Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Archives for March 2021

Sweet Moments

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The other day I was able to capture such a tender moment between Jamie and Burrito. To witness these moments is a true honor. As we have shared in blogs before, recently Jamie and Burrito will share a barrel seat for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. On this day Jamie and Burrito shared a barrel while they groomed each other. They were perfectly situated by the playroom window so that they could have a view of the neighbors, you know, in case things went awry, but could also be relaxed enough for a grooming session. This newly blossomed friendship is so fun to watch. We all know Jamie as a serious and tough individual, but it’s nice to see her patient side, especially with a friend like Burrito.

This to me is such a power pose from Jamie. Can you feel that energy?!

This photo has a glare from the window, but I thought I would still share. Both Jamie and Burrito have their feet up, sitting on the barrel, watching the neighbors in the chute!

Odds & Ends

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Every so often, I get that dreadful warning that my phone’s memory is almost at capacity. I have a certain degree of confidence I am not the only one here who constantly takes pictures with their phone, thinks “This would be great for the blog,” then forgets about them when our day to write a blog comes around. There is just so much that happens that it’s hard to share every single photo we take, especially those taken on our phones of these by chance instances.

So without further ado, here are some of the photos that have been sitting in my phone’s memory bank:

Mave relaxing. I had at one point thought to write a blog about primate feet, specifically the differences between ape feet. The furthest I got was getting this photo of Mave’s foot to show just how similar and different they are compared to ours.
Foxie food peering at Negra, hoping she was in the mood to share her breakfast even though she had already eaten her own. Spoiler: Negra was not in the mood to share hers.
Speaking of food peering, Willy B peering at Honey B wondering why she was so excited. On this day a couple of weeks ago, we served a very ripe jackfruit. Willy B had zero interest in it at first and threw his to the ground in protest. Honey B on the other hand, knew exactly what it was and ate hers in a haste and collected as many of the ones Willy B discarded as she could. There may have been some buyers remorse on Willy B’s end, though he ended up taking some of the corn Honey B discarded. Seemed like a fair trade.
When cleaning the playroom, if I am near a certain window scrubbing, I usually get a little surprise from Burrito, who seemingly appears out of no where. One day, I figured out just where he pops up from.
Mave. Just Mave. Does this photo really need any further explanation?
Burrito enjoying his breakfast oranges sitting in a cube chair.
Foxie hanging upside down, laughing in one of the Front Rooms. Play is usually her tactic for me when she doesn’t want me to close any of the doors. In this case, she didn’t want me to close the Front Rooms to allow us to clean.

Honey B decided her red skateboard needed some adjustments to it.
Barn Kitty waiting for a staff member to arrive at the sanctuary in the morning to feed him.
In case you didn’t know, Barn Kitty is a semi-feral cat who has called our barn home from time-to-time. So we have a little area in the barn for him to use or not use. It’s his choice.

There is one photo from today. Spring is officially here! And to celebrate this wonderful season, Jamie has decided there needs to be a couple more patrols around the Young’s Hill before she will allow the staff to close it up for the night.

And if you haven’t heard, we will be participating in the Global Primatology Virtual Conference hosted by Central Washington University and the Primate Awareness Network. We are scheduled to present March 25th (this Thursday) at 4:00PM PST. Be sure to also check out some of the other amazing speakers!

Spring happenings

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Nothing jump-starts your day like going in to say good morning to the chimpanzees and having Honey B greet you with a screw in her lips. Of course everything we give the chimpanzees for enrichment goes through multiple safety checks, as do their enclosures, so we weren’t too worried. Honey B handed over the contraband, along with tossing out a second screw, in exchange for an apple slice. We thought they were probably from a toy, but they turned out to be from a little DIY project Honey B had been working on which required an interruption to J.B.’s day off for a quick repair. I’m pretty sure Honey B and Jamie would rule the world if they combined the forces behind the marvelous miraculous individuals they both are.

Honey B’s been zipping and zooming and taking things apart all the day long. Perhaps her version of spring fever. This is an older photo of Honey B that Chad took which I love because it’s so Honey B, and I figured we all needed a visual of this amazing woman:

On that note, it’s a quintessential early spring day here in eastern Washington. After a bit of snow last night, the wild spring winds came barreling off the mountains and whisked the clouds away turning the sky bright blue and birds of all shapes and sizes have been gliding the windy currents. I saw a juvenile bald eagle get thunked on the head by a crow, the red tail of a hawk flashing like fire in the sun, and more robins than I’ve ever seen in my life searching the slowly greening grass for all the good things.

