Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Archives for May 2021

“If you build it, chimps will come.”

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Sometimes, the development of the sanctuary feels oddly like the plot of Field of Dreams. Instead of building a baseball diamond in the middle of an Iowa cornfield to attract the ghosts of early ballplayers, we’re constructing a facility in the foothills of the Cascades to rescue chimpanzees. It’s practically the same thing. “If you build it, chimps will come.”

The new wing as viewed from the south pasture

Truthfully, the incremental growth of the sanctuary is serious work, and the immense contributions of specialized contractors is one aspect of the ongoing expansion effort that we don’t often highlight on our social media channels. Today, I’m using the daily blog to show some appreciation for their work.

We’ve had some great teams building various components of the new areas, from the foundation to the exterior paint. Recently, the crew from Sage Mechanical, LLC completed the hydraulic doors and steel caging in the new playroom enclosures (which now provide a comfortable indoor space for chimps) and resumed work on the adjacent greenhouses.

Honey B.
The new greenhouse enclosures, mid-construction

Sage Mechanical is based in Yakima and led by our friend Gary McInnis. The first project they completed for us was 2019’s “Phase 1” of the expansion effort (including the enclosures where Honey B, Mave and Willy B currently reside) and we’re happy to have them on board for 2020-2021’s “Phase 2.”

From L to R: Gary, Aaron and Jose
Aaron and Jose working on the greenhouse ceiling

Carrying out an expansion project at a chimpanzee sanctuary can be difficult when the facility is already home to ten chimpanzees, but Gary’s squad has the right attitude for it; They’re always willing to work around the chimps’ schedules and preferences so that the construction causes minimal disruption to their daily lives. When not moving equipment around and welding things together, the guys are interested in the individual chimpanzees and are eager to learn more about them from the caregivers. His crew has also been great about following the stringent COVID-19 protocols designed to protect the chimps and human staff from possible exposure, which we require and greatly appreciate.

Gary
Jose
Aaron

Although they don’t interact with the chimps directly, the people working on the new enclosures are not completely separate. For example, the chimps living in adjacent enclosures and the guys on Gary’s team can watch each other through the bulletproof playroom windows. Occasionally, the chimps will even greet the crew members when they show up for work in the morning. The chimps seem to have habituated to the presence of Gary and his “regular” crew of Aaron, Jim and Jose, and it seems like the ongoing construction can be a form of environmental enrichment for them. We also ensure that the chimps have access to other areas so they aren’t forced to be within view if they prefer otherwise.

Aaron and Gary welding the caging panels onto the frame of the new greenhouses

Currently, Honey B, Mave and Willy B have front-row seats for the assembly of the new greenhouses. Much like the existing greenhouse enclosure on the other side of the building, the new areas will be multi-level outdoor environments that can be enclosed with solar-radiant panels in the cooler months. Each area will be furnished with organic substrate, live bamboo, wood climbing features, hanging firehose “vines,” and elevated platforms.

Mave

The coolest aspect of the new greenhouses will be the central structures, allegedly modeled after the Ewoks’ treetop village from Return of the Jedi. Yesterday, the chimps watched as welders Aaron and Jose built the frame for one of these platforms. We can’t wait to see the chimpanzees explore and grow comfortable in the latest addition to their home!

P.S. This blog’s honorary title is “Hunt for the Welder-people.” This is Chad’s work, but it was too good to leave out. We both love the referenced film.

Spring’s Bounty

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These past couple of days have been a whirlwind of seasons. On Sunday, the weather hit nearly 85º. Then yesterday the temperatures dropped into the 60s and we had a brief stint of rain. Today, the weather is in the low 50s with strong winds. By the end of the week it’s supposed to climb back into the 80s. As I watched the Group of Seven explore Young’s Hill this morning, it finally hit me. With these sporadic days of high temperatures, could this be Summer trying break through Spring’s hold? There is only a month left of Spring before Summer begins. Then I found some supporting evidence that Spring is in it’s final month.

As I was cleaning the Greenhouse, there was a grave yard of goat’s beard dandelions. As some of you know, goat’s beard dandelions are one of Missy’s favorite Spring time treats. Goat’s beard bloom from May to June, so the window to forage for them is relatively small. Though I did see Missy go out on Young’s Hill several times today, I hadn’t put two and two together yet. It wasn’t until I saw Jody race around the Hill grabbing whatever dandelion and prickly lettuce was within arms reach, that I realized we are in peak Spring. Neither wind nor rain nor heat will seem to stop them from enjoying the plentiful Spring bounty Young’s Hill is currently offering.

