some photos from today of Jody finding some ice and snow for snacking:

This one of her scurrying inside with her quickly diminishing treat is a little blurry:

Burrito was making raspberry noises at me this morning, and I thought he was trying to convince me to get him a banana–he knows I’m a big sucker and have been giving him pretty much whatever he wants as he recovers. Eventually, I realized what he actually wanted was some of the good stuff that had blanketed the outdoors.

He was pleased when I finally figured it out and gave him a special delivery:

Mave, Willy B, and Honey B’s reaction has not been the same. They do not know what the fuss is about at all.

Mave spent quite a bit of time in the chute today with the sun shining, but she didn’t go down to the area that still had snow:

I tried to convince Honey B that it was a a great treat by eating some myself and then placing some in the fencing for her.

This was her reaction:

Will they grow to love it, or will eating snow remain a strange custom that these three chimpanzees from California do not appreciate? We’ve got a couple more months to find out.

Laughter is the (second) best medicine

by

Over the last few days, we have been arranging play dates for Burrito.  He still has a stubborn, slow-healing injury on his toe that needs to resolve before he can rejoin the rowdy gang of girls (who are in the midst of a thunderous group display directed at their three neighbors as a write this). But we felt he could safely handle some one-on-one visits, and we knew it would do him a world of good.

Jamie (shown grooming Burrito in this series) and Jody have been tending to both his wounds and his spirits. They’ve groomed his injuries and engaged him in slow games of chase throughout the front rooms. Just minutes ago, Jody and Burrito were gently wrestling and laughing so hard I could hear them from the foyer.

They say that laughter is the best medicine but we’re not going to give up on the antibiotics just yet. Burrito will continue to get late-night yogurt cups, juice, and all other manner of goodies stuffed with meds until that toe heals. But visits from friends sure do help.