This post is both about the great staff at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest and about the chimpanzees who they care for; the chimpanzees who lead the way towards embracing challenges and demonstrating resiliency.
I’ve been incredibly impressed with our staff during the last few of years of challenges and uncertainty. We’ve done some hard things and been faced with difficult decisions, and the staff have embraced it all and moved forward with hope.
The most recent challenge has been starting introductions between the two groups of chimpanzees from Wildlife Waystation.
There are risks involved in introducing chimps to one another, risks we have experienced firsthand. It would be easy to decide to just not try, to keep things as they are. But the staff realize that the benefits to the chimpanzees’ welfare far outweigh the risks.
The chimpanzees themselves have already given us glimpses of these benefits – male friends for WillyB! So many new grooming partners for Mave! Half-sisters to play with Honey B! Lucky, Cy, Terry, Gordo, Rayne, and Dora could also benefit from living in a larger group with more choices for social partners.
I’ve been incredibly impressed with how the chimpanzees have reacted to the initial one-on-one introductions. Each of them have been able to overcome any anxiety in meeting those in the other group. In fact, they have embraced the opportunity, sometimes making it difficult to get the pairs we want because there are chimps who stay in the room, attempting to be the one who is next in line for an introduction.
Chimpanzees are amazing that way.
While we humans live in our heads much of the time, worrying and wondering, chimpanzees most often assess the situation and pretty quickly dive in. It’s not that they can’t think ahead – they certainly can. And it’s not that they never experience worry – for sure they do. But when something goes awry or they encounter something unexpected, they are usually able to quickly reassess and adjust, or just turn to the next good thing they know is coming, like pears for dinner.
While it’s true that Burrito is a very special being in so many ways, his ability to bounce back is a trait he shares with many of his species. Chimpanzees are tough, both physically and mentally. Sadly, that is one reason they were used so readily in biomedical research.
I’ve been particularly impressed with Rayne’s group and how they have so quickly adjusted to their new home. They marched in and claimed their space, quickly finding favorite spots and embracing the sanctuary’s routine.
J.B. shared yesterday that the new group was given access to the Chute for the first time this week. And he let you in on a secret: many (perhaps even the majority of) chimpanzees LOVE cage tunnels, choosing to spend time in them over larger areas that humans might describe as more “natural” looking.
This might be a good time to remind everyone of this blog post which is subtitled Caging is OK.
It’s not up to us to decide for chimpanzees in captivity what areas are their favorites; it’s up to us to provide them with variety and give them the choice to decide for themselves. For now, Lucky’s group has clearly decided that the Chute is awesome, even when they have access to the new beautiful greenhouses with grass and bamboo.
Today when we were cleaning, I snapped a couple of photos of all six chimpanzees in the Chute. I couldn’t even tell where one chimpanzee began and another ended. Gordo was the only one not in the chimpanzee puddle at the top of the Chute, instead laying claim to the spot closest to the end.
At another point during the day, I found brother and sister Cy and Lucky lying next to each other, facing opposite directions at the top of the Chute:
While Dora was trying out a small perch for a bed:
Thank you to all of the wonderful chimpanzees at CSNW who embrace change, find their thing, and power through the challenges towards the good times that may be just out of sight, but are surely there. Thank you to the staff who do the same. And thank you to all of you for reminding us, with your comments and support, what a special mission we have.