Here are some photos of Jody gathering some dandelions and prickly lettuce on Young’s Hill then enjoying them in the Greenhouse:

Bonus Photos:

Missy eating her sweet potato during lunch.
Burrito with Dora the Explorer.
Mave watching and waiting for breakfast to come out.

The Trainer

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Jamie has been working hard all day, putting one of our new caregivers, Sam, through the paces of training! After all, there is so much to teach the new humans about which boots to wear and in what combination, which human to have walk and which to drive the Gator during races around Young’s Hill, I mean the list goes on and on. Thank goodness Jamie is the qualified, professional trainer she is.

Here she is keeping a close eye on her trainee:

It’s been another super busy day here in the chimp house, folks, so apologies for the brevity of today’s blog! An unexpected rainstorm blew in this evening and after some sudden post-bedtime alarm calling from Mave, who we think saw some lightning (Mave *hates* lightening and thunder), all ten chimpanzees and all four bovines are tucked safe and cozy into their night nests. Wishing you all the same!

A PAN-tastic Group of Humans

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It’s now been well over a year since we began the “new normal” style of sanctuary operations.

The objective of these changes has been to mitigate the risk of transmitting COVID-19 to the chimpanzees. Of course, the nuclear staff cannot stop interacting with the chimps entirely, so we’ve found other ways to meet their daily needs while maintaining a bubble of safety around them. To facilitate this social “quarantine,” we had to sadly cancel many on-site initiatives powered by our extended community of volunteers, interns, and local supporters.

The need for social distancing hasn’t stopped these people from contributing to the organization on a Major-League level, though.

In a recent blog post, Diana described the remarkable work that our volunteer corps is continuing to do during the pandemic. We know that many of the volunteers and interns would be helping at to take care of the chimps if public health conditions allowed for it, but they’ve found ways to help the sanctuary regardless. Take that, SARS-CoV-2!

Today’s blog is dedicated to the members of Central Washington University’s Primate Awareness Network (PAN), who have provided crucial support this year by planning creative and fun events for the sanctuary. This year, they arranged an art contest and exhibition at Gallery One in Ellensburg and a smash fundraiser at Dru Bru’s new taproom in Cle Elum. They did all this while hosting a virtual primatology conference, collecting enrichment materials for the chimps from locations around town, helping CSNW staff to enter welfare data into the sanctuary’s new database, and continuing their mission of advocating for primate conservation and welfare via social media outreach. Given all they’ve done for us, the least we can do is to thank this year’s PAN cohort of Ashton, Calvin, Carson, Courtney A., Courtney G., Danna, Jenna, Kelsie, Malcolm, Margaux, Riley and Sydney for all their dedication and enthusiasm.

(To learn more about the Primate Awareness Network, check them out on Facebook or @cwu_primate on Instagram and Twitter. You can see flyers and photos from a couple of their recent events below!)

In addition to heartfelt appreciation, we owe some of them cheerful congratulations as well. They’ve all been advancing their respective research projects outside the sanctuary despite the turmoil of the past year, and all of them are embarking on new adventures, including (but not limited to):

Ashton recently co-authored a paper about COVID-19’s effect on wildlife in the journal Mammal Review and began working at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado.
(Fun Fact: CSNW board member Dr. Lori Sheeran is Ashton’s advisor and also co-authored the paper!)

Carson has been accepted into the Applied Anthropology doctoral program at Texas State University where she will study the microbial ecology of free-ranging chimpanzees in Africa.

Jenna has just accepted a full-time caregiver position at fellow NAPSA member sanctuary Center for Great Apes in Florida and will be starting in June.

Riley, after he defends his graduate thesis, will be getting married this summer!
(Jenna suggested I link to his registry but we don’t want to mix it up with our own Wish List, causing Riley and his partner to receive enrichment puzzles and cleaning supplies while the chimps get new bed linens and cookware.)

It’s sad to watch this cohort of students move on without a proper farewell at the sanctuary, but we’re excited to see the places they will go, the things they will do, and the people they will become. Hopefully, local conditions keep trending in the right direction so that we can gradually incorporate volunteers, interns and visitors back into our routine without increasing the risk to the chimps and staff. For now, we’re just happy to express our gratitude for these people and the time they’ve donated to the sanctuary!

The Challenging Ones

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There’s something I deeply respect about non-humans who are reserved. The ones who would never just give away their affection to whoever passes by.

Don’t get me wrong, I love pups I’ve never met who run up to me like I’m a long-lost friend or chimpanzees who immediately want to play with strangers.

But for animals I expect to have a long-term relationship, I’m drawn to the aloof. The stand-offish. Even the disgruntled. Those who demand you earn their affection, because they deserve no less.

This is what first won me over with Negra.

She is not happy-go-lucky. She’s not one to seek out the attention of caregivers for a game or just to hang out. She’s the Queen, after all.