The seven have spent much of their day in the greenhouse where it’s been light-filled and toasty warm. After a brisk run around the hill with Jamie and Missy, we all met back in the greenhouse and dear sweet Annie surprised me by swinging down for a grooming (and selfie) session:

She was actually poking the phone camera’s shutter release here as she watched herself:

Dear, beautiful, Annie. Mesmerized by her image…much like us all.

Meredith

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Those of you who follow CSNW on Instagram may have noticed that we regularly feature images of the four rescued Jersey cattle who graze the pastures around the sanctuary. Since these herbivorous creatures are so different from their chimpanzee neighbors, focusing on the cattle can be a welcome change of pace for the sanctuary staff and social media followers alike.

In the recent “Bovine Break” post from a couple days ago, we shared a photograph of the four Jersey cattle resting together in their winter paddock. They have formed a tightly-knit herd and are rarely seen apart, which is justified given their history and family bonds. Still, they each have their own colorful personality and quirky tendencies, and the image highlighted one of these characteristic traits.

While Betsy, Honey and Nutmeg were all aligned so they could view the hills and forests to the north of the sanctuary, Meredith was turned completely around and facing the other direction, chewing her cud without any indication that she wanted to conform with the others. We always joke that she has idiosyncratic tendencies, but it was nice to capture it visually for all to see. Standing while the others lay down, laying down while the others stand, facing the opposite direction, lagging behind the group… such is Meredith’s nature.

I used her peculiarity to my advantage when I went out to photograph the cattle this afternoon. The other three acted inconvenienced and trotted away, but Merry quietly waddled alongside me at her own pace. She’s not always in an affectionate mood, but she occasionally paused to suspiciously sniff my muck boots and gently lick my hands. We stopped at the paddock gate where she stood and watched the others (who had nonchalantly strolled through together). Eventually, I left them to their own endeavors. Apart from the satisfaction of capturing some nice portraits, I was also content to share a peaceful moment with this odd individual.

For Lacy

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Many thanks to Shaun Mayo (one of our former student interns), for sponsoring this day of sanctuary for the chimpanzees in honor of Lacy Rambo:

“For someone who has always been so supportive of and loving towards the Cle Elum Crew. It means the world.”

Shaun and Lacy, thank you both for holding the chimpanzees in your hearts and for your continued support in their lives. We so appreciate it.

Lacy, may you have the most beautiful of days!

Jody:

Foxie and Strawberry Shortcake:

Burrito and Jody:

Negra:

Volunteers Behind the Scenes

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Last week I wanted to focus on Spring Negra, which meant there were some photos that didn’t make the cut for the blog. Luckily, I just remembered them! Look no further than the end of this post for the non-Negra photos from last week’s lunch forage.

But first, a word about volunteers.

Probably everyone reading this knows that the pandemic has drastically reduced the number of volunteers that are onsite helping with the daily operations of the sanctuary. There are currently just two volunteers who have basically been additional part-time staff members, cleaning alongside us and trying to keep up with Burrito. We owe them a huge amount of gratitude for all of the hours they’ve worked.

In addition to halting our regular volunteer program, we also put the Central Washington University daily intern shifts on hold until we feel that we can safely loosen restrictions without putting the chimpanzees at risk.

Volunteers and interns have been helping in other important ways, however.

They have been making paper braids in the shed near the chimp house, proof-reading marketing material, delivering totes brimming with lovingly-rolled chow bags, organizing community outreach events like the art contest and upcoming showing at Gallery One in Ellensburg, helping write grant proposals, entering historical medical data into new software, painting mountain murals in the new playrooms (we’ll share photos soon!), helping plan virtual fundraisers (The Queen’s Brunch coming to a computer near you on June 13th), and much more.

While volunteers continue to contribute to the smooth operation and outreach efforts of the sanctuary, our all-volunteer board of directors focuses on the really high-level behind-the-scenes work that you may never even hear about, like creating policies that ensure the sanctuary as an organization can carry on the vision of helping primates for a long time to come.

This strange past year has provided a lot of lessons and new perspectives, but, no matter what, we will remain grateful to those who choose to give their time to help the chimpanzees and bovines too. The sanctuary wouldn’t be what it is today without the unpaid yet hard and important work of so many people.

Thank you all!

Here are those promised photos. This first series is, “Foxie and the Carrot”:

 

This is simply: “Missy in Profile”

And this I was going to call “Burrito with Tomatoes” but I realize that might be confusing… so perhaps, “Burrito Enjoys a Forage Break” is better: