Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Archives for April 2020

Alarming adventures

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I feel like today was easily the warmest of the year so far, unseasonably so at almost 70.

And as such, J.B. and Anthony decided it was a great day to usher our bovine family, Betsy and her son, Nutmeg, and Honey and her daughter, Meredith, back to their summer pasture alongside Young’s Hill. Much to the cattle’s delight. And well, with mixed reviews from the chimpanzees.

Meredith, Betsy and Anthony:

The bovines didn’t even have time to delight the humans as we all stood in hopes of seeing a lot of running and kicking and jumping about, they set straight to work chomping all the spring grass suddenly at their disposal.

Betsy, Meredith and Honey (Nutmeg was hanging out just to the left with J.B., but I missed a photo!

Of course, the chimps had to investigate this situation immediately and everyone but Negra marched straight up the hill to check things out. Jamie, naturally, led the way and promptly took a seat on Twister (see our Sponsor a Day today for the wonderful story behind this amazing structure!) to assess the situation. The funny thing about Jamie though is that she made virtually no acknowledgement of the cattle, though if her face was to tell any tale, she appeared rather vexed with their return. She asked for her caregivers to accompany her on several walks to the top of the hill throughout the afternoon, but each time we reached the top she promptly “ignored” the cattle and marched back to the chimp house.

Jody, Burrito and Foxie (and Dora) were close behind:

Foxie and Burrito:

Foxie and Burrito were moderately unimpressed by the return of their summer neighbors and headed back to the greenhouse (Missy and Jamie, background):

At some point, sweet Annie had made her way up the hill, but seemingly once she spotted those “demon” cattle she screamed at the top of her lungs and high-tailed it all the way back to the safety of the greenhouse where I found her surrounded by Burrito and Missy. So it appears cows are now on the list with snakes. It’s really curious as Annie has shown zero concern regarding the cattle in past seasons, not to mention she can see the neighbors’ cattle in the pastures below. I’m guessing she just wasn’t expecting the return of the summer neighbors.

Once Annie was safely ensconced in the greenhouse, we heard a huge ruckus erupt from the chute where we found Mave, Willy B and Honey B expressing their thoughts over the cattle. Honey B in particular seemed very alarmed by their presence (perhaps taking a cue from Annie) and climbed to the top of the chute where she repeatedly vocalized alarm calls and asked Chad and I for reassurance. Poor Honey B eventually calmed down and returned to Phase I just in time for Mave to come screaming inside and flee upstairs into Honey B’s arms where she sounded alarm calls for several minutes. Chad and I discovered it was due to a low flying helicopter.

Willy B and Mave:

So the chimpanzees and the cattle and the humans were enriched with adventures of all manner today. Just as we all hope our days to be (though, perhaps, a little less alarming to some of us). 😉

For Bill and Nicki

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This day of sanctuary was sponsored by our good friend, Nicki Walters, in honor of her late husband, Bill, on the date of their wedding anniversary.

“I am donating today in memory of our 18th wedding anniversary. We always did something special on this day so I thought this year I would share it with the Chimps. We always derived such joy from the Facebook posts and they helped us through many days of his Cancer treatments, now they help me get through days with out Bill, AKA Twister. I love seeing the chimps playing on his structure and I think of how happy he would be to witness it. It is a lovely tribute and I feel so fortunate that our friends and loved one made it be as a representation of this great man’s life and a gift to the Chimps. Thank you to all who care for these magnificent Apes and take the time to share such beautiful stories of them with us.”

Nicki, I can’t think of all the spring, summer and autumn evenings many of us have spent in the company of Jamie as she sits on the chimps’ “Twister” climbing structure that you all made possible, the last rays of the sun beaming across the sanctuary, across our faces. Jamie’s usually found some bit of missed forage to snack on while she looks out over the sanctuary and surrounding land, her home, with an occasional backward glance to make sure we are where she left us. I’m immensely grateful for these times when she seems particularly at peace, in awe. For me, but mostly for her. Thank you for giving her and her family such times. And thank you for honoring Bill and his legacy in such a beautiful way.

We’re all thinking of you and hoping today brings the same peace and awe of all you and Bill shared, and still share, together. And hoping the sun’s on your face today. Happy Anniversary to you both. <3<3

Jamie:

Jody:

Missy:

Jamie:

The Gator Tour of CSNW

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I had a bit of writer’s block today. It happens sometimes.

The weather was nice, though, and we finished the daily cleaning on time (sometime around 1pm when we regularly serve the chimpanzees their lunch). Some chimps were walking around the perimeter of Young’s Hill with Katelyn (on the outside of the fence, of course) and Chad had just returned from feeding the cattle and mucking their barn. With things settled and quiet around the Chimp House, I decided to drive around the property to capture some photographs of the scenic landscape. The pastures and woods that surround the facility have started to turn emerald green and are even speckled with the first yellow and purple wildflowers of the season.