I’ve started to go through videos of Negra taken over the last 13 years to put together a video compilation for the Queen’s Brunch next month. It’s really great to revisit and be able to relive those moments with Negra where she allowed me or another caregiver to be a friend. It’s going to be difficult to whittle down the clips, but I hope you appreciate the video when we show it on June 13th.

JB grooms Negra's belly
Negra presenting her belly for J.B.

Jamie, unlike Negra, constantly seeks out the humans, but interactions are almost always 100% on her terms. She knows what she wants from us (usually some variation of walking around Young’s Hill), and she expects us to comply.

Today, she indicated that she wanted me to walk around the hill shortly after we had put out a lunch forage. I dutifully started the routine on the human-side of the fence. Instead of continuing the walk, however, Jamie planted herself in a fire hose hammock partway up the hill. I know from previous experience that she expected me to wait for her. Or maybe today she just wanted to be the subject of a photo shoot.

Missy, as we’ve said many times on the blog before, is a “chimps’ chimp”. She seems to view the humans as peripheral to her social circle. We serve a purpose in bringing her tomatoes, but most of the time she’s not looking for anything more than that from us. This is why it is always special when she spots a caregiver from a distance, gives a look, and takes off for a game of chase. Or when she comes up to the caging where a caregiver is sitting, turns around, and presses her back up, allowing, for a short while, the caregiver to groom her.

I don’t have photos of that from today, but I do have these photos of Missy gathering the bulk of the lilacs that Anna carefully placed in the treat rock.

Our dog Honey B was very much aloof. If you know dog breeds and I say she was a Chow Chow, you likely have some idea of her personality. If you are suddenly confused why we had a dog named Honey B before there was a chimpanzee at the sanctuary named Honey B, I direct you to this blog post that tells the unlikely story of the direct connection of these two.

Honey B the dog in 2011 standing near what became Young’s Hill, the outdoor habitat for the chimpanzees.

Honey B the dog had no time for anyone’s nonsense, so the fact that she chose to bestow her attention on me was a huge gift. Still, I had to work for her affection and respect her boundaries every step of the way.

There’s another nonhuman at the sanctuary right now who has similar qualities: Honey Cow.

Little by little, she is warming up to her caregivers. Yesterday, she was lying down in the sun, and I sat in front of her. I was sure she was going to get up when I reached out and touched her head. She half-heartedly swung away, but she stayed. One of these days, maybe one of us will completely win her over. On her terms.

Table for One

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As we opened up the hill this morning, the chimps scampered off in different directions.

They harvested plants from across the hill and stuffed their mouths with grass, dandelions, and prickly lettuce.

By the time breakfast was ready, the chimps were nowhere to be found.

With the exception of Negra, that is. So as we called and food grunted in vain to notify the others, Negra enjoyed her own private breakfast service in the greenhouse. I’m pretty sure she has been waiting for this moment her entire life.

After cleaning was over, I went to see if any of the Seven were still outside. I could hear laughter coming from the greenhouse.

Jamie and Burrito were wrestling.

The group has been squabbling a lot lately, as you can see from the abrasion and patch of missing hair on Jamie’s arm.

But today it was all play and grooming.

This is how chimps work.

There will always be fights.

So you just have to make the happy moments outnumber the bad ones.

Training (the humans)

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Our new team members Sam and Sofía have been rocketing through our staff training program this week.  Regardless of their background or prior experience, all new trainees start by learning (or re-learning, in Sam and Sofia’s case) our daily routine. They’re refreshing themselves on enrichment prep, laundry, making meals, and of course, cleaning the chimpanzees’ enclosures from top to bottom. Perhaps the most important part of their training right now is memorizing the map of all the doors that we operate in the building and  learning the checks process so we can safely enter enclosures (without the chimpanzees being present).

Anthony, Sofía and Sam clean Front Rooms 1-4 together. Negra supervises from above in the Playroom.

Next up for Sam and Sofia’s training is getting to know the chimpanzees! After becoming door “checks reliable,”  they will start serving meals and interacting with the chimps under (fully-trained)staff supervision and gradually phase into doing these tasks safely on their own.

Burrito playing with Kelsi last summer.

The final hurdle before staff members graduate to “fully trained” in the Chimp House is learning to operate the remote pneumatic/hydraulic doors that we use when shifting the chimpanzees from one space to another (and all the safety guidelines that come along with this responsibility). This final stage of training is also when they will start being “Lead Caregivers” for the day.  They will be in charge of keeping the routine moving along for the day and that’s the time when you will start seeing their blog posts pop up on your screen!

Diana operates one of our new hydraulic doors.
Bonus photo: spring time Annie!