Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Archives for May 2021

Dora and her Many Friends

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Dora the explorer seems to befriend many individuals here at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. From time to time, we find other chimps besides Foxie with Dora. Though Dora does spend most of her time with Tiny aka Foxie. Jody too can find comfort in dolls. Jamie often uses Dora’s in a troll scarf or enjoys playing keep away from Foxie. Occasionally, Burrito has been spotted carrying a Dora for play. Negra every so often finds a doll and totes it around or taunts Foxie with it. This morning as I let the chimps onto Young’s Hill, Negra strolled out with Foxie’s new France Dora.

However, we have another Dora coming to town and as you can see, she is no doll :).

Bonus photos!

Honey B created a fort with boxes and an empty sandbox.

Burrito strutting his stuff out on Young’s Hill.

In honor of Jody Chimpanzee

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Tobin, long-time friend of the sanctuary and all those who dwell here, has graciously sponsored a day of sanctuary in honor of Jody’s celebrated birthday and Mother’s Day.

Behold Tobin’s delightful and heart-warming tribute to the beautiful and incredibly special, Miss Jody:

“Jody has many different roles at the sanctuary: Den Mother, Organic Farmer, Nurse and Physical Therapist, Blanket Decontructionist, Dinosaur Impersonator. When her three new neighbors arrived from California, she led the Welcoming Committee.

It is said that a good person speaks from the good treasure of her heart, and that it is through the mouth that the heart speaks. Now, chimpanzees communicate in different manner from the (far-less evolved) primate species known as humans. Nonetheless, the goodness in Jody’s heart speaks volumes.

As we celebrate Mother’s Day as her birthday anniversary, I wish my beloved Chimpanzee Pal Jody another year of good health and happiness doing what she loves best: den mothering her troop, foraging for the sort of food that can make a Triceratops groan in rapture, and deconstructing the dominant paradigms of blankets for a good night’s nest.

Sincerely, Tobin”

Thank you so much, Tobin, for honoring Jody and all the goodness in her beautiful heart.

Jody and Foxie:

Missy, Foxie, Annie and Jody:

Burrito and Jody:

Jody and Burrito:

The Zen of Mave

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You may have noticed some of the most recent posts have been very lilac-y. That’s because lilacs are in bloom and before we know it, they will be gone. So we have been trying to take advantage of the season. Last week, I was able to capture these images.

To give a little background, Honey B, Willy B, and Mave tend to be a little suspicious of new foods or items. Last year it took them a while to even nibble at the lilacs. Same as last year, at first they seemed to be completely insulted we even offered it to them last week. Mave, however, ultimately collected all of them and was found munching on them throughout the afternoon. Last Thursday, when we received another collection of lilacs for the chimpanzees, we offered some to the Three. Honey B did end up with one, which she ended up passing to J.B. and he passed back to her. She began munching on hers shortly after.

Willy B was genuinely disinterested in them and walked right passed them.

But MAVE on the other hand had other plans. She collected as much as she could. But instead of immediately beginning to munch on them, she just casually carried them around with her for a while.

As she carried around her bouquet, she would take time just to sniff them.

As she sat in the Chute with her lilacs, sniffing them periodically, she gave off this aura of pure relaxation and content.

I tried the get the perfect photo of her in this state, however we try not to stay for too long when taking photos. It’s a “in and out” type of operation as to not stress them out. I though I had the perfect shot, but after I made my way back inside, I realized she had blinked during my opportunity. However, I will always admit she is blinking in this photo if anybody asked, but it almost added to the vibe of the situation and photo. You will have to imagine this photo but her eyes open for of a more realistic idea, but everyone who has seen it so far said, “She looks so zen in this photo!” which makes this imperfect photo the perfect photo of Mave. (Though Mave is always perfect!)

It’s almost impossible to know exactly what is happening in their minds, but we can always just imagine.

Here are some bonus photos from today:

Burrito

Burrito with a Dora the Explorer doll.
Burrito doing Burrito things.
Burrito walking through the long grass.

Negra

Negra enjoying an orange during a forage on Young’s Hill.

Annie

Annie eating chow biscuits during the forage.

Foxie

Foxie going back to get Dora the Explorer who fell off her back.

Jamie

Jamie teaching Sofìa and Sam about her rules about going around Young’s Hill with the Gator. Kelsi was there to also help them get used to Jamie’s rules.

A continuous celebration

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This is how I found Jody first thing this morning. The birthday girl herself, luxuriating in the morning sun shining into the greenhouse, leisurely munching on some leftover lilacs from yesterday’s big celebration for her 46th birthday and Mother’s Day:

In the midst of snapping these photos the most hilarious thing happened. Burrito went stomping past Jody in an attempt to get me to chase him and just as he passed by, she swung her leg out and gently play kicked him right in the tookus! So funny! He marched on, unphased, but then made his way back to grab her leg and try to get her to wrestle. But I think Jody wasn’t quite ready to leave her sun puddle and refused to budge from her nest.