One thing that is missing from the sanctuary right now is the extended team of people who would normally be enjoying the onset of spring along with us. We typically have fifty volunteers and interns who show up for rotating shifts, and many of them are like family to us. We are following a strict quarantine protocol and are operating with just the core staff, leaving us with just a fraction of the usual personnel. In terms of caregiving, we’re doing just fine– the meals and meds are always served, the enclosures are always cleaned and the chimps are always engaged in one activity or another- but the facility still feels somewhat empty without the all the familiar individuals who help us to care for the chimps and their sanctuary home.

We’ve been working on other ways to keep our community informed and active. Although we aren’t open to the public and we don’t exhibit the chimps (or even the cattle, for that matter), sharing our work is a huge part of this sanctuary’s culture. While that certainly includes communicating special updates and highlighting noteworthy milestones, it also means illustrating the most simple and mundane aspects of life at CSNW. I thought you all might enjoy seeing this little piece of my day: an afternoon cruise around the sanctuary on the John Deere Gator.

Sometimes its the simple things

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Honey B is a smart, funny, curious chimpanzee. One of things we have discovered that she loves most is rolling around in paper – it is something so simple that never fails to make her happy. Willy B couldn’t resist her playfulness today (see video above).

As an update to Mave, Willy B, and Honey B’s lack of outdoor habitat adventures, I tried a few different things today to try to encourage them to venture into their outdoor courtyard. 1) I placed some nuts and seeds along the wooden walkway, some within reach of a chimpanzee sitting at the end of the chute. 2) I had the door open to the courtyard when they went into the chute, rather than opening it up once they were in the chute, and 3) I did my best to act super casual (this may not be my forte) and moved away from the chute and even around the corner.

I’m sorry to say that no one ventured out, even with these measures, but when I was out of his sight, Willy B did work up the courage to reach out and very quickly grab a few nuts, which must have felt like a big victory to him.

Even little steps are steps.

Reasons to GiveBIG

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These are scary times. But the ten chimpanzees and four bovines at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest count on us each and every day to clean, prepare meals, create enrichment, and provide medical care, regardless of what is happening in the world outside. And we in turn count on you to help make that possible.

If you are fortunate enough to be able to continue giving to your favorite charities at this time, please consider participating in GiveBIG, Washington’s annual day of giving, and support the sanctuary by donating or creating your own fundraising page.

We are so fortunate to be able to greet the animals in our care each day and work for something we believe in with all our hearts. On behalf of the staff, the chimpanzees, and the bovines at CSNW, please know that your generosity during this time is more meaningful and more appreciated than ever.

Familiar faces, familiar activities

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Have you watched John Krasinski’s Some Good News show yet? It’s one of my favorite things to have emerged in this stressful time we live in right now. He highlights all the good things that are still happening around the world right now and some of the people that are doing them. I highly recommend it to help keep your spirits up! While our version of “some good news” isn’t necessarily that things have changed around here, but more so that the sanctuary remains intact, just as it should be.

Here are some things that haven’t changed:

Jody continues to harvest plants growing on Young’s Hill. Here she is with a sample of newly planted pine tree:

And she continues to know the best way to relax around here:

Jamie is still cooler than I’ll ever be:

And her passion for all things boots burns strong. Here she is with the makings of her afternoon nest:

Burrito will always be playful AND handsome:

Other good news items for the day (sadly not pictured):
Honey B vigorously testing out a new bench Anthony built for the chute, Willy B gazing at newly taken photos, Mave drinking cupfuls of water from an enrichment pool, Negra head nodding from underneath a mountain of blankets, Foxie strolling leisurely on Young’s Hill with her friends and Missy/Annie playing chase.

One thing that has notably changed at the sanctuary, we’ve had to temporarily lay off the vast majority of our volunteers and interns. Since we all miss each other, we put together a Zoom online meetup last night so we could all catch up with each other:

What’s your good news for the day?

Toasty Warm Green House

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As many of you know we have an Amazon Wish List where wonderful people buy things the chimps need or items that go to our daily operations. In these weird times, like many of you might know, things are limited on Amazon or may take a while to ship. We use gloves and disinfectant everyday, but we are going through them more quickly now. We started running low on gloves and other cleaning items that are super important to protect the chimps, which worried us a bit! Luckily, Jerrol’s, a local store nearby Ellensburg, had every thing we needed and were fully stocked. We ordered gloves and disinfectant in minutes! If you are ever curious how you can help the chimps please check out our Amazon Wish List or if you would like to help us during this weird time you can buy a gift card to Jerrol’s to help us purchase gloves and other day to day cleaning items we may need!

To be honest, it was hard to get photos of the chimps today. They were either baking in the warm Green House or scattered on the Hill. However, I managed to snap a few good ones of Annie grooming herself in the toasty warm green house.

This photo was captured right as the seven received access to Young’s Hill this morning.

Burrito taking a stroll.

Negra right before she decided it wasn’t quite warm enough yet.

Jamie on her after dinner walk, also walking the opposite direction than normal.