When I opened up the raceway to give the chimps access to Young’s Hill after breakfast, Negra led the charge and promptly found a good spot in the sun to munch on her beloved spring grass:

Jamie, Missy, Annie, Burrito, Foxie and Jody all headed up Young’s Hill together to do a perimeter check:

Foxie and France Dora:

Jody found a bonus piece of chard missed from the forage yesterday. I think for her, the party just continued today. And why not? I can say with certainty that we celebrate Jody and each of the chimpanzees every day. Chard or not. 😉

I found a few bonus photos from yesterday’s lilac forage. Here’s sweet Annie:

Negra in the background. If only lilacs grew on firehoses:

Jody and friends:

Mave, Willy B and Honey B have spent nearly the entire day dosing in the sun from their outdoor chute, seemingly unphased by the return of the construction workers. Willy B didn’t even respond to calls for breakfast and had to be enticed with a visual of what was on offer. And he was just oh…so…sleepy…

A beautiful evening to you all from all of us here in the chimp house. May you each find something to cherish and celebrate, be it a piece of chard or a beautiful bouquet, or well, anything at all that just happens to make your heart sing.

And Foxie says, “HOOT!!”

Happy Mother’s Day, Linda!

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Thank you to Aimee and Adam Webber for sponsoring this day of sanctuary in honor of their mom, Linda Webber!

“Happy Mother’s Day, Mom! Thank you for teaching us empathy and kindness. Love, Aimee and Adam”

Thank you to all three of you for your friendship to the chimpanzees and for continuing to include them in your celebrations of family and love.

Linda, we hope you are having a beautiful Mother’s Day weekend and beyond!

Jody:

Missy:

Honey B:

Burrito, Jody and Foxie:

In memory of Margaret

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Heartfelt thanks to Wendy Hicks, who sponsored today in memory of her mother, Margaret Thorogood.

“My mum (Margaret Thorogood), who was a friend to all animals. She taught me how to love all creatures great and small.”

Wendy, we are touched that you would choose to honor your mother by bringing joy and comfort the chimpanzees’ hearts and may this be returned to your heart as well.

A classic Foxie photo:

Annie:

Mave:

Meredith and her mama, Honey:

Foxie:

Another Mother’s Day for Jody

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It’s Mother’s Day.

At the sanctuary, our celebration of this special day always includes a birthday party for Jody. Her actual date of birth is missing from her original records, but the date aligns with both Jody’s history as a biological mother and her honorary status as the group’s “den mother.”

Like Jody, Annie, Foxie, Missy and Negra (four of the sanctuary’s eight female chimps) also had offspring during their tenure as “breeders” in the laboratory. Altogether, we believe they gave birth to at least twenty-five infants. The newborns were each taken from them shortly after birth by the company that owned the chimps, and the separated infants were destined to be raised by humans in nurseries and sold as biomedical research subjects. At the time, this was a life sentence for chimps.

As advocates began to successfully pressure the laboratories to retire their captive chimpanzees from research, some of the aforementioned offspring were lucky enough to find sanctuary homes. In fact, Missy’s daughter Honey B found her way to CSNW thirteen years after her mother- almost three decades after they were pulled apart at birth. The two don’t seem to recognize each other or have any special bond, which is unsurprising given that chimpanzee social bonds are maintained through lifelong interaction and communication, not mere genetic relatedness or physical likeness. Still, they sometimes behave in ways that reveal some similarities that may be more than just coincidence, giving a bit of magic to their familial relationship.

I won’t add much more since we have written about this topic in the past and I feel like other staff could offer more heartfelt and insightful perspectives than mine. All I have to say is that, as someone who watches Jody interact with her companions and surroundings on a daily basis, she is a natural protector and shepherd to all around her.

Jody would have been an excellent mother to those nine children. She got robbed of that experience, and so did they.

The gravity of that injustice cannot be expressed through any words that I know.

The best that we can do now is provide Jody and her friends with a safe and comfortable sanctuary home, with opportunities to live a fulfilling life, and tirelessly advocate for non-humans who are still being exploited elsewhere.

So, on this well-deserved Mother’s Day, we celebrated not just Jody but all the mothers in our lives who have helped us to grow, learn, and live meaningful lives. We’re thankful that you exist and we love you all.

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Finally, since I was unable to take many photos while filming the embedded video, Chad was willing to share some images he captured of the big event!

Annie:

Jody:

Missy:

Burrito:

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P.S. Just in case you missed the usual title pun, I almost named this post “JO Mother, Where Art Thou?” but decided to keep it a bit more serious this week. I’ll think of something really corny for the next post. I promise.